Good acrylic paint thinner recipe

[jdrico]

I just wanted to share a recipe for an acrylic paint thinner I learned from a pro painter. I used it on the Royal Shad crankbait I recently posted and it worked great! Mix it with a 1:1 ratio with your paint. It is:
4 cups distilled water
1 cup rubbing alcohol
1 cup of Fantastik glass cleaner
5 drops of glycerin

I reduced everything by half and made a smaller batch. Since you can't really split 5 drops of glycerin in half, I used 3 drops.
All this cost me around $7 at WalMart and it is enough to make several batches.

[Jared]

That is one of the things i had the hardest time with... thinning the acrylics properly so that they didnt dry up in the brush while using it. I ended up resorting to buying the expensive brand name thinners... ie.. if i was using tamiya paints.. bought tamiya thinner.. model master.. bought model master thinner... it worked better but I am eager to try your recipe here. Thank yuo for sharing this

What brand of acrylics are you using?

[guppycatcher]

Thanks allot.Today i tried a repaint and thinned the paint with water,Some colors worked and some just made a mess.Tomarrow I guess im goin to tardmart.

[jdrico]

Originally Posted by Jared Pease

That is one of the things i had the hardest time with... thinning the acrylics properly so that they didnt dry up in the brush while using it. I ended up resorting to buying the expensive brand name thinners... ie.. if i was using tamiya paints.. bought tamiya thinner.. model master.. bought model master thinner... it worked better but I am eager to try your recipe here. Thank yuo for sharing this

What brand of acrylics are you using?

I'm using Tamiya, Model Master and Createx. It worked for all three. I was using distilled water alone before and wasn't happy with the results. I also tried the expensive thinners, but this is cheaper, lasts alot longer, and works as good or better.

[jdrico]

Originally Posted by GuppyCatcher

Thanks allot.Today i tried a repaint and thinned the paint with water,Some colors worked and some just made a mess.Tomarrow I guess im goin to tardmart.

I was just using distilled water before and ran into the same problem you have...sometimes it worked and sometimes not.

[Big M]

I used to mess around with thinning paints and I used windex cut 50/50 with distilled water. Now I just buy paints that don't need thinning. Look at the different brands of taxidermy paint like Wildlife colors and Polytraspar or illustration paints like golden and com-art. The illustration paints are the thinnest you will find on the market. I still use severl createx paints but mostly transparents. Now if I thin paint I use a transparent base as my thinner. This is the fun part of painting baits, finding a system that works for you.

[thecrankincracker]

Got to be careful playing around with thinner's though. Some chemical's will keep your clearcoat from adhearing.. Been there, done that. Windex does dry quicker, but water's a little cheaper..lol.. As for paint drying on the tip. The only time I have that happen is when I'm using folk art, cermacoat, etc paints. Mainly the cheaper paints. They'll dry up just sitting there with the lid on. Shelf life is quite short on those. I also prefer the airbrush paint's. Much less hassle and no trouble with compatablity...

[Jared]

Good information here.

I never thoght of checking out the taxidermy or illustration paints. I have mostly model master and tamiya... i do have a lot of folk art and the other cheaper acrylics you can get from walmart... but I always have a hard time using those unless I use my single action with the larger needle.

[guppycatcher]

Sinse I didn`t have anything to put it into I made 2 batches and just put it in the water jug.I`ve just been using alcohol and water for thinner.Thanks again for the heads up.