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I tend to stick to Gw's paints, i love the new idea of the transparent lids, still nothing can top Tamiya Smoke

Cool, I really like the foundation paint pots but Vallejo's are cheaper so they win. I haven't had any massive issues with the dropper bottles but yeah you do often squeeze out too much and then it dries on the palette.

Make a wet palette.
That way lies less wastage

Platuan4th wrote:I don't get the love for Vallejo dropper bottles. I have a few Vallejo paints and it just seems like I have too much left over on the palette after using what I need. I feel like I'm wasting paint with the droppers.

With the exception of a few colors, I should point out I'm using almost always GWS paint in eyedroppers, so I'm actually using Vallejo style paint. I do so love their brassy brass, though. Anyway, while it's true you do sometimes waste a little of paint, it's usually not more then a drop or two. (I never ever put more then 3 drops down, then one of premixed flow improver and water).

In my experience, you're going to waste more with an open pot style via either it drying out, or in my case, knocking the open pot over with your clumsy hand hands spilling most of it. The second time I did that, I bought the empty droppers and never looked back.

Ouze wrote:

Platuan4th wrote:I don't get the love for Vallejo dropper bottles. I have a few Vallejo paints and it just seems like I have too much left over on the palette after using what I need. I feel like I'm wasting paint with the droppers.

With the exception of a few colors, I should point out I'm using almost always GWS paint in eyedroppers, so I'm actually using Vallejo style paint. I do so love their brassy brass, though. Anyway, while it's true you do sometimes waste a little of paint, it's usually not more then a drop or two. (I never ever put more then 3 drops down, then one of premixed flow improver and water).

In my experience, you're going to waste more with an open pot style via either it drying out, or in my case, knocking the open pot over with your clumsy hand hands spilling most of it. The second time I did that, I bought the empty droppers and never looked back.

Ah, cool. I tend to use a single drop until I've used it all, then further drops as needed. As for the GW pots drying out, I only have those happen when there's a drought of several month of me not painting. Anytime they start to congeal, they get a little bit of the paint reviving stuff they sell at craft stores.

Platuan4th wrote:Ah, cool. I tend to use a single drop until I've used it all, then further drops as needed. As for the GW pots drying out, I only have those happen when there's a drought of several month of me not painting. Anytime they start to congeal, they get a little bit of the paint reviving stuff they sell at craft stores.

I am interested in the "paint reving stuff" that you mentioned, any brand in particular?

I used GW paints for several years between 1998-2003. I suppose part of the problem was that I kept the paint pot that I was using open at the time I was painting. The medium and pigments in the paints tended to gradualy separate, and in doing so the medium would dry out all the quicker. I would add some water to liquify the paint, but shortly afterwords the paint would dry out again (often within a day or two) untill it was just a solid chunk at the bottom of the jar. I still use some of the foundation paints, but now I use a dropper to place a little paint on my pallet, thus keeping the lid closed as much as possible.

Like Ouze, I use only a few drops of Vallejo paint at a time, slightly diluted with a fix of water and Flow Aid. Some paint gets wasted, but I have never had a bottle of Vallejo Paint solidify on my like the GW paint pods did in the past.

Liquitex Ultra Matte or Matte Medium together with a drop of Flow Aid and distilled water usually works wonders on paints that've started to dry out.
I guess the acrylic medium doesn't dry as quickly as plain water would. (I'm no chemist, I just paint )

I'd also like to hear more about this "paint reviver" you speak of. Is it indeed matte medium? Flow aid, I have.

I've used Matte Medium (switched to Ultra Matte now that my retailer stocks it), a drop of flowaid and a little distilled water for reviving some of my older paints. It kinda works well, dunno how many times you can do it before they really go bad. But if there's still pigment in there you should be able to keep on adding the gunk every now and then. From what I've heard and read, the acrylic medium kinda contains the water and makes it harder for it to evaporate or something like that.

I've found "the gunk" to work. YMMV. If it doesn't, there's really no wasted money since you can use the matte medium for so much other things as well.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:
Why would you need to use it?

Because some people don't actually want to pay for spray paint, and would rather drybrush a "primer" on. I do it, mainly because my spray paint is trash

Also, why does everyone complain about GW's paint pots? If they leak, who cares? Just buy more paint and make the rest of that pot thinned down...They're only a couple bucks, it's not a tragedy if you have to buy more...

Foundation Black is a basecoat not a primer.
So will not be as effective on the model I would have thought.

Can of grey car primer costs me £4

GW paint pots leak?
What are people doing to them to make them leak?

It's the lid. Most people are accustomed to take paint from the lid. With the new pod, most people confuse the lid stopper with a lid arrester to keep it open. In this position the paint spills to the outside of the pod. Main reason why I don't like the new pods.

Palattes especially wet palettes are the way to go!
Keeping the lid open during painting sessions will only help dry the paint out I would have thought.

Kroothawk wrote:It's the lid. Most people are accustomed to take paint from the lid. With the new pod, most people confuse the lid stopper with a lid arrester to keep it open. In this position the paint spills to the outside of the pod. Main reason why I don't like the new pods.

Oky, but if you don't click it that far open, how do you keep the paint pot open enough to get the paint?

Just to clarify, the new paint pots do not allow you to keep the lid "open". They removed a little 'catch' that held the lid when you pulled it open, so now the lid just sits there..limp.

I never understood why gw emphasized sticking your brush into the actual pot to get paint..wtf? That just makes a mess and you get paint all over the handle of the brush. Big waste of time. Just shake up the bottle and get some more into the lid's tongue or whatever it is.

Samus_aran115 wrote:Just to clarify, the new paint pots do not allow you to keep the lid "open". They removed a little 'catch' that held the lid when you pulled it open, so now the lid just sits there..limp.

I never understood why gw emphasized sticking your brush into the actual pot to get paint..wtf? That just makes a mess and you get paint all over the handle of the brush. Big waste of time. Just shake up the bottle and get some more into the lid's tongue or whatever it is.

Okay but how do you prop the lid open far enough to see that little lip inside the top?

Mine always fall closed and I end up lifting it each time I put the brush in. What I've ended up doing is popping the lid past the "catch" and then propping the pain pot up to lean forward so I don't get paint all over my table and the outside of the paint pot.

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Foundation Black is a basecoat not a primer.
So will not be as effective on the model I would have thought.

Can of grey car primer costs me £4

GW paint pots leak?
What are people doing to them to make them leak?

Where from please?

On those rare occasions that I use a GW paint (Dheneb Stone for example), I use either an eye dropper or a tooth pick to transfer a few drops of paint onto a pallet; I then close the paint pot.


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Gargskull wrote:

Can of grey car primer costs me £4

Where from please?

Krylon Fusion plastic spray-paint, which is available at Lowes and True Value store, makes a good spray paint that bonds directly to plastics. It is also available in a large number of colors and finishes (gloss, satin, and matte). I am sure they sell it in the UK.

Hi Garskull

I get it from a local carparts place.
Went up 50p but the can also got bigger now 500ml

It is Hycote Acrylic car primer, (not Plasticote as I said elsewhere) and does a good job imho

So yeah, are these still made in China without a Non-Toxic Label?

sounds good, I started using army painter sprays which are very nice but cost £8 a can, I think they're 700ml though so it may balance out.

Quick calculation shows that the Hycote is cheaper (for £8 you get 1000ml)
but wether quality is as good as the Army painter cans I can't say. Works well enough for me though and is a lot easier to get hold of!

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:wet palette

Explain. I use a palette, but I'm having trouble figuring out how a wet palette might work. Damn, I should have paid more attention at art college.

My wet palette is simply a food container (£1.99) a flat kitchen wipe sponge thing (pack of 5 or 6 for 99p) and some grease proof paper (too few pennies to cost)
moisten sponge, wring out excess water, put in the lid of the food container place 3or 4 sheets of grease proof paper on the sponge.
Can put some drops of water around the edge of the sponge to help keep it moist.

clip on air tight lid after the session .


They are simply a way of keeping paints viable.

What I do is to
1: Unscrew the lid completely.
2: Stir paint thoroughly with stirry stick of some kind.*
No shaking of pots.
3: Put the paint that is on the stirrer onto the wet palette. Transfer more paint if necessary
4: Make sure the lid is securely on the pot.
Either use the stirrer to get more paint onto the wet palette if necessary, or dib in the brush to transfer, For this I just pop the flip lid, but always immediately close it when you have enough paint on the palette.
GW pots are liars. They make you think they are firmly closed but in fact they may be slightly ajar ( sorry couldn't resist)


*This means that there will be a greater percentage of pigment taken up rather in the paint. My theory is that shaking does not mix the heavier piments into the paint enough which stays lower down in the jar.
You are thereby using up more medium leaving increasingly thicker paint in the jar, which is more likely dry out.
Keeping the lid closed as much as possible also helps keep the paint in the pot in good order. This is why I don't like directly taking paint from the pot as the lid may be open for prolonged periods in a session.

The advantage of using a wet palette is that if you need a break, you can close the lid and the paint will reamin moist and workable when you return.
Also even in the winter if I use my glass palette, under the lamp it still starts to dry out quickly.
This can affect the transparency and flow of the paint, and sometimes bits of dried paint rub off and get onto the brush.
Wet palettes avoid this so you have greater consistency of paint for a session with no foreign objects.

Sorry for the long post
hope that explains things and apologies if you already knew this.
Have never had a problem with GW paints drying in the jar using this method.

Yeah, I usually just use a piece of glass, a cheap saucer or if I'm feeling adventurous, an acrylic palette from an art store. But your idea intrigues me and I'd like to subscribe to your newsletter.


(bonus points to anyone who gets the reference)

Gonna have to give this wet palette business a try, cheers dude.

Also, what sized food container would you reccomend? Compare size to common household objects ie; cellphone, a4 sheet of paper, etc.

The ones I have are about A5 size
The lids are about 5x7 inches
sponges about 4X6 inhes

I reckon it is about as small as you can really go
I am not very organised but find that having 3 palettes at this size means I can swap colour schemes if you see what I mean. So that if I am working on some clothing and finish that session, it may be possible to move onto say leather trim with browns in another palette.
You could go as large as you can get materials and have practical space for. But it wouldn't really be worth going over 12 " even that would be plenty big enough.

I like the type of container with the clasps and use the lids as mentioned as it is easier to keep straight when opening.
hth


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PS meant to add that the low cost of the stuff means that if you find it isn't working then you don't lose a lot and get a container to use for summat else

But I reckon you will find it useful.
Also remember not to have the sponge soaking, damp is enough

If you google wet palettes there are some videos and links that may help too. Should have popped a linky in but too late nows and am going sleeps.

Thanks dude. I have a spare plastic container with clasps in about the right size, I'll have to get a few more now.

Thanks again.