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I wonder if cement works as aibrush cleaner too!??? Every cheap airbrush I own (and is still operational) are recently cleaned, maintained + needles reconditioned,all 5 of them.And as each one has specific use don't want to destroy perfect status in department of airbrushes.
Video changed my life. I always build and kit bash in large amounts, then I prime everything in large amounts, then I paint in large amounts. I burned through so much cement glue and spray paint, and I have been looking for alternatives, but now i could simply just refill my cement glue and sprue glue bottles. Huge money saver.
Knowing that acetone melts styrene, and gluing plastic models is actually a process of micromelting plastic together, this makes perfect sense. Thanks a million.
@@JuanHidalgoMiniatures I find It Very Sad, Because my brother and I won The mechagaikotsu giveaway some months Ago, and we are Full of runners with no use We won 13 gunpla models. And sometimes I wish I could use the runners tô fix some parts or even more
The 1% difference in material composition is likely a production tolerance. I'm a production engineer and I've used similar loopholes to describe the same product as 2 different ones. No doubt in my mind that these are identical. Great video. I think I've bought my last Extra Thin 👍
Theres a great older video from 1950 of a guy assembling plastic models, and he has what looks like his own made up plastic glue, with the jar taped to a brick. im guessing he had already knocked one jar over. I saw that and thought it was very good idea :)
Now THIS is an actual secret tip. Like, 99% of secret tips are neither secret, nor helpful, but this one is. I was hesitant to get it before, because I found it hard to come by in Germany (i tried during the heoght of covid to be fair) but now I'll look into it again, for sure!
Saw this recently, double checked the product safety sheets, bought a couple of bottles, Juan is absolutely correct and I now have all the Tamiya super thin glue AND all the sprue glue I need. Definitely recommend.👍
Hmmm, I really want to believe this. So according to this logic, tamiya thin will bond plastic and yet clean paint from an airbrush. So it's a bonder and a paint thinner, supposedly? My question is, will it bond my fingers together as well? I always assumed it would. Im confused lol. How can paint thinner bond skin? Enquiring minds want to know.
No it won't bond your fingers, because it's not really glue. It's solvents, and solvents can melt plastic and clean paint. That's how plastic cement works, it melts the plastic and fuses the two pieces together
Have ever got plastic cement onto something you've already painted? It'll flake that right off the surface. So yeah, it does both things very well.@@BlueGillage
Most plastic glues (including one you showed in this video) are a solution of plastic (polystyrene) in butyl acetate, sometimes with some other add-ons. Which means you can revive a "dried" plastic glue - usually becoming half a bottle of transparent plastic - just by adding butyl acetate. And that "sprue goo" is therefore the same solution but with more polystyrene in less solvent. You can also make your own plastic glue by simply dissolvin sprue leftovers (transparent polystyrene for that professional transparent look) in butyl acetate. Which costs close to nothing, 1 Liter for 10 Euros in my local chemistry store.
That's not true, not in this case. Tamiya Extra Thin and similar glues do not contain any sort of plastics. It's pure solvent. Tamiya Extra Thin is a 50:50 mix of butyl acetate and acetone, quick setting version swaps butyl acetate for ethyl acetate and adds third solvent, but I don't remember what it is. You can just pick up a bottle of acetone and butyl acetate and have literally liters of the Extra Thin Cement for just a few bucks. And DON'T add any plastics into it, that's what makes Tamiya Extra Thin so great - it has no fillers.
Here's a tip for you,just add varying amounts of clear sprue to the airbrush cleaner and you can create whatever viscosity you like to suit yourself,hope this helps
I have used something called EMA Plastic Weld for ages and that is a very similar type of liquid to the Tamiya stuff. It is dichloromethane which can be otherwise bought for less than £5 for half a litre here in the UK. Chuck in a glass funnel and you have years of refills for very little cost.
Heh. Today I learned... Need to get my hands on a bottle of airbrush cleaner even though I've never touched an airbrush. This kind of simple advice is what this hobby lives and dies by. Will happily pass the knowledge on to others, like you've done today.
And I was just considering switching from the Revell needle-dropper plastic glue to Tamiya extra thin, too. Looks like I'll be getting some of the airbrush cleaner instead. Thanks for the tip!
Been hobbying for many years. After watching this video, I feel ignorant, but then smart, so close together it feels like its at the same time. Cheers.
Thank you Juan, I have just confirmed this through other video's. The benefit with using the air brush cleaner as a glue is that you can still use it to clean your airbrush!
Good old plain lacquer thinner, sold at your local hardware store, does the same job and is much cheaper. Lacquer thinner is made of Butyl Acetate, Acetone, and other chemicals. I have used it for many years not only to glue polystyrene but also to clean my airbrush.
For anyone interested, the quick setting cement is just 40% acetone, 40% butyl acetate , 20% methyl ethyl ketone (also called butanone). So if you want to replicate it, 4 parts airbrush cleaner, 1 part MEK.
Yeah same goes for Mr cement SP just that its ethyl acetate and acetone. Butanon is used in mr cement the regular version but might be banned soon as butanon (mek) is now on the list of dangerous carcinogen.
Awesome! If you have any other tips like this you want to share feel free to send them to juanhidalgo.miniatures@gmail.com I would love to make more videos about this.
I'm fairly new to the hobby, relatively speaking, and I was literally about to buy the Extra Thin Plastic Glue. I'll be buying the Airbrush Cleaner instead. Thank you so much for the tip!! I'd love to hear some more.
Thank you! I shared this video on Facebook modeling sites, and everyone who responded said they also did not know these products were essentially identical!
I am very new to the miniature hobby and this blew my mind! I checked, and in Canada, the air brush cleaner (of 250 mL) is actually cheaper ($15) than the 40 mL Tamiya thin cement bottle ($18.99)! 🤣
Where in Canada do you live? I live in Ottawa area and I get extra thin for $6.99 and Airbrush cleaner for $13.99. very similar pricing in Montreal and Toronto too. Fun fact: I bought my first airbrush 3 years ago and after a year of cleaning with Tamiya airbrush cleaner I noticed two of my o-rings dissolved! I called the manufacturer for replacement rings explaining how it happened and he told me to avoid using Tamiya cleaner because it was solvent based and too harsh. He recommended using Vallejo cleaner instead.
Thank you for this, I believe you. I found you just after ordering both of those, but now I'll have the fancy bottles to refill with the airbrush cleaner.
Well, I didn’t know this, and need to get more for sprue glue and all these awesome Eldar models we need to put together! I don’t mind revells applicator though, and the little extra viscosity for many models. Great tip!
I am not a model builder, but I am trying to fix an irreplaceable acrylic part. I hope that this will work better than super glue (CA). Thank you so much for your honesty and advice to your fellow builders.
In New Jersey, USA, it's $3.50 for Extra Thin & $10 for a bottle Tamiya Acrylic Thinner. But more In a Thinner bottle & I like the idea of not over glue with paint brush, & also putting old sprues into Thinner basically & making glue.
Awesome tip and I cant wait to try it. Heres another $ saver. Testors paint brush thinner cost like $6 for 1.75oz bottle. A quart of lacquer thinner costs about $10. It works better and you get 16x the amount more. Its the equivalent of buying $108 of small Testors bottles. Again, ty sir.
Ive had my tamiya extra thin for 4 years now building 50+ minis and a couple of scale kits, and the thing is still half full. still a great recommendation juan!
I got a 32OZ bottle of both, mixed in a glass gallon jug, now I have enough cement to build a 1:1 battleship AND make my airbrushes squeaky clean for years to come! Thanks!
This is a very useful video. I don't use "convenience" airbrush cleaners, so I had no idea about this. It isn't the cheapest solution though. I use acetone and styrofoam instead of Tamiya Extra Thin. I usually buy a 1 litre can of acetone for 5 Euros (1 litre equals 25 bottles of Tamiya Extra Thin!). The styrofoam (= foam styrene) comes for free as packaging material. Before using it make sure that it's absolutely clean and free of dust, greas and oil. For the 40 ml bottle you start with 35 ml of acetone and an A5-sized piece of styrofoam, about 1 cm thick. Cut or tear off pieces that are small enough to fit through the bottle neck. Pour the acetone into the bottle and add the styrofoam pieces one by one. The styrofoam dissolves completely in the 40 ml glue bottle. If you prefer a slightly thicker glue, just use 30 ml of acetone and carefully add more styrofoam till you find the consistency you prefer. In both cases you'll notice that there's still some room left in the bottle after the styrofoam has "gone". You can fill it up with acetone. You can also use pure acetone. In that case its characteristics are very similar to "Plastic Weld", but decisively cheaper. You want to be careful not to flood your styrene parts with this extra thin glue, especially if you use pure acetone. You can smell it when you open the can: acetone is a very strong dissolvant. It'll "eat" styrene if you apply it too generously, but if you use the tiny brush of an empty Tamiya glue bottle you'll be absolutey fine. Acetone evaporates within seconds and won't leave any residue. Make sure you work in a well ventilated place, but I guess all modellers know and do this anyway. I use this homemade glue since the early 1980s and this way I had "Tamiya Extra Thin" long before Tamiya even thought of inventing it. I got the trick from an old model railroader back then. He built H0 scale buildings from scratch, using sheet styrene. That guy saved me tons of money!
I'm going to get the airbrush cleaner and just keep filling my small container. I do enjoy the applicator and the ease of use. Plus less likely to knock it over (i'm a clutz some times)
I just bought Some Plastruct Bondene to do plasticard work and build models. I knew there was a lot of acetate in it. This just game me the recipe to make my own batch. Thank you so much!
As a follow-up, as you sparked my curiosity, I checked the difference between the "quick setting" version of Tamiya's extra-thin plastic cement. the "Butyl Acetate" is replaced with "ethyl acetate" (both are common esthers used in nail varnishes), which evaporates a lot faster due to lower flash point. So that's just it. Acetone + an esther solvent. The aceton melts the PVC, the esther is just a filler which when evaporated, lets the acetone evaporate, and the melted plastic solidifies again.
it`s not (only) the content that makes "cement" more expensive: it is the container (glass) and the applicator. the cleaner is just plastic with a plastic cap.
I have two glass Testors liquid cement bottles, with the original brushes from 1968, that I've refilled with hardware store lacquer thinner since they were first used up. I've never had a model joint failure.
It’s an MSDS In the US. Material safety data sheet. I’m pretty sure it’s the same world wide. It is common knowledge to me that they are virtually identical but not identical.
I was cringing at thinking about buying another bottle of this stuff. I have seen people make model cement out of a bottle of it but I didn't want to purchase another bottle to sacrifice for this purpose. With this hack I can fill my old bottle and make some cement too! Thanks :)
Where I'm from, we can buy automotive acrylic paint and thinner from paint specialty stores. Automotive acrylic thinner works like plastic cement, and has the consistency of water and can be applied the way you used that airbrush cleaner. It's got strong fumes, but it's cheaper than plastic cement.
A grest tip, veteran modeller of almost 50 yrs and never knew. I usually buy the glue 2 bottles at a time, buying this in future will get me 3x as much..
Hold on... So you want to say that ppl who were using this airbrush cleaner, clean there airbrush with plastic cement? Omg. Ok this is revelation! I bought my self that green pot after start watching your videos and now will keep that in mind for the refill! Love you man!
This was really useful and well timed, just coming to the end of my current bottle of plastic magic, if I can re use it with some of this I will. Thank you very much
@@Isolated.Outpost a well timed comment, as I've just come to the end of these Tamiya bottles. The Tamiya is weaker, ever so slightly, than plastic magic, however, I don't seem to be able to get hold of plastic magic either, I can live with the Tamiya, so I'm gonna find a refil and stick with it.
Thanks for the Info. I like how you thought outside the square. Seems like 85% of any population just buy what's in front of them no thinking around it's chemical structure. Wait until they work out what's in all cleaning products and also how similar the stuff in shampoo's are !
This was really helpful. I was just about to run out of my Tamiya so I was looking for a cheaper alternative. Weld On 3 and Plastruct both look very promising and are probably stronger but this is all I really need and is even cheaper. Thank you
When i saw the ingredients list i laughed. I can buy 5l of acetone and 5l of butyl acetate for £32.70. Thats 10 liters. SO i can refil my bottles 250 times for 13 pence each time. My pile of shame is big but not that big lol
tks man two liters of diy glue/airbrush cleaner costs 25 euro . and i never thought of checking the safety datasheets , now i can potentialy mix a lot of stuff myself as long as i have access to the ingredients.
This was great cuz I have a bottle of it and was thinking about when I need to buy more, now seeing this I can just refill it. Thank you so much my friend
I ran into a similar situation. I've always used Plastruct's non toxic Weldene for model glue. Unfortunately, Plastruct stopped its production a few years back. After some sleuthing I discovered that Weldene is (or was) a styrene solvent derived from citrus fruit oil known as Limonene. The chemical is typically used as a (more or less) non toxic "green" industrial cleaner and solvent. Although it's not easily available (you won't find it at your local hardware store), Limonene is readily found on line and about half the price of Weldene per unit cost (Although this last point is moot since, as I mentioned, Weldene isn't made anymore). I should note however, Limonene is highly flammable and a skin irritant so you still need to take caution when using it.
I've refilled my Tamiya extra thin glue container many times from a quart can of Metyl Ethyl Ketone. It's an excellent styrene solvent. It cleans red enamel paint from my brushes, too. The price on my 32-ounce can is $9.00 US.
If you want to save even more money, buy just straight acetone, which works great as a polystyrene solvent. You can get it at a building supply store or paint store, or if you don't want to buy a half-liter at a time, you can get acetone as a nail-polish remover as well. Acetone is quite volatile, so it will evaporate quite quickly, for both good and ill. When flowed into a gap, though (as is normal for plastic model kit assembly), it has plenty of time to soften and weld the joint.
55 years of building, and I'm still learning. I have both items. I'll use the savings to buy another kit to add to my collection of 57 unbuilt car models. I do find that some glues behave differently from other glues depending on the kit manufacturer, so I'll do some testing
selling two of the same products for different prices is absolutely standard practice in pretty much every industry from food to pharmaceuticals. The reason they do this, in my opinion, is so if they ever get asked what the difference between those two is they can reply "it's a different formula" and it wouldn't be a blatant lie.
I literally just bought some of this on (a very good) recommendation 3 days ago after the GW one clogged up within 2 days after purchase. Not too bothered though, it was my first purchase so I got the container/brush from the initial buy and can use this once I replenish with this cleaner in future. Thanks!
So This will apply to any soft plastic glue container, especially the larger cyanoacrylate glues containers. You have two sizes you can squeeze and they do different things. Press on the wide front/back sides and glue will come out due to less volume area in the container. Press on the sides and the font and back will expand and cause any glue/solvents on the tip to then suck back into the container. Don't ever touch the tip on a surface, and don't ever shove anything to clear a clog. Both will introduce contamination which will catalyze the glue and cause it to activate.. for metal tipped applicators, a nice bit of fire also does the job but don't breathe it in as cyanoacrylate releases cyanide gas upon burning. Instead, pour a few drops on a surface and use thin thing to spread the glue. Having to carry cyanoacrylate glues for tours you end up learning a few things along the way.
A even cheaper option is MEK, methyl ethyl ketone. Available in North America, but don’t know about Europe. It is toxic, but Canadian Tire in Canada sells it in manageable 1 litre containers.
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I wonder if cement works as aibrush cleaner too!???
Every cheap airbrush I own (and is still operational) are recently cleaned, maintained + needles reconditioned,all 5 of them.And as each one has specific use don't want to destroy perfect status in department of airbrushes.
It does, but it's an extremely aggressive cleaner so be careful with o-rings and plastic or rubber parts
Video changed my life. I always build and kit bash in large amounts, then I prime everything in large amounts, then I paint in large amounts. I burned through so much cement glue and spray paint, and I have been looking for alternatives, but now i could simply just refill my cement glue and sprue glue bottles. Huge money saver.
Happy to help!!
Knowing that acetone melts styrene, and gluing plastic models is actually a process of micromelting plastic together, this makes perfect sense. Thanks a million.
Happy to help
@@JuanHidalgoMiniaturesIs there any substitute for acetone? In my country 100% acetone cannot be sold by anyone...
@miguelpaivabezerra34 not that i know of sorry
@@JuanHidalgoMiniatures I find It Very Sad, Because my brother and I won The mechagaikotsu giveaway some months Ago, and we are Full of runners with no use
We won 13 gunpla models. And sometimes I wish I could use the runners tô fix some parts or even more
It's not melting, it's dissolving. Melting is a heating process and this is a chemical process.
The 1% difference in material composition is likely a production tolerance. I'm a production engineer and I've used similar loopholes to describe the same product as 2 different ones. No doubt in my mind that these are identical. Great video. I think I've bought my last Extra Thin 👍
Thanks mate, good to have confirmation of my suspicions from a professional
I bet there is a lot of old modeller wisdom out there that not everyone knows. Might be an interesting miniseries to research.
Indeed! I was genuinely surprised people didn't knew this. It might be cool to look for more tips like this
Theres a great older video from 1950 of a guy assembling plastic models, and he has what looks like his own made up plastic glue, with the jar taped to a brick. im guessing he had already knocked one jar over. I saw that and thought it was very good idea :)
Old (and new, they still come out!) modelling magazines are treasure throve of modelling knowledge!
Also, things like basic chemistry seem also lost on the last couple of generations
I mean it was only like... December when I learned about Sprue Goo
I've been building models for 40 years, I had no idea. Thank you.
Happy to help 😘
Now THIS is an actual secret tip. Like, 99% of secret tips are neither secret, nor helpful, but this one is. I was hesitant to get it before, because I found it hard to come by in Germany (i tried during the heoght of covid to be fair) but now I'll look into it again, for sure!
Happy to help, I never do clickbait. I always deliver
To be honest, Juan is one of the few youtubers (that I know at least) who provide actual and useful tips
AWWWWWW 😘
Saw this recently, double checked the product safety sheets, bought a couple of bottles, Juan is absolutely correct and I now have all the Tamiya super thin glue AND all the sprue glue I need. Definitely recommend.👍
Thanks. Happy to help
Hmmm, I really want to believe this. So according to this logic, tamiya thin will bond plastic and yet clean paint from an airbrush. So it's a bonder and a paint thinner, supposedly? My question is, will it bond my fingers together as well? I always assumed it would. Im confused lol. How can paint thinner bond skin? Enquiring minds want to know.
No it won't bond your fingers, because it's not really glue.
It's solvents, and solvents can melt plastic and clean paint. That's how plastic cement works, it melts the plastic and fuses the two pieces together
Have ever got plastic cement onto something you've already painted? It'll flake that right off the surface. So yeah, it does both things very well.@@BlueGillage
Most plastic glues (including one you showed in this video) are a solution of plastic (polystyrene) in butyl acetate, sometimes with some other add-ons. Which means you can revive a "dried" plastic glue - usually becoming half a bottle of transparent plastic - just by adding butyl acetate. And that "sprue goo" is therefore the same solution but with more polystyrene in less solvent. You can also make your own plastic glue by simply dissolvin sprue leftovers (transparent polystyrene for that professional transparent look) in butyl acetate. Which costs close to nothing, 1 Liter for 10 Euros in my local chemistry store.
Good tip!
That's not true, not in this case. Tamiya Extra Thin and similar glues do not contain any sort of plastics. It's pure solvent. Tamiya Extra Thin is a 50:50 mix of butyl acetate and acetone, quick setting version swaps butyl acetate for ethyl acetate and adds third solvent, but I don't remember what it is. You can just pick up a bottle of acetone and butyl acetate and have literally liters of the Extra Thin Cement for just a few bucks. And DON'T add any plastics into it, that's what makes Tamiya Extra Thin so great - it has no fillers.
@@Trakkson 20% MEK is the third solvent. 40% ethyl acetate, 40% acetone, and 20% butannon (MEK)
@@viper29ca yeah and i dont think the MEK-sub is the same thing as what they use
@@AngusBeef0 Not saying anything about what will sub with what, just explaining what goes in to Tamiya Extra Thin Quickset.
My first bottle of tamiya was just running out! Absolute lifesaver and legend!!
Happy to help
Here's a tip for you,just add varying amounts of clear sprue to the airbrush cleaner and you can create whatever viscosity you like to suit yourself,hope this helps
NICE TIP!
I have used something called EMA Plastic Weld for ages and that is a very similar type of liquid to the Tamiya stuff. It is dichloromethane which can be otherwise bought for less than £5 for half a litre here in the UK. Chuck in a glass funnel and you have years of refills for very little cost.
Awesome tip!
Heh. Today I learned...
Need to get my hands on a bottle of airbrush cleaner even though I've never touched an airbrush.
This kind of simple advice is what this hobby lives and dies by. Will happily pass the knowledge on to others, like you've done today.
Thanks 😘
And I was just considering switching from the Revell needle-dropper plastic glue to Tamiya extra thin, too. Looks like I'll be getting some of the airbrush cleaner instead. Thanks for the tip!
Happy to help
Been hobbying for many years. After watching this video, I feel ignorant, but then smart, so close together it feels like its at the same time. Cheers.
Happy to help 😘
Thank you Juan, I have just confirmed this through other video's. The benefit with using the air brush cleaner as a glue is that you can still use it to clean your airbrush!
And it does an amazing job at that!
Good old plain lacquer thinner, sold at your local hardware store, does the same job and is much cheaper. Lacquer thinner is made of Butyl Acetate, Acetone, and other chemicals. I have used it for many years not only to glue polystyrene but also to clean my airbrush.
For anyone interested, the quick setting cement is just 40% acetone, 40% butyl acetate , 20% methyl ethyl ketone (also called butanone). So if you want to replicate it, 4 parts airbrush cleaner, 1 part MEK.
AWESOME TIP
Sorry for what may be a dumb question but what is MEK?
Methyl Ethyl Ketone
awesome, i just went looking for this and you answered it all :)
Yeah same goes for Mr cement SP just that its ethyl acetate and acetone. Butanon is used in mr cement the regular version but might be banned soon as butanon (mek) is now on the list of dangerous carcinogen.
So awesome, I’ve been in the hobby for 25 years and I never knew this. I knew a few others but this is great.
Awesome! If you have any other tips like this you want to share feel free to send them to
juanhidalgo.miniatures@gmail.com
I would love to make more videos about this.
I'm fairly new to the hobby, relatively speaking, and I was literally about to buy the Extra Thin Plastic Glue. I'll be buying the Airbrush Cleaner instead. Thank you so much for the tip!! I'd love to hear some more.
Thanks, happy to help
So glad i keep the old empty containers. Thanks for the tip im gonna refill my empties!
Happy to help
Thank you! I shared this video on Facebook modeling sites, and everyone who responded said they also did not know these products were essentially identical!
Happy to help!!
I am very new to the miniature hobby and this blew my mind! I checked, and in Canada, the air brush cleaner (of 250 mL) is actually cheaper ($15) than the 40 mL Tamiya thin cement bottle ($18.99)! 🤣
Yep
Where in Canada do you live? I live in Ottawa area and I get extra thin for $6.99 and Airbrush cleaner for $13.99. very similar pricing in Montreal and Toronto too. Fun fact: I bought my first airbrush 3 years ago and after a year of cleaning with Tamiya airbrush cleaner I noticed two of my o-rings dissolved! I called the manufacturer for replacement rings explaining how it happened and he told me to avoid using Tamiya cleaner because it was solvent based and too harsh. He recommended using Vallejo cleaner instead.
Damn near 30 years in this hobby and I was today years old when I found out about this. Thank you!
Happy to help
Thank you for this, I believe you. I found you just after ordering both of those, but now I'll have the fancy bottles to refill with the airbrush cleaner.
Awesome
I have so many Tamiya ratios with sprue glue in different amounts. This is such an amazing idea.
Awesome! Glad I could help you
I am so glad I have never bought this airbrush cleaner... Thank you for a great resource!
Happy to help
I own both products, tried it, and it works.
I would never have guessed.
Happy to help, I've been using the cleaner for both things for years
Well, I didn’t know this, and need to get more for sprue glue and all these awesome Eldar models we need to put together! I don’t mind revells applicator though, and the little extra viscosity for many models. Great tip!
Happy to help
Here's the twist: Who would have thought that you can clean an airbrush with plastic glue? Great tip, thank you!
Happy to help
It is not glue, it is a solvent.
Exactly
I am not a model builder, but I am trying to fix an irreplaceable acrylic part. I hope that this will work better than super glue (CA). Thank you so much for your honesty and advice to your fellow builders.
Thx man. Great job. I love the thin cement and now you gave me a cheaper option
Happy to help
You absolute genius. Well done.
In New Jersey, USA, it's $3.50 for Extra Thin & $10 for a bottle Tamiya Acrylic Thinner. But more In a Thinner bottle & I like the idea of not over glue with paint brush, & also putting old sprues into Thinner basically & making glue.
Yeah it's great for doing Sprue Goo
Awesome tip and I cant wait to try it. Heres another $ saver. Testors paint brush thinner cost like $6 for 1.75oz bottle. A quart of lacquer thinner costs about $10. It works better and you get 16x the amount more. Its the equivalent of buying $108 of small Testors bottles. Again, ty sir.
Awesome!
Ive had my tamiya extra thin for 4 years now building 50+ minis and a couple of scale kits, and the thing is still half full. still a great recommendation juan!
Oh yeah it last for a long time for sure
I got a 32OZ bottle of both, mixed in a glass gallon jug, now I have enough cement to build a 1:1 battleship AND make my airbrushes squeaky clean for years to come! Thanks!
Happy to help
40 years in the hobby and no clue… this just blew my mind.. I need to pay better attention. Thank you
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This is a very useful video. I don't use "convenience" airbrush cleaners, so I had no idea about this. It isn't the cheapest solution though.
I use acetone and styrofoam instead of Tamiya Extra Thin. I usually buy a 1 litre can of acetone for 5 Euros (1 litre equals 25 bottles of Tamiya Extra Thin!). The styrofoam (= foam styrene) comes for free as packaging material. Before using it make sure that it's absolutely clean and free of dust, greas and oil.
For the 40 ml bottle you start with 35 ml of acetone and an A5-sized piece of styrofoam, about 1 cm thick. Cut or tear off pieces that are small enough to fit through the bottle neck. Pour the acetone into the bottle and add the styrofoam pieces one by one. The styrofoam dissolves completely in the 40 ml glue bottle. If you prefer a slightly thicker glue, just use 30 ml of acetone and carefully add more styrofoam till you find the consistency you prefer. In both cases you'll notice that there's still some room left in the bottle after the styrofoam has "gone". You can fill it up with acetone. You can also use pure acetone. In that case its characteristics are very similar to "Plastic Weld", but decisively cheaper.
You want to be careful not to flood your styrene parts with this extra thin glue, especially if you use pure acetone. You can smell it when you open the can: acetone is a very strong dissolvant. It'll "eat" styrene if you apply it too generously, but if you use the tiny brush of an empty Tamiya glue bottle you'll be absolutey fine. Acetone evaporates within seconds and won't leave any residue. Make sure you work in a well ventilated place, but I guess all modellers know and do this anyway.
I use this homemade glue since the early 1980s and this way I had "Tamiya Extra Thin" long before Tamiya even thought of inventing it. I got the trick from an old model railroader back then. He built H0 scale buildings from scratch, using sheet styrene. That guy saved me tons of money!
Fantastic advice! Thanks for sharing
@@JuanHidalgoMiniatures You're welcome. One 1 litre can of acetone saves you 120 Euros for the same amount of Tamiya Extra Thin. Imagine that!
WOW
I'm going to get the airbrush cleaner and just keep filling my small container. I do enjoy the applicator and the ease of use. Plus less likely to knock it over (i'm a clutz some times)
Great idea
I just bought Some Plastruct Bondene to do plasticard work and build models. I knew there was a lot of acetate in it. This just game me the recipe to make my own batch. Thank you so much!
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You are a life saver
As a follow-up, as you sparked my curiosity, I checked the difference between the "quick setting" version of Tamiya's extra-thin plastic cement. the "Butyl Acetate" is replaced with "ethyl acetate" (both are common esthers used in nail varnishes), which evaporates a lot faster due to lower flash point. So that's just it. Acetone + an esther solvent. The aceton melts the PVC, the esther is just a filler which when evaporated, lets the acetone evaporate, and the melted plastic solidifies again.
Super interesting
it`s not (only) the content that makes "cement" more expensive: it is the container (glass) and the applicator. the cleaner is just plastic with a plastic cap.
That is true that's why I suggest buying one and just refilling it
Cellulose Thinners can also be used as an extra thin cement.
Indeed they can, that would be closer to Mr. Hobby Cement S
This is really helpful knowledge.
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I've long suspected this. Thanks for proving it!
Now my clumsy ass will be able spill an even larger bottle of toxic chemicals all over my table.
Lol, happy to help 😘
I have two glass Testors liquid cement bottles, with the original brushes from 1968, that I've refilled with hardware store lacquer thinner since they were first used up.
I've never had a model joint failure.
Great idea!
It’s an MSDS
In the US. Material safety data sheet. I’m pretty sure it’s the same world wide. It is common knowledge to me that they are virtually identical but not identical.
That's what o thought, but it's very clear that most people don't know it
This video has saved me allot of money over time. Thank you Juan!
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I don't hate blue, but I do love Juan Hidalgo! Thanks for the tip.
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I am getting back into building models and cant find the thin cement anywhere but the cleaner I can thank you man!!!
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I was cringing at thinking about buying another bottle of this stuff. I have seen people make model cement out of a bottle of it but I didn't want to purchase another bottle to sacrifice for this purpose. With this hack I can fill my old bottle and make some cement too! Thanks :)
Exactly! It's a great info to have
Where I'm from, we can buy automotive acrylic paint and thinner from paint specialty stores. Automotive acrylic thinner works like plastic cement, and has the consistency of water and can be applied the way you used that airbrush cleaner. It's got strong fumes, but it's cheaper than plastic cement.
Good tip!
A grest tip, veteran modeller of almost 50 yrs and never knew. I usually buy the glue 2 bottles at a time, buying this in future will get me 3x as much..
Exactly! You refill the empty bottles. It's also perfect to make sprue goo
Hold on... So you want to say that ppl who were using this airbrush cleaner, clean there airbrush with plastic cement?
Omg.
Ok this is revelation! I bought my self that green pot after start watching your videos and now will keep that in mind for the refill!
Love you man!
Happy to help 😘
This was really useful and well timed, just coming to the end of my current bottle of plastic magic, if I can re use it with some of this I will.
Thank you very much
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Worse - plastic magic changed their formula it seems and is much weaker. Looking for something new, and preferred it to tamiya sadly.
@@Isolated.Outpost a well timed comment, as I've just come to the end of these Tamiya bottles.
The Tamiya is weaker, ever so slightly, than plastic magic, however, I don't seem to be able to get hold of plastic magic either, I can live with the Tamiya, so I'm gonna find a refil and stick with it.
Thanks for the Info. I like how you thought outside the square. Seems like 85% of any population just buy what's in front of them no thinking around it's chemical structure. Wait until they work out what's in all cleaning products and also how similar the stuff in shampoo's are !
Thanks
The applicator brush can be extended also
You can also use the PVC/ABS Pipe Solvent that plumbers use which is even cheaper.
Good suggestion
Well you learn something new everyday. Thanks for sharing
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Thank you for the suggestion, i try it out!
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WOW, had no idea! Thank you so much for sharing this!
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Thanks for the heads up on this like you said who doesn't want to save money. 👍👍😊😊😊
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I did not know that. With such a simple mixture, I'm definitely going to make my own when I run out next time.
Awesome
awesome tip....gonna save my thin cement container and pour the thinner in when im low
Awesome idea! That's what I do
This was really helpful. I was just about to run out of my Tamiya so I was looking for a cheaper alternative. Weld On 3 and Plastruct both look very promising and are probably stronger but this is all I really need and is even cheaper. Thank you
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Great idea. I spend hours goggling glue. All I could find was to use pvc pipe glue. But who wants a blue glue . 🤔 cheers Graham
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Fantastic video my friend. Thank you so much for this information!
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Very interesting. Have to give this a try. Just got an airbrush and have some tamiya paints I was going to try. Thanks for this hack!
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Thanks Juan, my Extra Thin Cement is close to running out and this video saved me some bucks.
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When i saw the ingredients list i laughed. I can buy 5l of acetone and 5l of butyl acetate for £32.70. Thats 10 liters. SO i can refil my bottles 250 times for 13 pence each time. My pile of shame is big but not that big lol
Lol, yeah
Thankyou Juan great Tip and a big saving in Australia
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I have both products and had no idea! Thanks for the tip! Now will be able to make sprueglue and refill the bottles more easily / cheaply!
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tks man
two liters of diy glue/airbrush cleaner costs 25 euro .
and i never thought of checking the safety datasheets , now i can potentialy mix a lot of stuff myself as long as i have access to the ingredients.
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This was great cuz I have a bottle of it and was thinking about when I need to buy more, now seeing this I can just refill it. Thank you so much my friend
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Good tip Mr. Juan. I had no idea.
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Great video! Thanks!
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Ahh fenomenal este truco! Muchisimas gracias, Juan!
Un placer
Watch out pal, you're asking for a visit from the Tamiya Mafia!!😱
😂😂
What!!!???? 😱😱thanks for the heads up!
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I use Crown MEK Substitute from Home Depot. Works great, the smell isn’t like everyone says.
Awesome
Thank you , Sensei Juan .
🐺
😘
I have been using my little green pot for years and I am just about to run out! Thanks so much! Grabbing that cleaner next!
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Great community focused tip!
Thanks Chelsea 😘
you can also use this to melt polystyrene plastic chunks from sprue to obtain a very useful "sprue-goo" Plastic putty for gap filling.
Exactly! Much more cheaply with the cleaner
I ran into a similar situation. I've always used Plastruct's non toxic Weldene for model glue. Unfortunately, Plastruct stopped its production a few years back. After some sleuthing I discovered that Weldene is (or was) a styrene solvent derived from citrus fruit oil known as Limonene. The chemical is typically used as a (more or less) non toxic "green" industrial cleaner and solvent. Although it's not easily available (you won't find it at your local hardware store), Limonene is readily found on line and about half the price of Weldene per unit cost (Although this last point is moot since, as I mentioned, Weldene isn't made anymore). I should note however, Limonene is highly flammable and a skin irritant so you still need to take caution when using it.
Very interesting
I've refilled my Tamiya extra thin glue container many times from a quart can of Metyl Ethyl Ketone. It's an excellent styrene solvent. It cleans red enamel paint from my brushes, too. The price on my 32-ounce can is $9.00 US.
That is a different chemical that also works very well to bond plastic
Mind. Blown. Excellent exposé, sir! 🤘🏼
Thanks, happy to help 😘
If you want to save even more money, buy just straight acetone, which works great as a polystyrene solvent. You can get it at a building supply store or paint store, or if you don't want to buy a half-liter at a time, you can get acetone as a nail-polish remover as well. Acetone is quite volatile, so it will evaporate quite quickly, for both good and ill. When flowed into a gap, though (as is normal for plastic model kit assembly), it has plenty of time to soften and weld the joint.
It's a good tip but I personally prefer the mix in the cleaner but it's definitely an option
The algorithm has sent me here! I've already got a 250ml cleaner in my cart!
55 years of building, and I'm still learning. I have both items. I'll use the savings to buy another kit to add to my collection of 57 unbuilt car models. I do find that some glues behave differently from other glues depending on the kit manufacturer, so I'll do some testing
Awesome
I should've said thank you
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selling two of the same products for different prices is absolutely standard practice in pretty much every industry from food to pharmaceuticals. The reason they do this, in my opinion, is so if they ever get asked what the difference between those two is they can reply "it's a different formula" and it wouldn't be a blatant lie.
Light bulb . Ive been in the dark for so long . Thanks for this.
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👍
My last extra fine ! but I'm going to recycle the bottle.
That's exactly what I do
I literally just bought some of this on (a very good) recommendation 3 days ago after the GW one clogged up within 2 days after purchase. Not too bothered though, it was my first purchase so I got the container/brush from the initial buy and can use this once I replenish with this cleaner in future. Thanks!
Happy to help, and as I say in the video it's not much money and it's a good first time purchase
@@JuanHidalgoMiniatures Certainly did better than that GW one. Thats £4.5 I'll never get back for a single use before hopelessly clogged.
Of yeah, those are terrible but they can be unclogged with a lighter or a thin needle
Hold the needle over a flame until you hear a pop, the clogging isn't unique to GW glue and it's a shame to waste it.
So This will apply to any soft plastic glue container, especially the larger cyanoacrylate glues containers.
You have two sizes you can squeeze and they do different things.
Press on the wide front/back sides and glue will come out due to less volume area in the container.
Press on the sides and the font and back will expand and cause any glue/solvents on the tip to then suck back into the container.
Don't ever touch the tip on a surface, and don't ever shove anything to clear a clog. Both will introduce contamination which will catalyze the glue and cause it to activate.. for metal tipped applicators, a nice bit of fire also does the job but don't breathe it in as cyanoacrylate releases cyanide gas upon burning.
Instead, pour a few drops on a surface and use thin thing to spread the glue.
Having to carry cyanoacrylate glues for tours you end up learning a few things along the way.
Thank you, Juan!!
Happy to help 😘
A even cheaper option is MEK, methyl ethyl ketone. Available in North America, but don’t know about Europe. It is toxic, but Canadian Tire in Canada sells it in manageable 1 litre containers.
Different glue but yeah it works. I think it's what Mr. Hobby Cement S is made of
good tip, its hard to get tamiya glue where I am at but the airbrush cleaner by tamiya is stocked at my local Hobby Town USA.
Awesome!!
Im here for the pudding...
The knowledge and accent are great also though.
Cheers mate!
Thanks