Vallejo Airbrush Thinner Experiment

[stikpusher]

Well today I tried out a couple mix tests of Vallejo Airbrush Thinner with a couple of Acrylic brands that DO NOT work with Mr Leveling Thinner.

first up I tried Model Master Acrylic. Good results. No clumping, gumming up, or any other such mishaps.



I then tried the red headed step child of my acrylic paints, Humbrol Acrylics. Again Good Results. No clumping, gumming up, or other mishaps. There was a bit of grittiness that separated from the paint, but I also had that result with Model Master Universal Acrylic Thinner, and that combo airbrushed reasonably well.



I'll try actually airbrushing the paints in the next few days and post those results here once I have finished that experiment...

[chromdome35]

Thank you for posting this! These are my favorite types of posts! I'm looking forward to your results from the airbursh.

[Tojo72]

Sounds good,no flow improver,just thinner?

[Joe Rix]

Quite interesting. I'm also looking forward to your airbrush test results. Thanks for taking the time to give this a go.

[stikpusher]

Brian, I am curious to see how actual airbrushing works out myself. With quite a few Model Master Acrylics still in my paint drawer, I need some back up for their thinner when I run out...

Tony, yes, no flow improver used here, just the thinner to see how it meshed by itself with Testors and Humbrol.

Joe, I'll get the results posted once I am all done with that session. My pleasure to give this a shot. I think that there are many Model Master Acrylic users who are in the same boat of needing a replacement thinner.

[Tobi]

Is the leveling thinner more related with the dark blue or rather the light blue thinner label? My guess from sniffing the scents it is the dark blue one.
An acrylic paint with which I had massive problems with thinning with any other than the brand thinner was Life Color.

[kyledehart5]

Feb 16, 2024 1:59:44 GMT -5 Tobi said:

Is the leveling thinner more related with the dark blue or rather the light blue thinner label? My guess from sniffing the scents it is the dark blue one.
An acrylic paint with which I had massive problems with thinning with any other than the brand thinner was Life Color.

I believe the leveling thinner label is the lighter one. However the two Mr color thinners are both lacquer thinners. The leveling thinner just includes some retardants to help with flow and self leveling properties. They work great thinning any lacquers or Tamiya-like alcohol based acrylics but won’t work at all with a true water based acrylic.

[brandonk]

I still have two full bottles of MM Acrylic thinner and quite a number of MM acrylic paints along with some Enamels. I think my paints will dry out before I get them used up or run out of the MM thinner. This should prove quite helpful overall.

[stikpusher]

Feb 16, 2024 10:38:59 GMT -5 brandonk said:

I still have two full bottles of MM Acrylic thinner and quite a number of MM acrylic paints along with some Enamels. I think my paints will dry out before I get them used up or run out of the MM thinner. This should prove quite helpful overall.

You're lucky to have that much. There must have been a run on all the local shops where I bought the stuff when it was announced that it was going away. I was never able to get any more.


Today I did the airbrushing test of Vallejo with Model Master Acrylic Concrete, Polly Scale Old Concrete, and Humbrol Hemp(left to right)



Model Master Acrylic worked great at about a 1:1 ratio

Polly Scale had a few heavy bits come out, but otherwise was good. It's an older bottle of mine, so it could be the age of the paint.

Humbrol I gave a slightly higher ratio of thinner to paint, roughly 4:3, and it came out beautifully with zero problems.

[speedgraflex]

So cool. I love seeing old Pollyscale anything get the kind of treatment you’re giving it here! This is all straight no chaser? Just thinner?? I know you answered affirmative above but wow, wow, wow these are some nice results!

[stikpusher]

Feb 20, 2024 14:04:54 GMT -5 speedgraflex said:

So cool. I love seeing old Pollyscale anything get the kind of treatment you’re giving it here! This is all straight no chaser? Just thinner?? I know you answered affirmative above but wow, wow, wow these are some nice results!

Correct, no flow enhancer, no retarder, or any other such additions. Only the named paints and the Vallejo Airbrush Thinner. At least now I know that I have a viable option for those other brands of paints when my Model Master Acrylic Thinner runs out. Which it will one day.