51 replies to this topic

[darkreaper00]

My FLGS has a basket of ancient, dusty paints -- Citadel, Tamiya, et al. They're old enough to have collected dust in the basket, and they're 50 cents each. I'm talking many of them are visibly dry (Tamiya) and others seem to be at best a thick gunk. Is there any hope for salvaging these paints?

Thanks!

[Nocturne]

I've often salvaged Citadel paints at the gunk stage with a couple of drops of water and plenty of stirring with a cocktail stick or pin, repeating until it's back to consistency. If it's completely dried out it can be done with a little acrylic thinner first and breaking it up with a thick metal pin then water and stirring as before, though I usually just say sod it and bin them if they've got that bad.

To be honest though it's only something I'd do with a paint I already had for a while.

[buglips*the*goblin]

Tamiya is gone. That stuff deteriorates like nothing I've ever seen. Not worth it.

Now the Citadel, maybe. Perversely, the older it is the more likely you can salvage it. If it has the weird looking screw cap, forget about it. Even if you save it, it won't last long. If it's the really old flip-top stuff, that is indestructible. I know of a bottle of shining gold with no cap that's been in use more than 20 years. If it's newer flip top, it's probably possible. I haven't played with them much to know.

But in the general sense, yes. For the most part it has to be very far gone to be a lost cause. In the batch of partha paint I just got, a few were on death's door. No liquid remaining, and the pigment was like moist cheesecake. A bit of water, a few fishing lure agitators, and a whole lot of shaking later? Practically brand new.

It is even possible to salvage fully dried "in the bottle" paint, but the effort required to do so makes it not worthwhile in any sense. But to be at that stage, it will be so dry you can see cracks running through it.

So the lesson here is: "no crack, buy a pack". Anyway, temperature conditions are far worse for paint than age. So long as they haven't been toasting in the sun or frozen, odds are they're still good.

Except the Tamiya though, that stuff is pretty rotten. (I still like it for plastic model kits, though)

[smokingwreckage]

My experience with acrylics is if you can see separate pigment and fluid, then it's A-OK. If it's a solid dried-out plug, but still, lime buglips says, cheesecake-like, then it can be revived. If it's a block of dried, cracked pigment with no clear fluid on top, forget it.

So, it's worth a scrounge. If tipping the bottle this way and that reveals clear or yellowish fluid, it's almost certainly going to be fine. Grab those without second thought. This advice only applies to water based acrylics.

[buglips*the*goblin]

I'd add to that if you see any movement at all, buy it up. If you're curious about a really far gone looking one, change its position and then browse the store for 15 minutes. Then come back and check. If it's moved, it's still alive just very, very thick.

Buy some lead fishing lure shot, too. You will need this for the further gone stuff as an agitator. Stirring won't cut it for that stuff. Then shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your booty, shake your booty.

You'll have a pile of paint for pennies.

When my NSFLGS moved I had begged them to bring up the Reaper racks, or even tell me when to be present at the old store, and I'd give 'em 500 bucks for the works.

Idiot new kid threw it in a dumpster. Said it was "all dried up". To your eyes, young padawan, only to your eyes.

[Adrift]

I've often salvaged Citadel paints at the gunk stage with a couple of drops of water and plenty of stirring with a cocktail stick or pin, repeating until it's back to consistency. If it's completely dried out it can be done with a little acrylic thinner first and breaking it up with a thick metal pin then water and stirring as before, though I usually just say sod it and bin them if they've got that bad.

To be honest though it's only something I'd do with a paint I already had for a while.

Same here. I use a glass cocktail stirrer for all my mixing. I add a little drop or two of water to my paints on a regular basis if they need it.

[Heisler]

I guess the other thought here is how much is your time worth? If you spend an hour to revive a bottle of paint that cost you .50 cents is that worth the hour it took? If you are painting for table top you should be fine if you are painting for a competition then I would stay away from it, the possibility of chunks of paint ruining a promising competition piece is not worth it to me. Your mileage may vary.

[smokingwreckage]

Uh, yeah. I have Partha paints that are fine.... except for unpredictable little grains. I nearly cried. Those beautiful, beautiful greens! Why God? WHY???

[CashWiley]

Lead sinkers for agitators....why didn't I think of that?

My paints are from a trade with a not so L GS, dumped my M:tG cards to 'kickstart' (hah) my painting hobby. Got a bunch of VGC, a few a bit past it and I've been adding lava beads as agitators, but I bet the pinchy side of a sinker would help push things around a bit.

[Serenity]

Lead sinkers I have not used. I heard tales that they could react with paint, mess it up, so never tried it. Could be those stories were just legends, or maybe it wasn't acrylic paint they were using them in, or the sinkers weren't made of what they thought they were. I heard the same thing about using BBs.

I have used lead-free sinkers, though, and they act just like the pewter skulls Reaper used to put in their paints, no reaction at all. Anyway, if in doubt, test your agitators before you put them in all your paints.

[Darknight]

The other option is washers, ball bearings or even the tabs of pewter you cut off figures.

I regularly buy a little bottle of Vallejo acrylic medium whenever I get paint - a few drops of that in my old paints and a good shake gets them right as rain again. Of course, those are Citadel paints (which I am replacing with Vallejo gradually as my FLGS carries them). It would be very expensive for me to replace all the colors I have - I bought the old Citadel Mega Paint Set - so it is worth saving them with some medium or water. If I were buying from scratch, I would probably bite the bullet and get new paints because salvaging them does take a lot of time.

I find myself using only about a dozen colors anyway . . . which inspires me to start a new thread!

[Furongian]

...or even the tabs of pewter you cut off figures.

This is what I use. They are plentiful and free and they work really well.

[buglips*the*goblin]

Lead sinkers I have not used. I heard tales that they could react with paint, mess it up, so never tried it. Could be those stories were just legends, or maybe it wasn't acrylic paint they were using them in, or the sinkers weren't made of what they thought they were. I heard the same thing about using BBs.

I have used lead-free sinkers, though, and they act just like the pewter skulls Reaper used to put in their paints, no reaction at all. Anyway, if in doubt, test your agitators before you put them in all your paints.

Never had a problem with using lead ones, not even in pots with lead shot for 20 years. Now zinc or copper, that can do some weird stuff.

[Heisler]

Lead is fine, pewter is fine, zinc and copper are right out. I would hesitate on bearings too, isn't there potential for that to rust?

[CashWiley]

I know copper is out, thanks to an unfortunate bb event in the 90s. Not sure about true stainless steel, but ferrous metals would be out.

Lead should be fine, it's what minis used to be made of!