Hello folks,
I need help in deciding the right paint thinner to use with oils. I have painted my tank with acrylics (Tamiya)and then coated it with a layer of future, now the next step is to do the wash using oils. What is the right paint thinner to thin the oils that will not damage the layer of future?

Regards,
Jorge Damico

Don't worry,the properly cured basecoat and Future overcoat will protect it.I use the thinner that is sold in the oils section,like say Winsor and Newton.

Oils use the same thinners as Enamel (they can be mixed togeter),Turpentine,White Spirit,Mineral Turpentine,low Odour Turps,avoid Laquer Thinners is to hot for me

For Washes White spirit is better because dry faster

My 2 cents!..

You might want to try sticking with the epensive hobby brands to avoid disasters.

Ak Interactive odorless thinner is great for oil paints.

Sorry but say "for me is better use epensive hobby brands" is ok but scare the people with stuff like "to avoid disasters" i think is not so correct..

I use normal thinners from the '80s,(not Laquer to hot!!)....and i still waiting for "the disaster" to come,and many time i use Enamel or Oils washes directly on Enamel,i dont recommend to use them as thinner and then put the mixture back into the jar along with the rest, for thinn the paint in to the jar me to i use the original Thinner,more for dont mix 2 different thinner togeter and sit there for long time, but for wash and thinn paint at the time of use ,if the base is dry and acrylic nothing happen 100%...if something happen is because you made a mistake in one of the step before,and in that case is not the brand of the white spirit save you....job

Hello Jorge,
I paint the same way you do, Tamiya acrylics sealed with a coat of Future. To thin my oil washes I use Kleen-Strip Odorless Mineral Spirits purchased at Home Depot. I've never had a problem with it lifting or damaging the Future seal coat. It also works well for dot filtering and streaking with oils over Future.
Andrew

I stick with paint thinner. I use Mona Lisa brand from Michaels as it is odorless. I have also used Kleen Strip but I am wary of using some hardware products as I have had them attack acrylic finishes. Whatever you get, test on something expendable first.

If you have any doubts the best thing you can do is test the thinner on a part of the tank that isn't visible. I used to test on the bottom or under the side skirts of a vehicle if I had to switch brands of thinners. Thinners I got in Europe were different than those I got in Korea and those were different from those I got in the states. Even different going from one coast to the other and often formulations for the same brand would change with time. I could ship my paints but not my glues or thinners so when I got to a new station one of the first things I did was head to the local hobby shops. I sealed the vehicle with dullcoat or glosscoat (didn't use future in those days now I can't find it locally) including the bottom or an area hidden by skirts and then I tested a small section by painting it with a small amount of the thinner and observing what happened. I've had hot thinners that lifted the dullcoat and paint and others that were fine. Some stuff I got in a Korean hobby shop ate the paint and melted the plastic. The one did learn is if a paint manufacturer makes a thinner for its product use that. Also steer away from cheap thinners, you get what you pay for.

Just starting to look at oils, for a number of reasons, and if you have an actual artist supply store near you, go talk to them.

Mineral spirits will thin the paint but there seems to be more to these oils than I have read online. Which is why I went to the artist supply shop. As I had some questions about oils and acrylics.

After spending some time in the shop I feel I got way more than I paid for. The store I mainly go to has been good enough to teach me the differences between the paint brushes, how to care for them, how to handle oil paint, how to mix it and store it, and a load of stuff about the airbrush.

If you use turpentine, use only the best artist quality such as Winsor and Newton, a lesser quality turps can dry with a unwanted sticky sheen. As is said ordinary paint thinner works well.

Folks, Thank you all for your answers, tips and recommendations.

Regards,
Jorge

Hi guys,
I still have a question about thinning oils;

After experiencing troubles with thinning cheap oils with Turpentine I went to the local art store today and bought me a decent tube of winsor and newton.


To avoid any new troubles I asked the shopkeeper 'how to thin oil paints without buying the the expensive mediums'. (I forgot to mention scalemodeling btw)

She adviced me to use "Turpentine" instead of "White spirit" (to avoid cracking), and mix it with "linseed oil" ...
So I went to the home depot and bought me some linseed oil ...



Now I was wondering if any of you have experience with linseed/Turpentine mixes?
Is it usable for scale modeling or better for canvas painting?
Should I mix it 50/50?

Many thanks!
Steven

I use artist white spirits these days and that works pretty well. In Japan, In Japan I used to use stuff labeled as Spirits of Turpentine which worked wonderfully, but I find the Turpentine I get in the art store here is far too aggressive. Even with a coat of future it will still lift acrylics if you are not careful. The white spirits have never given me any trouble.

First put aside the linseed oil or at least use it for untreated wooden furniture, because we do not in fact need as modelers will take away the most we can, that is for the artists on canvas,with the oil take even more time to dry and remains to shiny, for us is the opposite, before using the oil paints, put the color you need on a cardboard for 5 minutes so that the cardboard absorbs the excess linen oil, so the finish is more flat, you'll see that when you open the oil on top there will be a yellowish liquid, that is linseed oil the carrier for Oils

For Turpentine you the need to do some testing because each country and manufacturer have some differences, first in Switzerland I used the cheapest Turpentine and i've never had problems, now here in Oz i buy a good quality "Pure Gum Turpentine" for paint Figurines and beyond not give me problems has a good smell of eucalyptus, instead for washing i use White Spirit from Home depot, which is cheap, dries quickly with zero residues without problems, the only thing is to make a test piece painted with colors which usually uses as a bases

Ok thanks for pointing that out Vicious, will try to return the linseed oil to the home depot...

Kind regards
Steven

Im using artists white spirit,and im very pleased.

Cheers
Ratomir