If a manufacturer packages acetone or mineral spirits with a fancy label, you might as well find & buy the generic. Thart seems to be the question here.
I don't use nitrate, but the "Certified thinner" sold at airport suppliers is less expensive alternate to "name brand" CAB dope thinner.
The gripping solvent sold by Golfsmith at a premuim price is mineral spirits in a fancy can.
Actually, Paul..."Certified" brand dope products have been around full-scale airplane supply dealers since the fifties and *is* a name brand product. Also, Certified products prices have risen to be equivalent to Randolph dope products so there is little to no savings to be gained by that route.
Certified products are excellent in quality and I have no problem using them on full-scale or model airplanes and frequently use them interchangeably with Randolph products. Just as a matter of interest I restored a 1939 Waco UPF-7 using Sig dope. When you buy 55 gallons of Sig dope at a time the prices are pretty equivalent to the price of Randolph or Certified. The products are interchangeable as long as they are butyrate to butyrate, etc.
I have found, regarding butyrate thinners, that Certified thinner is the fastest drying, Randolph is the next fastest drying, & Sig is the slowest drying. I use these differences by mixing the thinners to improve the drying speed when I don't really need retarder yet. Here in So. Cal. we rarely have days when retarder is needed, but I do use it on occasion.
I have also found that Sig butyrate dope is the most fuel resistant of the butyrates, and I always use Sig Light-Kote clear for the topcoat finish on my models because I like a dope finish. For colors I use either Randolph or Sig butyrate; most often Randolph just because they have a real rainbow of colors available.
"If a manufacturer packages acetone or mineral spirits with a fancy label, you might as well find & buy the generic. Thart seems to be the question here."
First of all I don't think that is the question here. For instance, fingernail polish remover is primarily acetone with some oils added, but you would hardly use that for thinning dope or anything else to do with painting. I agree that if it is
certain that the generic product is exactly the same as the more expensive brand then I agree "buy the generic." However, just because the cheap product smells *pretty much* like the real thing doesn't mean that it is exactly like the real thing or will work exactly like the real thing.
I understand the desire of modelers to save $ on products, and there are some modelers who have tried other products & know they will work (as Whitely stated above, & he does know what he is doing), but be careful before you try some of these alternative products on the model in which you have just put 200 or 300 hours into building. I also understand the convenience factor for some, and while I can drive for 15 minutes to Aircraft Spruce to pick up the dope products I need it is not quite so convenient for many others. However, Aircraft Spruce does ship same day so you won't have to wait long for whatever it is you need. Other full-scale suppliers such as Wicks aircraft also will ship quickly.
Topic: Nitrate thinner: is there a HD or Lowes product I can use (Read 6832 times)