"Vallejo paint went bad?" Topic

Tonight I went to use one of my Vallejo Game Colors, Ghost Grey and it suddenly has a very strong almost ammonia type odor to it.

I assume it's gone bad.

I stirred the pot and the paint itself still looks totally normal.

I bought the Game Color suitcase set back in 2012 and this is the first paint from that set to ever have turned like this. The eye dropper pots seem to be mostly impervious to going bad, like Wargames Foundry. Although I guess like anything, given enough time I suppose even paint in an eye dropper can turn.

I have the Citadel mega set, also bought in 2012 and none have ever gone sour.

With the Citadels I add drops of a distilled water/alcohol 50/50 mix to keep them from drying out, and they've stayed perfect for eight years. I've never, ever added tap water to any miniatures paints, it was always only distilled.

But I never considered doing that with the Vallejo's since the paint is so much better sealed. Same with Wargames Foundry, never had a paint go sour or turn.

Interesting, would be good to hear whether a 50-50 alchohol water mix would help my Vallejo and Americana paints keep going. Hard to get new paint where I live these days!

I had a container of paint turn once. Don't use it! It still stinks really bad after it's dry.

I have never heard of hobby paint changing odor like that.

However, I have heard of some microbes able to live in pigment slurries that can result in strange smells, though how your paint would suddenly become microbially contaminated is beyond my understanding.