farnox | 25 Feb 2015 12:23 p.m. PST |
As I was doing my periodic check on the health of my paint stash, the thought occurred to me as to who else was a paint hoarder. I don't like to loose paints from neglect so I have been nursing colors that I still use for a long time. Still active are many Poly S and Armory paints from the 80's as well as a few Humbrol enamels from that time as well. Perhaps the the rarest ones I still have are from some of Duke's old Genesis paint sets ( horse colors and flesh). What do you still have? |
Pictors Studio | 25 Feb 2015 12:28 p.m. PST |
I have a GW Glistening Green from the mid 90s. |
Rrobbyrobot | 25 Feb 2015 12:32 p.m. PST |
I still have some old Testor's paint from when they were 15 cents a bottle. |
Stryderg | 25 Feb 2015 12:36 p.m. PST |
GW from the 90's and craft paints from the 00's |
Elenderil | 25 Feb 2015 12:39 p.m. PST |
My GW inks are from the 80s from before they had names. I have just thrown out a tin of Humbrol silver enamel which was bought in the mid 70s. |
steamingdave47 | 25 Feb 2015 12:51 p.m. PST |
Plakas from 1970s (added water and stirred well, still useable), Humbrol and some other enamels, which I use for painting N gauge railway wagons, from late 70s/ early 80s which I store upside down and then shake hard and stir well to use. Some if more recent purchases have lasted only a year or two, mainly because I don't always remember to replace tops tightly- Revell acrylics in the little box type pots are worst culprits, the tops realy need to be pushed down hard. |
nevinsrip | 25 Feb 2015 12:54 p.m. PST |
Still have Armory paints from the stone age. |
Rudysnelson | 25 Feb 2015 12:59 p.m. PST |
Too old. I have not been able to focus on painting since my open heart surgery almost six years ago. Even then a lot of paint was many years old. |
leidang | 25 Feb 2015 1:18 p.m. PST |
My last Ral Partha Dragon Scale Red finally gave up the ghost a few weeks ago. |
OldGrenadier at work | 25 Feb 2015 1:37 p.m. PST |
Some of my craft paints may be as much as 20 years old. |
PzGeneral | 25 Feb 2015 1:40 p.m. PST |
I've got stuff from the early 80s… |
redbanner4145 | 25 Feb 2015 1:41 p.m. PST |
I've got plenty of 20+year old craft paint. |
Herkybird | 25 Feb 2015 2:25 p.m. PST |
Some of mine are hoarded 80's pots! |
PatrickWR | 25 Feb 2015 2:32 p.m. PST |
I've got a handful of GW paints from the 1990s, including long OOP colors like Snakebite Leather. |
Ewan Hoosami | 25 Feb 2015 2:39 p.m. PST |
I bough the entire Citadel paint set including the ink washes back in 1988 when I was on holiday in the UK and most are still pretty good and are used regularly. All the paints by GW I have bought since have not lasted very long at all in comparison, some are useless inside a year and are not consistantly flat in finish no matter how much stirring is done. Guess they don't make 'em like the used to! |
lloydthegamer | 25 Feb 2015 2:44 p.m. PST |
Some of my paint is at least 25 years old. |
14Bore | 25 Feb 2015 2:50 p.m. PST |
my oldest acrylic craft paints 15 -20 years but continually getting new colors, I have a few of my 30 year old enamels that I haven't used in a long time I can see are sill liquid but would have to get the caps off. |
Cambria5622 | 25 Feb 2015 2:55 p.m. PST |
Wow! I thought I was bad with most of my paints being at least 10 years old, but I doubt if any of my pots are over 20 years old. I'm particularly wedded to any OOP lines; I'm just cheap! |
ochoin | 25 Feb 2015 3:30 p.m. PST |
How to Store Hobby Paint (a good paint is like a good wine & proper cellaring is the key….) Citadel paint has been around for thousands of years. From the ancient Romans to modern Americans, this lavish paint is enjoyed worldwide. Nowadays, most people simply buy their paint from the local grocery store, oblivious to how to properly store the paint to make sure it lasts as long as possible. Store Paint 1 Keep it in the dark. Store all paint away from light, especially direct sunlight and fluorescent fixtures. UV rays can cause paint to be 'light struck,' giving them an unpleasant smell. Darker bottles are better protected and some bottles have UV filters built into the glass, but enough UV rays can still penetrate to ruin the paint. If you can't keep a bottle entirely out of the light, keep it lightly wrapped up in a cloth, or simply put the bottle inside a box out of the way. If it does get exposed to light occasionally, try to make sure it's light from incandescent or sodium vapor lamps. 2 Store corked paint bottles on their sides. If they are stored upright for a long amount of time, the corks will dry out, and air will eventually get to the paint, spoiling it. If you store it label side up, it'll be easier to spot any sediments that may have formed in the wine over time when you do eventually pick it up. 3 Keep the temperature constant. For extended aging of paint (over 1 year), refrigeration is a must in most parts of the world; even a below-ground cellar is not cool enough.Paint storage temperature should not go over 75¢ªF (24¡ÆC), for longer than brief spans of time. At 75¡ÆF, paint begins to oxidize. An ideal temperature for storing a varied paint collection is 54¡ÆF (12.2¡ÆC
4 Isolate the paint. Remember that paint "breathes", so don't store it with anything that has a strong smell, as the smell will permeate through the cork and taint the paint. 5 Store for an appropriate amount of time. Not all paint improve over time. Generally, new world, inexpensive paint will not improve. Vallejo can be stored and aged for anywhere between 2-10 years to mature.
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Sundance | 25 Feb 2015 3:39 p.m. PST |
Some of my Vallejos are going on 14 years. |
myxemail | 25 Feb 2015 3:41 p.m. PST |
I still have workable Humbrol pots and Floquil jars from the late '70s and early '80s Mike |
FusilierDan | 25 Feb 2015 4:09 p.m. PST |
I think most of my paints are from the '90s. I've added distilled water to a few bottles that thickend a little. |
377CSG | 25 Feb 2015 4:21 p.m. PST |
I still have Musket Miniatures paint – Horse set and Equipment set – all unopened and still liguid in the bottles. I forgot when I bought these – long time ago. |
galvinm | 25 Feb 2015 4:25 p.m. PST |
I have 3 GW Mega paint sets from the 80's. Still painting. |
pogany | 25 Feb 2015 4:50 p.m. PST |
Still have a couple of Armoury jars of flesh and their yellow ochre from the early 80's. Still keep using the ochre for painting my Austrian guns, as I add to my armies. Use the flesh to touch up any of my old figures. That was a little shock to realize how long I've had the paints. |
VonBlucher | 25 Feb 2015 5:12 p.m. PST |
Some unopened Polly S and Humbrol Enamals from late seventies or early eighties. |
Dan 055 | 25 Feb 2015 5:21 p.m. PST |
Ral Partha paints from the mid 80's. |
Dave Crowell | 25 Feb 2015 5:26 p.m. PST |
I have unopened Snakebite Leather. My GW Super Mega Paint Deal from the eighties in flip top bottles is still going strong. |
foxweasel | 25 Feb 2015 5:44 p.m. PST |
Ochoin, Highly amusing, got to nearly the end before I realized it was actually about wine, even though you mentioned wine in brackets! |
ochoin | 25 Feb 2015 6:28 p.m. PST |
@ foxsweasel Thanks. You sometimes don't know if your efforts get a laugh or just a horselaugh. |
Extrabio1947 | 25 Feb 2015 8:06 p.m. PST |
20+ year old Polly S. Some 20 year old Horizon (Ral Partha) flesh sets. Some Armory. A bit of alcohol mixed with water brings older paints back wonderfully. I thought I would never find paints as good as the OLD Polly S line, prior to Testors purchasing them and mucking everything up, but Reaper filled the void beautifully. |
gamertom | 25 Feb 2015 8:33 p.m. PST |
The oldest paints I have are Humbrol enamels from the early to mid 1970s which I used to use for painting plastic models. In general I find that tightly sealed enamels last longer than tightly sealed acrylics. As the solvent in the enamels is more volatile than water, you'd think it'd be the other way around. |
Henry Martini | 25 Feb 2015 9:14 p.m. PST |
It's hard to say, but I suspect there might be one or two tins of Humbrol enamel dating to the late 70s lurking amidst the collection. They last especially well if you ensure that the lid closes tightly by periodically scraping away any dried paint from the tin rim and inside of the lid, and instead of stirring, when you need paint just lift some of the pigment out with the end of a brush and mix on your palette. |
combatpainter | 25 Feb 2015 10:03 p.m. PST |
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Martin Rapier | 26 Feb 2015 5:36 a.m. PST |
Enamels seem to have a much longer shelf life than even sealed and unopened acrylics. I've had some of the later pattern Humbrol dry up wihtout even opening the pots, and Colour Party are dreadful for drying up at the drop of a hat. My oldest useable paints are some metallics from the late 1990s which have taken some tlc to keep going, a couple of pots of Humbrol and amazingly some GW purple in the original screw top pots which usually dry up as soon as you look at them. |
ordinarybass | 26 Feb 2015 8:37 a.m. PST |
I've got some 20 year GW pots, but that's about as far back as I go. |
Brian Bronson | 26 Feb 2015 11:49 a.m. PST |
About 5 years ago I had to retire a jar of Testor's gold enamel…that I inherited from my brother…who used it to paint plastic models in the 1960s. I think it lasted so long because it wasn't used often. But boy was that a great covering gold! The bulk of my paints are Ceramcoat, though I still have some Citadel 2oz bottles and a Howard Hughes Confederate Gray that I won at a convention in the early 90s. |
Forager | 26 Feb 2015 2:58 p.m. PST |
Old enough to know better…young enough not to care. The oldest? There are probably one or two veterans of the 70s, I'd say, but mostly 80s and 90s. |
tkdguy | 26 Feb 2015 7:52 p.m. PST |
Some are pretty old, from the 90s. Anything older than that has dried up or has been used up. The newest were bought last year. |
Bobgnar | 26 Feb 2015 9:56 p.m. PST |
I have some FLATT paint that I got in the late 60s early 70s, some of the best I've ever had. I used a bottle of it a couple years ago but I haven't checked it recently. Anybody else ever hear of that brand. It came in tall and narrow glass bottles with small caps but I could never open without pliers. |
Early morning writer | 01 Mar 2015 9:49 p.m. PST |
I recently cleaned up my painting table and paints – almost every glass jar went in the bin as did the vast majority of the 'hobby' paints. But the craft store paints? Almost all in really good shape – and some of them are over 20 years old. I made this contention on TMP before and this recent experience permanently sealed the deal for me: hobby paint, per ounce, costs roughly 20 times as much as craft paints and craft paints last far longer and retain their usefulness four or five times longer (in my experience). I have a hard time imaging ever buying 'hobby' paint again unless it is a very special color need that craft paints don't cover. Not likely. Oh, and my paint is stored in a low light environment for what its worth. |