can alcohol thin enamel paint ?

[twisted_jdm_b16]

will rubbing alcohol thin enamel paint that is oil based ?
thats all i have around the house at the moment and i really want to paint my civic hatch .

thanks in advance.

[wouter1981]

I'm not sure, but I wouldn't try it... just way a day a buy some white spirit ;-)

[Lusitano]

Synthetic enamels (Humbrol, Testors/Model Master, Tamiya, Xtracolor): White Spirit ("Artist's Grade" is a little better) or synthetic thinner.

(...or the thinner recommended by the maker of the paint )

Rubbing alcohol really doesn't seem very suitable to me, but I never really tried it anyway...


Cheers,
Luis

[Cold_Fire]

It will be like mixing water and oil. If you try you'll see that you get something strange, not a good idea airbrushing it.

[twisted_jdm_b16]

i haved used alcohol to take off ENAMEL paint off my hands and it works great for that but im not really sure how it would actually react in a mixture with paint thats goin to be sprayed thru an airbrush .

the paint that im goin to be using for this car will be RUST-OLEUM paint .
the color is like an army green .

so for that basically all enamels i should use WHITE SPIRIT ?

[Lusitano]

Originally Posted by twisted_jdm_b16

so for that basically all enamels i should use WHITE SPIRIT ?

Never had a problem.
In my country there are three kinds of white spirit: a "yellowish" one (not recommended), a "clear" one (never had problems with it) and the "Artist Grade", which I mentioned earlier. It's the one I like best and can be found in the art supply stores (the other two can easily be found in the hardware stores pretty cheap ).


Cheers,
Luis

[MPWR]

Originally Posted by twisted_jdm_b16

so for that basically all enamels i should use WHITE SPIRIT ?

Well, white spirit is likely chemically similar enough to most enamels that you probably can use it to thin and have no significant problems. The best thing to use for enamels (or acrylics, or laquers) is whatever thinner the paint manufacturer makes or recommends for their product. There is often a notable increase in performance when you thin with the right stuff. There are often other options that may work- but you also run the risk of incompatibilities. If it makes sense to you to use the cheapest stuff possible (or whatever you have around the house), and you're OK with stripping if it goes bad, go for it. White spirit is what I would use to clean up after spraying enamels.