Ok, I was working on a model for a friend of mine. He bought all the colors from the instructions and the brand is Mr. Color or Mr. Hobby. Anyway, the paint is really clumpy, and dries super fast, even when I poured some in my paint dish it got a skin on top of it after only a minute or so. Then I figured I would use some thinner, when that junk came into contact with the enamle thinner, it turned into a blob and was just no good. Anyone got any ideas. Not sure if these were enamels or acrylics as it is labeled in kanji (stationed in Japan).

Thanks all.

Hi Paul. When it skinned so quickly, my guess it is an acrylic paint. Thinning with enamel thinner is not an option. Have never used this type of paint, but at a guess, water would probably work. You could even try isopropynol alcohol (rubbing alcohol) or Tamiya thinner.
I cant brush paint with acrylics, so I stick with my trusty humbrol enamels. Doesný matter what they recommend on the box!

Hi Paul... maybe I can help you with this.

I use Mr. Color paints (Gunze-Sangyo). To my understanding.. they're mainly Acrylic paints (Laquer based). Haven't seen Mr. Color Enamel paints before. So i'm assuming the paint your friend bought are Acrylic paints. I haven't used such paints for handbrushing before, so I cannot give you answers on how well it's effect is. I think Mr. Color paints are more suitable for airbrushing. They work perfectly fine for me.(That's if you have an airbrush over in Japan)

Mr. Color have their own thinner (Mr. Color Thinner). Go to the LHS in Japan and ask them for their Mr. Color Thinner. They should give you one that's suitable for the Laquer based Mr. Color Acrylic Paints. (If it's the same bottle as mine...it should have a darker blue sticker on the bottle... not the lighter blue one).

HTH..

Mr. Thinner in just laquer thinner in a fancy bottle. Any of the "Mr." series paints from gunze works excellent with regular old hardware store grade laquer thinner. Mineral spirits or paint thinner will turn it into a glob, as you've already found out. No worries, I had to find out the hard way just like you!
Jim