Thinning dry paint

[michael1]

Hoping someone might have a suggestion on how to thin both acrylic and oil paint.

thank you

[Medina1128]

When using acrylics, I use either ready to paint modeling acrylics that you shoot without any thinning. I also use the Apple Barrel acrylics, available from various outlets. For those, you can thin them with water, although I prefer to thin them with 70% alcohol. You can also use 91%, which has a lower water content. 

 

For solvent based paints, there are various thinners you can use. I've recently discovered TruColor paints, which I've been told is an acetone based paint. These are ready to shoot paints. If you have older paint, that is thickening, use the appropriate thinner. I use a battery powered paint mixer that's available from Micro-Mark

Cordless paint mixer

[ricktrains4824]

I have also used plain old distilled water for thinning acrylics. Do not use mineral, tap, drinking or spring water though! It will leave a film of "impurities" on whatever you've painted. 

Bonus is distilled water for thinning acrylics is quite cheap. Most grocery and/or big-box stores sell it in gallon size jugs for around $1-$1.50. 

If you use enamel, or oil based paint, don't be fooled into paying the $$$ for the small, "hobbiest" specialty thinner bottles, the large pint thinner, for almost the same price, (sometimes even less!), is exactly the same stuff.

[doctorwayne]

I'm curious about the use of "dry" in the thread title:  if the paint is drying out in the bottle, you can try using whatever the manufacturer recommends as the appropriate thinner, but often there is a particular component of the paint which most affected by the drying.  That may mean that such a component, once dry, is no longer soluble, even in the solvent originally used as the vehicle for that particular paint.  In that case, the paint is probably not salvageable.
As for ready-to-spray paint, this is a dumb idea which assumes that every painting job requires, and that every modeller owns, an airbrush.  As noted, suitable thinners for most model paints are available in larger quantities at very affordable prices, so thinning a paint for spraying shouldn't be a hardship for anyone.  And when you need to brush paint, you aren't required to have a duplicate stock of non-pre-thinned paints for that purpose.  Who airbrushes small applied details or figures?

And as for pre-thinned, is that version suitable for all airbrushing?  I would never use a paint thinned for full-coverage airbrushing if I were weathering a car or locomotive.  Most model paints of the recent past were brush-ready right out of the bottle, and required the use of 20-50% thinner for general airbrushing, but that could go as high as 90% for applying weathering.
We're being sold paint comprised more of the cheap component (the thinner) and less of the more costly component (the pigment), yet the price has not been reduced, and the paint is virtually useless for brush painting.

Wayne

[zstripe]

Wayne,

Now without a doubt in My mind....I agree with Your post 100%.

Take Care! 

Frank

Btw: I would like to see anyone rattle can or air-brush these:

[doctorwayne]

zstripe

....I would like to see anyone rattle can or air-brush these....

The airbrushing part would be a piece of cake, but the masking....

[bing&kathy]

Distilled water is available for free if you, or someone you know, runs a dehumidifier. That water is same as distilled provided the tank is clean. The water from your A/C unit, same thing.