Windex for cleaning acrylic paints and airbrush

[Night Owl Models]

Its cheap and nothing beats it. Good old Windex for cleaning between color changes when airbrushing, soaking parts overnight or cleaning brushes. Yes it  contains ammonia that's why it works so well. Don't use it directly on a model to remove over spray or spilled paint it will take the paint right down to the plastic pretty quick. Use it for cleaning only not thinning unless you want a blue tinge lol.

[Mstor]

Plus it works on Future clear finish (or whatever its called these days). Its great if you find a flaw in the canopy you dunked in Future the previous day. Just soak in Windex (or any window spray/cleaner with ammonia) and the Future comes right off. Makes sense as when you use Future for its intended use, floors, the way you strip it off the floor is to use ammonia cleaner.

[Napalmakita]

Makes a great cologne too

[Molly Enholm]

Oh next time I will try this. I usually use Iwata-Medea cleaner, it's also very good. It removes stubborn acrylic paint residues and stains. In addition, it blends well with a variety of paintbrushes and art supplies, including technical pens and paintbrushes made of natural and synthetic hair. Furthermore, watercolors, inks, dyes, gouaches, and more can all be removed with this all-purpose cleaner.

Edited November 30, 2023 by Molly Enholm

[Geoff M]

Ammonia does eat through the chrome plating on your airbrush.  

[Curt B]

I am working on cleaning old dried out Tamiya paint bottles to reuse, and Windex works great for that.  In fact, I decided to try using pure ammonia, which works fantastic, though the fumes need to be avoided.  I'm sure that using straight ammonia in your airbrush would work equally well, though I've not tried it.  I always use Windex to clean my airbrush after shooting Tamiya acrylic paint, but  I don't let  it sit in the brush; rather, it's in the brush just long enough to dissolve any residual paint, and then I thoroughly flush the airbrush with water.  I've never had a problem with the chrome on the airbrush, even after years of using Windex as a cleaner.

[Nate]

Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner with the pink lid is amazing - it did a good job the last time I did a deep clean on my Eclipse and I use a little bit during normal cleanup too

[AircraftAddict]

Haha yeah ammonia will definitely get the job done! I usually just stick to the cleaner made for my airbrush though. Less risk of damage that way. Have you tried the Tamiya cleaner? I've heard good things about that one. How long have you been airbrushing for? It's crazy all the little techniques you learn over time.

[Chuck1945]

17 hours ago, AircraftAddict said:

Haha yeah ammonia will definitely get the job done! I usually just stick to the cleaner made for my airbrush though. Less risk of damage that way. Have you tried the Tamiya cleaner? I've heard good things about that one. How long have you been airbrushing for? It's crazy all the little techniques you learn over time.

I use acrylic lacquers for spray painting and clean up with generic lacquer thinner. For last last couple of years I’ve also started any airbrush session by spraying  1/4-1/2 paint cupful through the airbrush using Tamiya (or Gunze) Airbrush Cleaner just to be sure everything is good to go.

[Raptor.777]

Lysol bathroom cleaner is supposed to work really well to

[AircraftAddict]

On 12/1/2023 at 4:39 AM, Chuck1945 said:

I use acrylic lacquers for spray painting and clean up with generic lacquer thinner. For last last couple of years I’ve also started any airbrush session by spraying  1/4-1/2 paint cupful through the airbrush using Tamiya (or Gunze) Airbrush Cleaner just to be sure everything is good to go.

Thanks for the tip on starting each session with cleaner through the airbrush. That's a great idea to make sure it's fully clean. How often do you do a deeper breakdown clean?

 

On 12/2/2023 at 4:00 AM, Raptor.777 said:

Lysol bathroom cleaner is supposed to work really well to

Lysol is an interesting one, I'll have to try that sometime!

[Chuck1945]

20 hours ago, AircraftAddict said:

Thanks for the tip on starting each session with cleaner through the airbrush. That's a great idea to make sure it's fully clean. How often do you do a deeper breakdown clean?

…

Depends on your definition of a deep clean. I always spray thinner through the brush after each color; if I’m doing more than one color and it is possible to do the darker one second, the spray through after the first color is all the cleaning I will do before doing the second, darker color. When a session is over, I’ll remove the needle and nozzle and clean thoroughly. I’ve kept the clear plastic tubes that the needles I use arrive in, and will always store the needle and nozzle/spray cap in those (a piece of foam separates the needle from the tip). Years ago I had problems with the needle getting stuck if I left in the brush so even now with newer brushes I store the brush and needle/tip separately. Perhaps once a year (it varies) I will remove the entire needle and trigger pieces to clean the innards.

[CFster]

On 11/24/2023 at 9:18 AM, Geoff M said:

Ammonia does eat through the chrome plating on your airbrush.  

I’m sorry, this is incorrect.