Lacquer thinner and Revell Aqua paint.

[TimM63]

So a tried to thin Revell Aqua paint with a hardware store lacquer thinner and ended up with a coagulated mess.
Not sure why. I thought you could thin pretty much any paint with lacquer thinner.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thanks.

 

[urumomo]

The acrylic resin must be compatible with alcohols and ketones .
That water base acrylic polymerizes into snot when exposed to the functional group , like the OH on the alcohol -- it acts as a nucleophile and sets off the polymerization .

 

[TimM63]

The acrylic resin must be compatible with alcohols and ketones .
That water base acrylic polymerizes into snot when exposed to the functional group , like the OH on the alcohol -- it acts as a nucleophile and sets off the polymerization .

In English please.

 

[urumomo]

All those hardware store lacquer thinners are mostly alcohol and acetone .
Those make the acrylic monomer in the paint link up into the polymer chains -- so it turns to snot before you can apply it .

You can use that lacquer thinner with acrylic paints that utilize acrylic resins that are solvent compatible , " lacquer acrylics " <--- not a technical term .
Examples are AK Real Color , Tamiya's acrylic paints , Mr Color , Createx ....

Brief overview of types of acrylic resins used in paints ( probably not in " English " ) : https://coatings.specialchem.com/selection-guide/acrylic-resins

 

[TimM63]

All those hardware store lacquer thinners are mostly alcohol and acetone .
Those make the acrylic monomer in the paint link up into the polymer chains -- so it turns to snot before you can apply it .

You can use that lacquer thinner with acrylic paints that utilize acrylic resins that are solvent compatible , " lacquer acrylics " <--- not a technical term .
Examples are AK Real Color , Tamiya's acrylic paints , Mr Color , Createx ....

Brief overview of types of acrylic resins used in paints ( probably not in " English " ) : https://coatings.specialchem.com/selection-guide/acrylic-resins

Nice. Thanks for the info. I have been slowly switching my paint over to AK Real Color, with some Mr Hobby (Mr Color) thrown in.

 

[BlackSheepTwoOneFour]

So a tried to thin Revell Aqua paint with a hardware store lacquer thinner and ended up with a coagulated mess.
Not sure why. I thought you could thin pretty much any paint with lacquer thinner.
Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thanks.

No surprise. Not all paints play nice using lacquer thinner.

Mr. Color brand paint thinned with lacquer thinner leaves behind a spiderwebbing mess out of the airbrush. A bigger mess trying to clean airbrush with lacquer thinner. Use Mr. Color/Mr. Hobby brand of thinner when using Mr. Color paints !!!! A word of caution…. their thinner line and paint is very stinky.
I prefer Gunze line of paint instead. Here's how to tell whether you're getting Gunze or Mr. Color paints.

Gunze are acrylics but not stinky like Mr. Color. Gunze starts with the letter H followed by the number - ie: H36 Dark Green is Gunze. Mr. Color starts with the letter C followed by the number, ie: C17 Dark Green is Mr. Color.

Some colors share the same number - ie: Gunze Green RLM 73 is H309, Mr.Color Green RLM 73 is C309

I prefer using Gunze over Mr.Color any day. Mr. Color does have a tendency to be on the thick side - especially when thinning for airbrushing. Thin Mr. Color in a small plastic shot glass first before putting in the AB cup. I learned this the hard way. From now on, I stay away from Mr. Color and get Gunze instead. Gunze is easier to work with and a breeze for airbrushing.

Gunze brand works fine with lacquer thinner though

PollyScale thins best with water or acrylic thinner. Railroad color line as well.

Aeromaster thins with acrylic thinner

Mission Models airbrushes straight out of the bottle. Downside is they scratch easily if handled rough. A primer coat is a must.

I use lacquer thinner to thin:

Tamiya acrylics/lacquers - I usually thin their acrylic line with Tamiya's brand thinner if I have it on hand. Ran out of their thinner so lacquer thinner worked just fine.

Testors Model Master acrylics and enamel - including the small square bottles of enamel paints

AK Interactive Real Colors

Humbrol enamels