Using Tamiya acrylic thinner

[boubi]

Hi everybody,
I am sometimes using Tamiya acrylic thinner. It smells like alcohol based, but don't know what it is exactly because only written in Japanese.
I realized that it makes wonderful job for freehand, adding a tiny drop make the paint flow under control and doesn't dry too fast on the brush... But it doesn't work well for layering technique.

Now I would like to know if other people use it for other usage? If yes, which one?

 

[MAXXxxx]

if you mean the X-20A, then I use it to thin paints for spraying with an airbrush.
It works great for almost all brands (gw, p3, tamiya (well daaa )), except for vallejo. Whenever I tried to use it with a Vallejo paint it separated fast and the AB got clogged.

 

[boubi]

if you mean the X-20A, then I use it to thin paints for spraying with an airbrush.
It works great for almost all brands (gw, p3, tamiya (well daaa )), except for vallejo. Whenever I tried to use it with a Vallejo paint it separated fast and the AB got clogged.

Right I also use it sometimes as a airbrush thinner, but sometimes the smell is a bit too strong and not sure about what the thinner is exactly...

 

[RuneBrush]

It is alcohol based and I made the mistake of using it to thin down a pot of GW Foundation paint some time ago for the airbrush (back for the old bottom fed one) - it made the paint coagulate into a rubbery mass

It's also quite good to use for applying & fixing weathering pigments.

 

[Baz]

It's just Isopropyl alcohol.

 

[Royzen]

Speaking of Tamiya thinner,

I don't remember who he was, but just yesterday I also read his thread about him having discovered the "secret" to really good wet/layer blending - by using precisely the Tamiya X-20A thinner. Today I was experimenting on a piece of plastic, and really, it removes the tension and it doesn't dry out as fast as when thinned with water.

But contrary to what he described, I found layering does not work at all! As I start applying my layers with successive little strokes, I found that it dissolves the underlying layers! Even down through the base coat if you apply even more strokes! Man, the blending was looking good initially... I guess using X-20A would have been perfect if this hadn't happened. Then again, I could be doing something wrong.

 

[RuneBrush]

Speaking of Tamiya thinner,

I don't remember who he was, but just yesterday I also read his thread about him having discovered the "secret" to really good wet/layer blending - by using precisely the Tamiya X-20A thinner. Today I was experimenting on a piece of plastic, and really, it removes the tension and it doesn't dry out as fast as when thinned with water.

But contrary to what he described, I found layering does not work at all! As I start applying my layers with successive little strokes, I found that it dissolves the underlying layers! Even down through the base coat if you apply even more strokes! Man, the blending was looking good initially... I guess using X-20A would have been perfect if this hadn't happened. Then again, I could be doing something wrong.

X-20A is alcohol based - very heavily alcohol based (it's a bugger if you airbrush it on neat), so I'm not actually surprised it's removed thin layers of paint. Try a mix of X-20A and water to see if you can reach a halfway point between the two mediums.

 

[boubi]

I personally used one drop of it, especially for the first base layers, where the paint is spreading smoothly on the primer color, with 2 or 3 layers you have a really even base color!
If you want really fluid paint which goes in every corner I advice this thinner. For some layering it works well but just a drop in our mix.