At what point do you give up and toss out that old jar of paint and buy a new one? I know the obvious answer is when it’s dried up rock solid in the jar. But is there a point when it gets too glumpy or something and it’s best to replace it?
I had opened up a couple bottles of paint (Citadel’s Smelly Primer and Skull White) which I figure are about 5 years old. The one, I had to stir for awhile because it was thick at the bottom. After shaking and stirring, the consistancy looked good. However, I noticed when I brushed on the paint, there were tiny lumps showing up. I first thought they were like tiny air bubbles, but they wouldn’t go away, even after brushing over them a couple of times. I washed off the brush, wiped off the work area and the figure again, but it was still there. I went to using Tamiya White which went on fine, so it’s definitely the paint. I tried shaking it more. Placing drops on a palette and added water and mixed it, but still little lumps.
I was thinking maybe my next option would be to toss a couple of BB pellets in there to help mix it up. Would that help or is the paint going bad and needs to be replaced?
Sounds like it’s going bad. I’ve had a few from Citadel do that over the years, and try as I might, I just can’t recover them. At a point, it gets to where spending the $2.50 is cheaper and saves more time than trying to salvage it. Skull White is one of the notorious ones for that, but I’ve never figured out why. My advice is to bite the bullet and get a new pot of paint. Use the old one if you want textured white somewhere.
I don’t really have a problem buying new paint, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something and tried what I could before doing so. Plus the wife would ask if I had tried mixing it up right or did what I could.
On the bright side, looks like I have a reason to go visit the hobby shop this week. [:)][;)]
That’s a good question. I’m not sure how easily the paint would go through the nylon. Compared to Tamiya acrylic White, the Citadel stuff is a bit thicker. I don’t think it’s worth the effort although the one jar has a lot of paint left in it. I am curious though.
Hey David, as already noted your paint is just gone bad…you can try straining it but would probably be easier and cleaner to go an buy a new jar. However heres something I do to all my paints…If I buy a paint and am not going to use it I leave it sealed until its time to use it. Once I open a paint though I add a few BB’s to help prevent problems in the future. I have found that using 2 bbs in a1/4 oz jar works well and I use as many as 4 in the 1/2 oz jar. Its helped me and its something that is super cheap to do and will help save my arms on the shaking and mixing part!
I don’t mess around with paint too much. It’s relatively cheap and easy to get. If I find myself asking the question (ie. I wonder if this is still OK to use?)… I just toss it and get a new one. Unfortunately some of the ‘new’ ones make me ask that same question…
David-white is notoriously bad for “settling out”. Must be all that heavy pigment. I won’t even spray white with any of my airbrushes because it is so clog prone (and higher pressures just make it worse by spraying more solvent than pigment). When in doubt-toss it out! Don’t ruin your hard work!
I used to thin my paint to make it last longer although the finished model didn’t always look so good.
But then I heard my pastor say, “Repaint, repaint, and thin no more,” and I knew where I’d gone wrong.
Well, I think that’s pretty obvious this year for sure. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a better football team, nobody can beat the Sooners this year! I’m already starting to feel sorry for Baylor. Not that sorry, but a bit sorry nonetheless [:)] I wish they’d been this good when I went to school there, but it was not to be.
I’ve had the most trouble with Humbrol paints - about 12 years a go a friend of mine gave me probably 300 tins of the stuff when he was shipped overseas - I still have about 100 tins and use them on a regular basis - as they get older (I have no idea how long Mike had them before he gave them to me) they A. dry out, clabber (get lumps etc)
or worst of all, change color when they dry - at that point, its time to get rid of them - I guess the bottom line is to use them until they don’t do what you want them to and then replace them - by the way, I’ve never had any luck straining the lumps out - 24 hrs they’re back. [:P]
wroper11 when I first saw the picture my first thought was “That is wrong on so many levels” My next thoughts were “Well at least its a Big 12 team” (what was wrong with the Big 8?), “Every one should support their university”, “At least it wasn’t a cornhusker” and “Basketball season is coming” lol
