"G.W. Paints, don't even TELL me that's still an issue!....." Topic

After having suffered through a man-made disaster/personal issue in which most of my 20-year miniatures collection and most of my hobby supplies and materials were destroyed, this year I endeavored to get back into my beloved hobby again.

I limited myself to just the fantasy genre, and specifically to Warhammer. Just want to paint a few large core armies, have a small collection of Citadel terrain, and enough support equipment to run games on 4x6 or 4x8 tables in a modest-sized room.

So, I chose my armies, purchased boxed sets, blisters, some Citadel terrain, glues, flocking materials, etc. etc.

When I came to choosing my miniatures paints, I fell back on the mainstays that I had used before. I bought a basic color range from Vallejo, and one from Wargames Foundry. I also purchased the full color range that GW currently has available.

I simply wanted to have all three ranges at my disposal, to have the broadest choices of colors, and to have the ability to allow for specific uses and needs for using one range for a particular detail over another, etc., shading with one range vs. another, etc.

ANY WAY, to make a long-winded story short – I began to look around online at reviews and opinions of GW's latest paint range.

To my absolute horror, I began to discover gamers who are reporting that even NOW….in 2013… that the pots that GW's current paint range are in STILL have issues with drying out prematurely in a short time, when closed and on the shelf. I am seeing people reporting that GW's pots STILL don't seal out air properly. Some gamers are reporting that if you don't use the latest range within a year, even pots that were never opened are drying out.

Since I already bought this range, and am now committed to using some of it, I wanted to ask you here if you yourselves have experienced any of what is being reported.

I must say, for the life of me, I cannot fathom how, after 20 years, GW STILL can't get this right. We suffered through that entire disastrous "octagonal screw top" era, way way back when GW switched from the very effective white, flip-top style pots like Foundry uses, and reverted to their horrific design that doomed paints to an early death. WHAT is their problem. How can they sell a $400 USD range of specialized colors NOW, in 2013, in newly designed pots that STILL don't have storage longevity?

As is well known, you can keep Vallejo and Wargames Foundry paints virtually forever after they are opened, they seal for years and years and years.

Is GW doing this on purpose, or this is just blatant negligence, or a blend of both?

I have pots of GW yellow and orange shades, that I bought when GW converted over to the flip tops, and they have not dried out. In fact, I don't think I EVER had a bottle of GW paint dry out.

Damon.

I have found that I have to be careful to ensure the cap is on tightly, or they start to dry out. Some pot lids don't seat evenly, but overall I have not had much of a problem.

The old octagonal lids were terrible, but the new ones seem ok, mine haven't dried out yet. I suppose you just have to look after them, ie make sure the lid is on properly etc.

I still have my OLD OLD citadel paints from many years ago, that are still going strong. I don't know why they don't just go back to the original design with the white lids, same as foundry….

Steve

I have pots of the new range of GW paints since it was released, and none has dried up yet.

One man's problem is another's design "feature".

I mean, if the paints don't dry out prematurely, how can they sell you more?

Someone has got to fund the CEO's and the Board of Directors' expensive international vacations, luxury or high performance import cars, oversized chateaus, mistresses, etc.

Think I'm kidding?

Just look at Finecast, whose weapons bend under their own resin weight while on the shelf, in room temperature conditions.

Simply brilliant product development and marketing if you ask me!

Someone deserves a large performance bonus, and I suspect it is the team of product design engineers.

I own several brands beesides GW. The P3 line has the white lids like the old GW paints. The foundry are nice too. Vallejo and reaper ae good, but sometimes, I don't have the time to get out the pallet.
I just got back home in Sept from a year long deployment. I store my paints upside down, and if lids do not seat fully on the pot, I'll use a rubberband to hold the lid down. Since I do paint at times directly from the pot, I will add water to the pot if I notice it is thick or thickning. After a years absence, only a few metal paints were unsalvageable. The GW paints were mostly still good to go. A few needed water added, and some of my blues, greys, and greens were dried out. The nonmetalic paints were a mix of brands and ages of GW including an old epic nightworld blue. I can't really count them as all those pots were less than a 1/4 full.

I have flip-top pots from 1998 which are still OK. GW is usally dead after two years…. Even unopened!!!!!!

I am wondering why you look for reviews of a product after you purchased, seems backwards to me. Never had a problem with Citadel paints drying out if properly closed.

I can honestly say I have no love lost for GW for the way they are always trying to hash more money from their customers. Especeially in regards to Codexes. C'mon Man! A new codex for the same army every few years to promote the new "more powerful, more awesome, army destroying", figures. Gave up on them long ago. I still use their paints. A 100 years ago I bought up all the paint sets I could off ebay. I still have them. I have to add a couple of drops of water to a few now and then, otherwise they are ready to go, when I am. No problem here. Considering most are 10 years old.

I find the GW paints to be quite variable. I have some pots that are 20+years old and still have plenty of usable paint in them, then I have some that are less than 18 months old that I open to find them dried and rubbery. The last incarnation of the foundation paints are quite bad for this, as are the black screw tops. You have to be careful to ensure that paint is kept off the tread of the screw tops, I find. I'm slowly switching to Vallejo as I need new colours and are very impressed. I use Tamiya almost exclusively in my airbrush, but am experimenting with some of the Vallejo air range.

"One man's problem is another's design "feature".

I mean, if the paints don't dry out prematurely, how can they sell you more?"

This. The problems started when they introduced the bullet-type pots.. the pots which reduced the content by a third but were over-engineered to hide the fact from casual observers: a pot within a pot with paint coloured inserts between them to make it look like they had more in, and the contents of 12ml being moulded into the side of the pot so as to be less visible than being printed in high-visibility black/white on the label. The whole endeavour was to sell more paint.

I believe the official mea culpa when they replaced those pots was to reiterate the urban myth that paint got into the thread preventing a solid seal from developing, I'm sorry but on the planet I live on physics don't work like that. That would only be a problem if it was drying rock solid to the point you couldn't put the lid back on properly – but if that was the case you'd have people screaming about not being able to get the lid back on, not that the paint dried out with the lid on. If there was moist or semi-dried rubbery paint in the thread when you put the lid back on then it would work like thread seal tape to seal the thread and make it MORE air tight.

I have pretty much moved away from GW paint for a number of reasons. Loved their colors but the constant bait and switch became maddening. In particular one of the best things they ever did was their last line of inks which they went and changed. So it is back to the older tired and true and cheaper methods of doing inking. I also moved away from the Vallejo Game Colors as they have a drying problem as well. I now mostly use Vallejo Model Colors and have become a big fan of the Reaper Paints. I also have found that for price, quality, selection, and quantity that Apple Barrel craft paints are a good way to go. And I can buy them at the local Michael's craft store.

Sorry to hear about the tragic loss of your collection.

I have had any number of GW paints dry out when they had just been sitting for a good while. What's worse is I have had unopened pots dry out!! I did try going to Vallejo's Game Colors, and although they were pretty good paints and replicated the GW hues I wanted very closely I found they occasionally dried out in the (unopened) bottle as well! So Vallejo copied GW paints a little TOO well, I guess.

I've gone mainly to Vallejo Model Colors now, but I do primarily Historicals so the bright colors of the GW lines are largely unnecessary to me now.

OK, this is coming from someone who uses Adiken, Model Master, craft paints, Coat d'Arms, Reaper, Ral Partha, Vallejo of all stripes, PP, Citadel paints going as far back as "Amyehyst Purple" and "Polished Blue" (1996?); I've got a HUGE paint collection because I am a fan of choice and trying new things.

Eyedropper paint containers, I am really not a fan. I've found that unless you use them fairly regularly, some of them SERIOUSLY separate and cake up. So much so that even warming and shaking them do NOT work (experienced this with Vallejo, but never Aideken or Reaper eyedroppers.) I have to take the eyedropper cap off and mix them with a toothpick or some other small diameter thing and the residual paint on the mixing stick ends up being what I use to paint with because I did not need much anyways – PLUS, there is a lot of paint wasted on that mixing stick after trying to get it off anyways.

I *AM* a fan of the screwtop. But then there are things I do to stretch out the lifespan of my paints so I do not have the same issues some have talked about in the thread.

A simple thing you can do is store the paint upside down. The "drying out" will occur away from the lid and where you'd dip your brush.

Another option is to place a single drop of water or clear medium into the paint and do not shake it before you put it away after painting, this creates a barrier to the residual air in the bottle and the paint, plus keeps it damp.

I hate the current GW pots because the lids do not screw, making it more difficult to remove the lids for large scale custom mixing (something I do regularly), and do not stay open; I have to use two hands to dip my brush. Even that little tab they have at the back of the lid… it's an awkward not-quite-does-the-job solution.

I reuse the heck out of my screwtops. If I ever do have paint dry out, I clean out the screwtop and put it in the stripper so I can reuse them for other paints.

So whenever I can, I am transferring paint from the eyedroppers and current GW paints into screwtops, because I consider the other issues with those containers are more than any trouble with drying out (because I take precautions against that.)

I use Liquitex Flow Aid to help ensure the paints don't dry out. I have found seating problems with the newer paint pots, but you just have to be aware of what you are doing.

I've never had a problem with any GW paint pot drying out, ever.

Nobody's going to believe me but here it goes…

I still have some of the *original* Ral Partha paints from the early 1990s(?) that haven't dried out. Screw top lids.

I've had fairly good luck with most (95%) of my paints not drying out over periods of years of use and storage. I use Vallejo, Reaper, Ral Partha, and GW. I don't stick with one line but pick out the colors I like best from each.

I've got to believe that storage temperature must play a significant role in whether or not the paints dry out (mine are in a cool basement game room) as well as the vehicle used in the pigment and binder.

Nobody's going to believe me but here it goes…

I still have some of the *original* Ral Partha paints from the early 1990s(?) that haven't dried out. Screw top lids.

I believe you because I do too. I'm still using a bottle of RP steel cut with a bit of RP silver for mail painting, and still have a quarter of the bottle left. Now what happens when I run out…?

Damon.

I've probably had 2 bottles of Citadel paints dry up on me since the 1980's. Frankly, I don't expect any paint to last for years unused (If you aren't going to use it why are you buying it?). I've had a little more trouble with Vallejo, but not so much that I would complain. I've had no trouble with P3 that I can recall. I have some tubes of Jo Sonja paint that are more than 10 years old that are still as good as the day I bought them – never had one of those go bad. I still have those because you generally only need to buy one of their colors every decade or so since it goes a long way.

I still use a GW blue I purchased in 1991 when they came in the Golden Demon boxes. Those pots were great.

@Garand.

I ran out of that color last year (RP Steel… GREAT color!).

I wound up buying some of the metallic pigment from Vallejo and mixing a bit of black into it. I was able to reproduce the RP paint perfectly.

I have had GW paints dry out. I suggest that if you have 'em and want to keep 'em you need to keep the threads clean and like suggested above, stick a couple of drops of water in the top when you put them away. You could add matte medium or drying retardant to it too.

I still have some original Citadel colour paint pots that have not dried out, and some Partha AD&D which last I checked had not dried out.

Personal favourites are Reaper Master Series paints and Vallejo Model Colour, I also want to try some Coat D' Arms (same as original Citadel Colour) and some Army Painter.