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So i have been super busy with painting everything under the sun. I have a large painting station down in my basement. I also have a large array of different colors for primer ALL the same brand..Although i do not remember the exact name..it is the Cheap cheap Wal-mart brand (It's a blue can) which IMO works just as well as the 16.00$ games workshop stuff (although not my question) Here is the question... I had to use a few colors that i haven't touched in months yesterday..gave them their good shaking as you should and got ready..aimed pressed the spray button and SPLOUCH..paint ran out of the tip as if i had turned on a water hose. Picked up another color..the same thing.. Turns out..ALL my cans that have been sitting for a month or so have the same thing.. So i ask you experts.. Is it the cold weather from sitting in the basement..from simply sitting (Which..they sit in the store shelf so i would think not) Should i shake them mixing the can for a LONG time if they have been dormant? Cause i am not looking forward to having a black,yellow,red, grey speckled hands again lol.

Could be a couple of things.

First spray paint likes to operate around room temp 65 to 70 degress, this isn't due so much to the paint but to the propellant. Basically the pressure in the can will vary with temperature, the lower the temperature the lower the pressure in the can. My suggestion is bring the can of paint upstairs for half an hour or so before you use it next time.

Second, last time you used the can did you let the nossle run clean before you put it away. If you didn't then its likely that some paint has dried in the nossle and is making it hard for the paint to flow. Next time your done spraying with a can turn it over and spray it till nothing but propellant runs out.

Third, its possible that your can was either undercharged with propellant or leaked if this is the case throw out the can and start over.

In my experiance you get what you pay for. Your $.99 can from walmart might work most of the time, but my more expensive can works all the time. But thats neither here nor there.

@Catyrpelius Thank you for the tips, I will bring them upstairs next time to warm them up a tad before use. Also My $.97 Can from Wally world does the same exact coat the 16.00$ from GW does lol, But like you said that is truely here nor there.

The temperature is exactly whats effecting it, I bought some white base spray paint from a hardware store and it worked great the first night I used it to base a bunch of terrain pieces.

Then over a month later I went to use it and it just ran out all watery... the can was busted. Then the other one I had was spraying the paint out in chunks all over the terrain (it worked in my face as an uneven ground texture). But had it been a 40k Model I would of been livid... keep your cans in a room termpature spot and make sure you clean them up!

I've even had the GW stuff do some weird things like crystalize on the surface of my model causing it to appear rough and not smooth, which eats up a lot of paint when you go to do the mini.

Yep your cans need to be kept at room temperature at least.

Also remember immediately after use, to turn the can upside down and spray for a second until it comes out clear. This forces a bit of solvent through the nozzle and clears out any paint still in there. The next time you use the can, the nozzle will be clear.

I don't like to wait for my paints to warm up, so I run the can under hot (but not scalding - I need to be able to hold the thing) water for a few seconds, shake a bit to distribute the heat, and repeat a few times. That tends to bring things up to temperature in about a minute.

Clearing the nozzle after painting is important, but clogged nozzles are salvageable, much of the time. Scraping can remove any paint dried on the face of the nozzle, but don't go digging around inside with a pin - you'll distort the hole and wreck your spray pattern. Pop the nozzle off and soak it in thinner for a while, after which a quick spray on some scrap will usually blow the now gooey clog right out.

As for the quality of various brands, there's pretty much no difference in the cans, aside from the quality of the plastic cap, unless they come with a specialty nozzle (fan spray, or something) or are on of those crazy "spray at any angle" jobs. The differences are what's inside the can only, as far as I can tell. I've been using ColorPlace (that's the name of the cheap Walmart brand, by the way) for a while now and I've used Krylon, RustOleum, and other brands in the past. I've NEVER had clogging issues with my cans (though I've had to clear others), because I'm sure to purge the nozzles after every spray session.

At a buck per can, I might just replace the problematic ones and start fresh. If you've got some thinner around, clean the nozzles, warm up the cans, and you should be good to go, once again.