What is a good paint thinner to use with polyscale acrylic? This will be my first time using an airbrush so please give me some input.
Polyscale is water based so I use water to thin & to clean my airbrush.
Tom
Polly S (now floquil if I’m not mistaken) makes an airbru***hinner… Some people just use distilled water… I was once told that the 2 were identical but after getting a whiff of the polly-s thinner, I’m not a believer… However, being an acrylic, the disilled water should work fine… Just make sure you clean the airbrush right away, you don’t want that stuff drying inside…
Good luck,
Jeff
I use Polly S air bru***hinner…I clean the air brush with water.
Water. If the PS airbru***hinner is old, it’ll clump the paint. And water’s free.
I use 90% denatured alcohol to clean up with.
Hi Todd,
I have tried using Delta Ceramcoat acryllic paint in my airbrush and it works great and is available at craft stores for sometimes under a buck on sale. Delta also makes a thinner for airbrushing but it’s not always available at craft stores like Michael’s or Joann’s so I had to go to the internet to buy it at www.craftcatalog.com. When you get to the Delta paint section on their website, click on the “delta mediums” button to see the thinner.
Hope this helps.
Mondo
Distilled water works well on Polly S. I’ve gotten a whiff of their airbru***hinner and it doesn’t smell like any water I’ve ever been near.
Floquil is a solvent-based paint, so you need to use their airbru***hinner for that.
I’ve used water in the past and the PS thinner. I’ve gotten slightly better results with the PS thinner, but that could be related to operator error. Kind of expensive though.
-Tom
100% xylene???
Like others here, I use both distilled water and the PS thinner, And if I screw up really bad I will soak parts in PS paint remover. Have had no problems with that.
Rollieman:
“Polly S” was discontinued by Floquil years ago, Floquil’s current water based paint is called PollyScale or PS for short.
Rollieman:
What you’re smelling in the thinner is a wetting agent. It’s added to help the paint blend better and to prevent the paint from beading up on the surface to be painted.
You can add a few drops of alcohol to the water to achieve the same results. I use the old thinner bottles with a 80%/20% mix of water & alcohol.
Blue Windshield Washer Fluid works fine too. It has a small amount of alcohol in it and it smells better too. All these work with acrylics, Distilled water, 70% alcohol for mixing and 91% only for clean up as it’s too strong and will strip paint off when used incorrectly.
Shows how long it’s been since I bought acrylic paint at the hobby shop… Thanks for the correction…
Jeff
I use Polly S airbru***hinner with Polly Scale paints, with good results. This is the thinner Floquil recommends for the PS paint - no, I don’t know why the “Polly S” name was retained for the thinner and the stripper.
I also have used distilled water, but the PS thinner has an extender that helps the paint flow through the airbrush.
I use the PS thinner for painting and water for clean up. Anyone notice that the new Polly Scale is a lot tuffer than the old Polly S stuff was. I wouldn’t kick a dog in the head with the old stuff, but the new stuff is great! (any thoughts?)
I use windshield washer fluid instead of Polly Scale thinner if I thin the paint at all. I’m finding the Polly Scale straight out of the bottle works great in my Badger single action airbrush fitted w/ a medium tip. I get very good coverage with all the detail.
I’ve had problems with my Polly S ATSF Silver paint beading. Someone suggested using a small drop of dishwash detergent to help break the surface tension - much like the “wet water” glue solution. I haven’t tried it yet.
I too have used the Delta paints. Easy to find railroad color matches. - Dave
Don’t use dish soap with any paint! If you’re having problems with beading, use a few drops of isopropl alcohol instead.
i bought a bottle of Polly S airbru***hinner on the weekend and there’s no way it’s distilled water with a little alcohol as a wetting agent .
first there’s the warning on the label , FLAMMABLE LIQUID AND VAPOR . i’m pretty sure you’d have to add a LOT of alcohol to distilled water to make it burn .
second there’s the CONTAINS: ETHANOL AND PROPYLENE GLYCOL , METHYL ETHER . well now we know what’s in it
third there are the warnings about possible brain damage due to overexposure , using adequate ventilation , and how deliberatly misusing the product by inhaling it can be harmful or cause death .
fourth is the smell . one decent whiff of this stuff and my head was spinning . this is not distilled water !!! use with caution , this stuff is nasty