I bought one bottle of Testors Dullcote today and I'm wondering what thinner to use. It would be good if the thinner could also be used for thinning my enamels?

thanks in advance, bye

You can spend a lot on a small bottle of laquer thinner fromTestor's or a little less per unit for their can of airbrush thinner, but I have used the least expensive hardware store generic paint thinner for years without a problem for enamels, dullcoat/glosscoat laquers and oils.

Thanks. What about white spirit? I've got one bottle somewhere. Is it the same thing as mineral spirit, which you (people here) not recommend?

Not sure of the differences between among these three items, so I can't comment. THe stuff I use is simply labled "Paint Thinner".

Ive tried a few different products for thinning enamels... balsamic terpentine, white spirit, etc. and all were recommended by different people who were getting great results. Sooner or later, they destroyed something or other. Parts fell off, paint cracked,etc. Now I dont experiment anymore. I just use humbrols enamle thinner, for all. Washes, thinning and airbrush, enamels and oils. Never lets me down. As for the cost. A bottle does quite a bit, and Im willing to pay the extra for peace of mind!

Lacquer thinner is a most effective enamel thinner and metal cleaner- I keep a gallon upstairs close to the workbence and a couple gallons in the shop. Lacquer thinner is also excellent for bonding styrene parts together but prior to painting you must let the plastic outgas for a few months to ensure the solvents have evaporated.

Cody

Hi there

I agree with Cody... laquer (cellulose) thinners is great stuff - but beware, it's "hot" i.e. it attacks plastic, so it's definitely only suitable for airbrushing. It's particularly good for gloss enamels, which take longer to dry. I also thin some acrylics with it to give them more "bite".

Another thing worth trying is Rustins "Driers". It speeds up the drying time for enamels - the results with Xtracolour paints are astonishing!

I normally use white spirit for matt paints. It doesn't dry as fast, but is less aggressive, very cheap and I've never had a problem.

As for Frank's point about paint cracking or parts falling off... maybe I've been lucky, but I've never had such a problem in 30 years of airbrushing enamels.

The only time I had a problem with paint cracking was with Tamiya acrylics a long time ago...

All the best

Rowan