Substitute for thinner to clean brushes

[Quasqueton]

I'm not much of a mini painter, but I've slowly built up a collection of paints (maybe 20) and brushes (about 10) over the past few years. My paints are a mixture of Testors, Citadel, and Reaper.

For cleaning my brushes, I've been using plain-old Testors thinner. It seems to work just fine, and I've had no problems. But the ~$1+ little bottles don't last long before their all clouded and useless.

I've tried Testors "brush cleaner for enamels" but that is like using water.

What exactly is thinner? Is there a cheap substitute?

I'd appreciate any pointers on this. Again, though, I'm not a hobbiest painter, nor do I do it for fun. I only paint my minis because I "have" to. But I have a *lot* of minis to paint (few dozen that need painting very soon, couple hundred that I'll eventually get to). So keep this in mind -- simpler the better.

Quasqueton

 

[kengar]

The purpose of thinners is exactly what it sounds like; to thin the paint's consistency. This is typically done to get the paint to flow smoothly over the surface of the model. As far as thinning & cleaning, I recommend just using acrylics (not Testor's) and water. There are various products out there to use with acrylics but clean water works just fine for me.

 

[alsih2o]

A giant bottle of paint thinner at the hardware store should cost around $6 and last a Looooong time.

Try putting marbles in the bpttom of a glass jar and then filling it with thinner, the reslulting cleaned paint will settle in the marbles and kep your brush cleaner.

 

[James Heard]

Plus, if you're just painting to get some color onto a mini then you can manage an awful lot more buying craft acrylics at Walmart than you'd ever do otherwise. You could go in, blow a buck at the dollar store to get a can of spraypaint, less than ten bucks on an ENORMOUS amount of craft acrylics (that can sometimes be less than a dollar for two or three times what you'd pay for a better quality acrylic), some plastic cups to put your water in and maybe a few of them done for thinning that monstrous paint down with some water, and then spend your real money on buying a real brush and minis. Then just churn them out. Remember not to ever use craft acrylics on minis without adding water to them though and without priming them first, much too thick and clumpy for that. All in all though, if you're not punching out works of art and you're concerned with price I think you'd be getting all of your painting supplies for forever at less than it cost for a decent mini this way.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

All I use is water!

 

[Thaniel]

One thing I've tried (just because I had some lying around the house) was a little-known product called Charlie's Soap. I won't give a URL for the company's site (not sure if that's against the CoC), but if you do a google search for it, it's right at the top. I use it for cleaning all my art supplies... and everything else I have for that matter. It's quite good.

 

[frankthedm]

Charlie's Soap. I won't give a URL for the company's site (not sure if that's against the CoC),

This is not NotC's board, links are ok.

 

[Halivar]

BFG's got a good point. Craft paints are great if you just want to get some paint on the fig. I've been painting figs for about 7 years now, and I've used everything from Ral Partha paints to craft paints to even Testor's enamels. Everything works, as long as you adapt your technique for your paint (like, don't thin enamel paints with water!).

At Michael's (craft store) you can get Plaid paints for 50 cents a tube, and they last forever. Their color floaters are also very nice. For thinner I just use water and it works great. JH has an excellent point about thinning craft paints first. I usually go 1:1 (thinner-to-paint) for base colors, 3:1 for highlights, and 10:1 for washes.

Of course, if you want to do more than just slather paint on a fig, you have to get Citadel. It' s the only paint for hi-q multi-toning (actually, I did figure out how to do this with Plaid, but it's a pain).

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

Of course, if you want to do more than just slather paint on a fig, you have to get Citadel. It' s the only paint for hi-q multi-toning (actually, I did figure out how to do this with Plaid, but it's a pain).

I think there are more than a few people here who would disagree that they are the only paints to use. There are several other very good paints, some better than Citadel, IMHO. Vallejo Model & Game colors, for instance.

 

[nyrfherdr]

If you are using Acrylic or water based paints you can clean your brush with a mild soap and water. You can get by with just water, but if you baby your brush with a little soap and water at the end of every painting session it will last longer.

If you are using enamels, I recommend using a different set of brushes. Thinner is the best cleaner, and as Alsi2ho mentions, most hardware stores sell tinner in large quantities for very reasonable prices. You only need thinner for thinning enamels and cleaning up afterwards.
Baby these brushes too. Don't just swirl them around in a jar. Use clean thnner, use your fingers to help clean the bristles, flatten them out and put them where they won't get bent.
Then clean your fingers with a little thinner and wash up with soap and water.

Many painters can get great results with lots of different types of paints. From the inexpensive craft paints, to the most expensive hobby specific paints.
The key is a quality mini and a quality brush!

(For other techniques, check out Pogre's lessons and advice. They are excellent.)