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Hey everyone. I has a question about vallejo model colors. I've heard that some people put ball bearings and other items in the jars to help mix the paint. I can't seem to be able to find any local store that sells ball bearings or anything similar. I've also heard of some people using pieces of sprue but I don't know if they're heavy enough to mix the paint. Does anyone know of something fairly easy to find that could go in a bottle and not ruin the paint? Thanks.

Lead solder, fishing split shot, pewter sprue pieces or glass beads. Do not BBs or metals other then lead or pewter, they will corrode and ruin your paint.

i use glass ebads of odd shapes that i buy from a craft store, just make they'll fit into the bottle....

i saw a guy who use lego mechanics to make an awesome paint shaker for vallejo bottles, wish i could find it again, would love to make one

I use the tabs you need to cut off models.

I got ball bearings off eBay.

Many are leery of using anything ferrous, for risk of rust forming and ruining the paint. I've heard everything from pewter offcuts to glass marbles to lava beads recommended, so there are plenty of alternatives out there. Look around online for various non-reactive beads and I'm sure you can find something suitable without breaking the bank. If it won't corrode and will fit through the top, it just has to have enough weight to move the paint (which is why, say, plastic airsoft BBs wouldn't work).

You can get glass beads at any crafty type stores (Michael's, Joanne's, etc), I usually drop a couple in each dropper bottle.

Vallejo also says the proper way to mix the paint bottles is to roll them between the palms of your hand or on the table, not shake up and down.

Jeezus, do I really need to go buy a little bead to get my paints to mix correctly? Agitating the bottle (like mewiththeface says) isn't enough?

Do you HAVE to buy a bead to make them mix correctly? No, of course not. Does having the bead in there mix them maybe a little more quickly, saving you time rolling them around? My evidence points to yes.

Really, a package of like 300 glass beads is going to run you a couple of bucks, and it saves time down the line for mixing paints. It's by no means a requirement, and if you don't want to do it, then don't do it. However, it makes my life a little nicer later, and dammit, I like hearing the clicking

As an owner of vallejo paint I have this to say:

Out of 5 bottles I have 4 of them are nearly dried out. One of them, gunship green, was very very very nice to paint with but you can see small clumps of dry paint on some of the surface.


So I decided to try drastic measures: shaking them for about a week, storing them in a way that would make the paint avoid settling on the bottom or top, stirring with a stick, walking around with them all day for 3 months.

Still all dry as heck. The yellow looks more like a brick than paint. Worst of all, I PURCHASED VALLEJO BECAUSE MY OLD CITADEL SCREW TOP SUNBURST YELLOW WAS DRYING OUT! My brand new vallejo yellow is WORSE.


EDIT: almost forgot, I just put some metal bits on them. I hope this will at least make elf flesh usable.

I use volcano stone beads from ebay. great weight, inert to paint, and perfect size to fit in dropper bottles.