Need some help here … haven’t painted in awhile and can’t remember what thinner to use with Floquil, is it acetone, laquer thinner, what ?? I know the hobby store sells some special “floquil thinner”, but it’s to far to drive and the local hardware store has several types of thinners, so which is it? And yes I’m happy with the stuff I know there’s other brands, but I’ve had good luck and have been happy with the results.
You don’t use acetone on plastic…PERIOD. Does that clear up anything?
I use plain cheap laquer to clean up Floquil and Floquil thinner for thinning paint.
If you mix it laquer for painting, it may have a negative effect. The plastic may craze or warp.
[2c]
DON’T use acetone or laquer thinner on plastic trains!!! You WILL ruin the body!
I have only shot a few times using Floquil, and always used the floquil thinner. You might be able to use regular paint thinner, but beware. Some paints really require the correct thinner.
An example…way back around 1983, I was about to finish building one of my full scale race cars. We planned on debuting the car in two weeks. A friend of mine came up with some industrial enamel used for painting commercial air compressors, that was the right color for my racecar. The label said to use mineral spirits to thin the paint. We figured since it was enamel paint, we could use enamel reducer to thin the paint, since the body shop we were painting it at didn’t have mineral spirits. BIG MISTAKE!!! It took over 6 weeks for the paint to cure enough so we could even put the car back together after painting!!! Needless to say, we didn’t make the race we planned on, or even the next couple races!
I painted my racecar car trailer with the same paint, using mineral spirits, and it was dry to the touch in about 3 hours!
I airbrush a lot of Lexan R/C and slot car bodies, and have found certain instances where some paints don’t like generic thinners. It’s important to use the thinner recommended by the paint manufacturer, even if it requires a bit of a ride to get the proper thinner.
JMHO
Rotor
The proper name of the floquil thinner is Dio-Sol…
Jeff
One additional suggestion: What the other people her have aid about regular floquil paint and plastic is true. If you do want to use that paint on plastic, Floquil sells a liquid called “Barrier Coat”. You apply this to the plastic before you paint it with the floquil or other laquer -based paint. This will prevent the plastic attack.
Mike,
[#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]
Mineral spirits ought to do the trick for you. Buy a large can of it at the hardware store. It’s a lot cheaper than those small bottles you’ll find at your local hobby store (LHS).
Tom
I used mineral spriits with to thin Floquil no problem. However, I have sworn off solvent based paint, in favor of water based paints like Polly Scale and Modelflex. They thin with distilled water.
Nick
Floquil is now an enamel based paint and not lacquer like it used to be. The label color changed when they converted from a lacquer base. The label was black, then as they went to an enamel base it changed to red. They even have on the bottle now “compatible with plastic”. An old black label bottle I still have, says “to use on plastics first apply Floquil’s Barrier.”
Dio-sol itself is a mixture of Xylol and Tuolene (Tuolol), mostly Xylol . Either one will work to thin floquil. A gallon of either will cost a little more than a quart of Dio-sol. Its also interesting that Scalecoat thinner is also a mixture of Xylol and tuolene but is mostly tuolene. When I was custom painting I would go through a gal of each every two months, I found getting Xylol and Tuolol at the hardware store was a LOT cheaper.
Just remember since any solvent based paint uses a petroleum based thinner, any over application of the thinner will damage plastic.
Understanding a little about chemicals, it’s best to stay away from Toluene. Although I don’t know what percentage of Toluene there is in the Dio-sol, Toluene is nasty stuff (“3” on the NFPA Health rating - i.e. the higher, the worse it is to you) and the vapors should be avoided. Maybe I’ll look up the MSDS for the Dio-sol and see what I find…
Tom