Preferred Airbrush cleaners?

[CANicoll]

I know I need to narrow this down a bit:  I'm looking for a refill on my usual acrylic paint airbrush cleaner which was the Vallejo cleaner.  I see Grex has their own, which has 'detergents' in it.  Has anyone used the Grex airbrush cleaner?  What are other preferred options?

Thanks!

[Peterpools]

Hi Chris

When it comes to Vallejo paints, I always use their dedicated thinners and cleaners to help eliminate any possibilities of contamination and a huge mess next time I use the AB with another brand of paint. I always follow up my AB cleaning with lacquer thinner as well. I'm very careful with Vallejo paints an actually have a dedicated Grex AB for just them to be extra careful.

I also use Mig Thinners and AB cleaners as well but do not have a dedicated AB for them.

I have had good luck with Ultimate AB Cleaner but find it pretty expensive.

 

 

,

[Bomber_County]

Chris, use primarily Vallejo so my go to is warm water followed by a flush with deionised water and then a spot of Vallejo cleaner. I strip my brush down every time I clean and also use AutoSol to clean the needle. Never had a problem with contamination even when going between AK, Xtracolour or Tamiya. 

[belugawhaleman]

I use the tamiya stuff on my Iwatas I add some to the color cup, use a very large paintbrush to scrub the cup, then spray it out at high pressure. I then

remove parts to expose the needle, use the same brush to wipe off the

needle and nozzle, reassemble and spray out some water or denatured

alcohol. Done. Using this method, I only occasionally need to remove the

airbrush nozzle or needle. I find that Simple Green will remove Tamiya

acrylics from Items with a simple soak. I do this with my Paasche H 

airbrushes and bottles. 

[Winnie]

I go to Dick Blick's whenever I'm in Minnesota, they have the Iwata (or Medeo) airbrush cleaner. works a charm on Vallejo, Mig, and AK Acrylic paints so far. no probs. Also not too pricy.

cheers!

Edited to add link:

https://www.dickblick.com/products/iwata-medea-airbrush-cleaner/

 

[CANicoll]

Gents, thank you! 

I have been using the Medea cleaner for the acrylics like Vallejo, a bit of Model Master acryl thinner and cleaner that I use for the MM Acryl, but the Medea works fine for that, too.  Like Peter, I try and stay within the manufacturers range.

Simple lacquer thinner from the DIY store for all of the lacquers such as MRP, Alclad, and Model Master Metalizers.  I usually do strip down my airbrush after every paint session - the Iwata HP-C is so easy, the GREX is a bit more of a challenge as the needle comes out, but I prefer not to pull it back through the body,  I do the 'reverse flush' as recommended, but that does not remove all of the paint residue.  The GREX nozzle is a bit harder to remove than the Iwata so I find myself not doing it as often as I should.

I do have some of the Iwata Blue airbrush lube that I gingerly apply to the needles that I slip back into the airbrush body.