Polly scale paint - Model Railroader Magazine
Sebastian Wright
Updated on April 07, 2026
lsi3009
I need some help !! thinning Polly scale paints . I've ran out of the testors universal paint thinner . What can I use to thin these to air brush ?
Pollyscale paint is water based, and the best thinner for it is distilled water, available at any grocery outlet, or, if you have an in-home dehumidifier, if the water collection bucket is properly cleaned, the collected water will work equally well.
When I first bought Pollyscale paint, I attempted to follow on-line recommendations for thinners, which ranged from lacquer thinner, windshield washer fluid, Windex glass cleaner, and a myriad of othe suggestions, none of which seemed to work for me.
It finally dawned on me to check what Floquil/Pollyscale recommended for thinning Pollyscale, and their answer was "distilled water" especially if your locally available water was high in mineral content.
Not overly certain, the suggestion seemed too simple to me, but I went out on a limb, and began airbrushing a recently built boxcar. Forty-five boxcars later, (in a single session) I was absolutely hooked on Pollyscale paint...in my opinion, one of the most versatile paints that I've ever used.
When Testors/Model Master bought-out Floquil and Pollyscale, they made, in my opinion, a mistake by terminating both types, when they would have had a better product by ending Model Master and replacing it with Pollyscale.
Over the last 40-plus years, I have used I wide variety of model paints, some very good ones, some not so good, and some absolutely useless.
In my experience, none were ever better than PollyScale.
Wayne