Paint drying too soon

gollummen · Post by **gollummen** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 6:47 pm

It is not miniatures but here goes...

Lately many of my GW paints have been drying out or getting thicker.
I always make sure the lid is proberly closed, so that is not tha cause.
I can´t remember how old the paint is, but it is no more than a year.

Anybody else with that problem?

Hope you get the point in my wierd danish-english.

BunnyPuncher · Post by **BunnyPuncher** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 7:00 pm

Certain batches seem to be bad... Due to this I will never, ever, ever, buy a boxed paint set as the one I did buy dried out in under 6 months. I've had ones I bought as singles for over a year now with no dry outs.

Chairface · Post by **Chairface** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 7:09 pm

Its a GW thing. The design of the newer bottles are just plain bad. THe new and improved bottles help a bit, but it still has a long way to go. Vallejo's Game Colour paints are a much better buy. THey're matched to GW colours and the bottles are much more intelligent that the GW bottles.

Post by **Dave** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 7:09 pm

some drops of water and severe shaking / stirring does help .. a bit

Teabag · Post by **Teabag** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 8:14 pm

Chairface wrote:Its a GW thing. The design of the newer bottles are just plain bad. THe new and improved bottles help a bit, but it still has a long way to go. Vallejo's Game Colour paints are a much better buy. THey're matched to GW colours and the bottles are much more intelligent that the GW bottles.

Vallejo's suck, IMHO!

As much as the high prices of GW paints annoy me and I've also suffered from the whole "leave a paint pot for a month and the paint inside will solidify" problem but in all honesty I won't buy anything else.

I bought a dozen of so Vallejo paints and found them so weak they would barely cover a white undercoat (forget black!) after seven coats.

Terri

gollummen · Post by **gollummen** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 9:38 pm

There are also a big difference in the thickness of the paint.

My dark green is very thin and my blood red i very thick.

juck101 · Post by **juck101** » Sat Apr 17, 2004 11:29 pm

yeah most paints i have owned dry to diffrent amounts during their lifespan. Black and white I find are worse than others and guess its something to do with the pigment.
Many of my paints dry because i leave them open to use whilst under a spot light. The extra heat will dry paint and about halfway down a pot the thickness becomes more aparent.

My advice always dab paint form pot onto a plastic mixing tray. Add a touch (maybe 5%) water to the mix and use that. The tray will also help your skills as you will find blending colour far more dynamic with each paint customised. Black and white are much more versitile when thinned and can make painting simple things far more crisp.

ps some of my gw pots are 12years old so think the water really works

Blammaham · Post by **Blammaham** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 4:44 am

I add filtered water to my GW paint all the time, That being said I also use a wet pallet, so I have complete contol of the viscosity of the paint.S.

Dark Lord (retired) · Post by **Dark Lord (retired)** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 6:46 am

I can't say this enough! I wish y'all would listen.

YOU ARE BEING RIPPED OFF!!

There is nothing special about GW Paints, Vallejo Paints, Partha Paints or any others to make them better for model painting.
All you are doing is paying waaay too much for paint that is just as good (or in GW's case case worse) than normal acrylic paint.

Do yourselves a favor and go to a hobby or art store and buy some acrylic paint. There are several brands that range in price from $.50 for a 2oz. bottle up $3 or $4 for a 3, 4 or 5 ounce tube.

$2 an ounce for that crap GW peddles is simply ridiculous.

And yes, you can find better prices on ink too.

The quality of GW paints is not even up to par with the $.50 Cheepo paints you can find at an art store. You'll find metallics, washes, inks, tints and shades in any color you want and a much broader selection than the model companies are charging.

Do you get your oil changed your car dealership? NO. Then quit buying your paints from the model salesmen.

sorne · Post by **sorne** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 9:10 am

I use some standard Acrylics form ny local hobby shop,Only£1-£1.25 for 59ml.I am quite impressed by them.

Emberbreeze · Post by **Emberbreeze** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 9:35 am

I still use alot of the very old style paints and they very rarely dry out. I've decanted new paint into empty pots, but I have more paints now than old style pots, so I have to live with some of them drying out.

I must have some paints which are more than 10 years old

BunnyPuncher · Post by **BunnyPuncher** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 4:48 pm

I'm also an admitted user of craft paints... I find em great for dark colors, priming, etc. I must admit for bright colors I think model paints are better.

If you do use craft paint.. thinning with miracle wash (or any thinner) is a neccessity or otherwise you end up with that glopped on look.

Majortusk · Post by **Majortusk** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 6:27 pm

pretty much all my paints are still working just fine, I still have a ton of the old style flip top lids. Sad thing is that I di d buy alot of the 'newer' twist tops and all of them are dried out. the new 'flip' tops are better, but its still drying out.... just not as quick...

Post by **Dave** » Sun Apr 18, 2004 9:20 pm

yup .. the paint is the same .. still bad, just the lid has slightly improved

KLK · Post by **KLK** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 3:35 am

Well, I MUST use craft paints, because here we don't have GW or hobby stores with model paints...

I get good results. not perfect, but at least good.