I remember reading a while back about how some people put BB’s in their paint bottles to mix the paint (by shaking, obviously). I guess this may work for solvent based paints, but now I’m not so sure about acrylics, or water based paints, and here is why:
I put three shiny BB’s in my little jar of Tamiya X-21 flat base and it turned blue!! So now I’m wondering what it may be doing to the other acrylics I’ve done this with. Obviously this was because they tarnished, and it just never occurred to me.
Has anyone had this happen to them? I know the answer would be to use stainless steel bearings, but I don’t know where to find them (cheaply).
BTW - (now this was really stupid) I also put them in the eyedropper bottles of my Color of Eagles (Vallejo)paints, and naturally they seal the tip when you try to dispense the paint[banghead]
Good advice Rick. I’m just too lazy to sit there and stir, but I guess I should change my ways. It was Reggie’s post about stir sticks that reminded me of the BB problem in the first place.
I’ve found that toothpicks are a bit too short, but a good alternative might be those BBQ Shish-Kabob sticks that you can get at the grocer. Even cut in half they would be longer and stronger than a T/P. Just a thought.
If I had to guess, I’d say that your BB’s had a high copper content, which I think most do, and when copper acts with other catalysts, like water even, the result is blue. Although I’m no chemist and don’t know why when it oxydizes (like the statue of liberty), it turns to a lovely green patina. As a kid, we used to drop solid blue chunks of copper sulfate into water with pennies and it would scour the pennies shiny overnight.
Next time, use glass beads instead of BBs. That’s what’s in your spray cans, BTW. A big glass bead or two.
Tom
Thanks guys - I guess I’ll try one of those stirrers that Mike and MM suggest. I think I would just hate having to clean the darn thing up everytime. Then again, I don’t have a problem cleaning my A/B.
Sharkskin - I always wondered what it was that cleaned pennies. Thanks [:)]
I’m just starting my airbrush experience, but I recently picked up some supplies at my employer (an auto parts store). I bought some graduated mixing/touch-up jars that I thought would be good for mixing in. They all contain glass marbles. Glass is pretty much non-reactive, which is good because automotive grade paint (what these jars are designed for) is particularly finicky about contamination.
No problem cleaning it.
After mixing the paint, insert it into a bit of thinner switch it on for a few sec take out and wipe it clean.
Way easier and quicker than cleaning an AB. [:D]
Cola works well, atleat it did when we were young. Drop a coin in it over night and see the diff, now you also know why I don’t drink that stuff anymore. [;)]
If you are still looking for a paint stirrer and can’t find it at the LHS check the kitchen section of the Wal Mart or similar store. I bought the exact same stirring unit for $2.00 at my local Wal Mart and it’s for whipping the foam on Latte’s. From the box side description " It comes in a Sporty Chrome Finish with Black Accents…blah blah blah"
For $2.00 it stirs paint great and could be hot pink with whale bone handles for all I care.
Best of all it came with two seperate paddle stirring stems and a wire stirring wheel. The wire is great for Tamiya acrylics.
As someone here mentioned just keep some type of cleaner on hand when mixing colours and dunk the stir stick in and run for a few seconds. The just wipe clean and on to the next colour.
Y’know, stirring paint is something I just do out of habit. There are too many other things to worry about for me when building, given my fat fingers or whatever their problem is. I save long straight pieces of sprue and immediately poke it into the bottle as soon as I wrestle that accused lid off (especially acrylics, which are always on my work bench with alcohol around the rim to loosen them up). The sprue will tell me if there’s anything nonliquid settled into the bottom, like pigment, and if so, I stir until it is liquid, thin if necessary, and then shake the hell out of it for good measure. I never get globs of unmixed pigment in my paint, no matter what kind I use. No special techniques either.
Stirring is best prior to use. That said, I find it handy to give my paint bottles an occasional shake to keep them at least somewhat blended during extended storage. For this, I keep them all in a box with a tight fitting foam top that allow them to all be shaken simultaneously. Instead of BB’s to help the shaking, I use stainless steel nuts, bolts, or washers, all found easily in my miscellaneous collection, or at your local hardware store for a few pennies each.
i used to shake my pait to stir it, but i would get air bubbles in the paint (brushing it on) i didnt really like using tootpicks coz i feared that a splinter would fall off or something like that. ive picked up a paint stirrer (exactly like mikes) and they r the bomb. once u get one u wont go back. cleanup is a sinch, just turn it on in thinner.
and yeah, like some one else said, check out the utensil section at ur supermarkt for a milk frother or something similar. the ones i saw had this spring thing on the end, and think u would have to get rid of it, coz u dont want frothy paint! a few days after i bought my one for 15 bucks, i saw em a woolworths for 5…
oh, and ur paint bottle thread wont clog up so much, coz ur not shaking it and getting paint on the lid, which inturn gets on the threads…
Good advice guys, thanks. I’m sold on the stirrer. Will order one when I get back home.
Just as a sidenote, didn’t someone post about making their own paint jar shaker, or did I read that in FSM? Doesn’t sound very practical for all the time it would take to make one, and tominator has a good point about the paint getting on the threads. I wish all the makers would go to the eyedropper bottles that C of E uses.
