Quick Thinner Question!

Does mineral spirits serve as a good thinner for enamel paints?(using Testors now) I'm looking for something more affordable than the testors thinner Ive been using...any suggestions? Thanks,Chris

No.

Testors enamel thinner works well as a thinner for Testors enamel.

Don't cheap out on thinner for spraying paint. You can clean up after spraying with cheap stuff, but using cheap thinner to reduce your paint for spraying is a great way of sabotaging yourself.

Stripping and repainting a body because the paint didn't come out well is always more expensive than using the right thinner....

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

Thanks for the quick response guys!

Yup.
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Chris - you don't want to go on the cheap with paint systems. Paint is just chemicals and pigment that produce the desired finish. It is possible to substitute chemicals with any reaction, but the results are not guaranteed. The little extra you pay for the Testors thinners will more than pay off in the desired finish. It is a bi*ch to have to remove a bad paint job and start over. - John

You don't need Testors enamel thinner for Testors enamels. Mineral spirits might work, but honestly if you still want to stay with an "oily" thinner, then just use the wildly overpriced Testors stuff.

I was clued into using cheap lacquer thinner w/Testors enamels back in the early 80's, and never looked back. The guy who painted all the models for the first issue of Testors Model Master and car paints, Henry Gonzales, worked at a LHS near LA, and is the one who told me about using lacquer thinner, and buffing the paint out like lacquers. At that time I was using automotive lacquers that required using Floquil "Barrier" that is no longer available.

Donn Yost, who has a popular DVD on painting model cars, almost exclusively uses old-school enamels thinned w/lacquer thinner. I have award-winning models w/award-winning paint (best paint at the GSL in '97) with a model shot in Testors enamels thinned w/lacquer thinner.

I use the cheap lacquer thinner that you can get at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. Never a problem, never any reaction w/plastic...ever. The paint flows very nicely, dries a little faster, and you can get a gallon for what a half pint of Testors costs.

You don't need Testors enamel thinner for Testors enamels. Mineral spirits might work, but honestly if you still want to stay with an "oily" thinner, then just use the wildly overpriced Testors stuff.

I was clued into using cheap lacquer thinner w/Testors enamels back in the early 80's, and never looked back. The guy who painted all the models for the first issue of Testors Model Master and car paints, Henry Gonzales, worked at a LHS near LA, and is the one who told me about using lacquer thinner, and buffing the paint out like lacquers. At that time I was using automotive lacquers that required using Floquil "Barrier" that is no longer available.

Donn Yost, who has a popular DVD on painting model cars, almost exclusively uses old-school enamels thinned w/lacquer thinner. I have award-winning models w/award-winning paint (best paint at the GSL in '97) with a model shot in Testors enamels thinned w/lacquer thinner.

I use the cheap lacquer thinner that you can get at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. Never a problem, never any reaction w/plastic...ever. The paint flows very nicely, dries a little faster, and you can get a gallon for what a half pint of Testors costs.

I second that, even though its been a while since I've used Testors enamel paints.

Thanks everybody,I'm goin to experiment w/each approach CB