Oderless Mineral Spirits....

[F-16]

I would like to get some regular Mineral Spirits to thin my MM enamel paint. However, I can only find Oderless Mineral Spirits in the stores.

What is the difference? Is one better than the other?

I thought I read here not to use the Oderless MS in MM enamel paint? Is this true and why?

Some have also said that getting Mineral Spirits is cheaper than the MM Enamel thinner?

Scott
CNJC-IPMS

[Kurt H.]

You should be able to find regular mineral sprits in a store like Lowes or Home Depot. It should be in the area of the store near paint related chemicals, It comes in the metal cans like lacquer thinner, as well as plastic bottles. It is cheaper than MM thinner, but I do not know how well it will work to thin MM paint.  I remember using mineral spirits to clean my airbrush before discovering lacquer thinner, and also using it to clean paint brushes after using Testors enamel paint.

 

I keep odorless mineral spirits around for using Oil paints,  it comes in small glass jars from art supply stores. I have not tried it with model master enamels. It is my understanding is the difference between normal mineral spirits and odorless is that it is refined longer to eliminate what ever is in it which makes it smell.  Just by observation, the odorless seems less harsh than the stuff from the hardware store. 

 

I hope that answers some of your questions. 

[crackerjazz]

Odorless mineral spirits dry slower than mineral spirits and have lower solvency.   Odorless mineral spirits are excellent for  oil paint weathering, where you want keep handbrushing for long periods without fear of it drying up right away.   I notice it does dissolve enamel but haven't really used it to thin enamel.   If you can get Mr. Color Leveling thinner for your enamels, though, that stuff is the best!  It's lacquer-based but works really good even for enamel paint and Tamiya acrylics.

[Roberto123]

I use lacquer thinner for my MM paint.

[TheRealMrEd]

I use MM thinner exclusively to thin MM enamels. Year ago, I tried some other brands of lacquer thinner, with so-so results. I do use LT  or mineral spirits to clean brushes or air brushes.

 

Ed

[viking73]

A little late to reply here but yes, I would use Testors MM thinner to thin MM paints to airbrush them.  I used to use hardware store lacquer thinner to thin them.  Yes, it is much cheaper than MM thinner but sometime I'd get good results, sometimes I wouldn't.  I decided to try MM thinner and I'm sure glad I did. My airbrushing is much more consistent (and the paint is much smoother) now that I switched to Testors MM thinner.  Do yourself a favor and try it too.  I still use hardware store lacquer thinner to clean my airbrush after a painting session but no longer will I use it to thin my paint.

 

Hope this helps, let us know what you come up with!

 

-Derek

 

[Grey Ghost 531]

Here's another late reply. I use Mr. Color Leveling Thinner for almost all of my paint reducing. It's the only thing I've found that works at all with MM flat black. Everything else seems to clot.

 

It's also really good for thinning Alclad II Primer/Fillers and Mr. Surfacer. It works well on Tamiya acrylics too.

[admiralcag]

On 8/28/2018 at 4:41 PM, Grey Ghost 531 said:

Here's another late reply. I use Mr. Color Leveling Thinner for almost all of my paint reducing. It's the only thing I've found that works at all with MM flat black. Everything else seems to clot.

 

It's also really good for thinning Alclad II Primer/Fillers and Mr. Surfacer. It works well on Tamiya acrylics too.

 

I use it extensively also. Great stuff.

 

Vern