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So today I was transferring the few new GW paints that I wanted(only bases and select metals that weren't around before) into dropper bottles, as I do with all new paints as needed.

The bottles I use are http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=44774&catid=530 (Note that the one pictured is 10ml, not the actual one I linked).
These are 15ml, although if Vallejo are 17ml, these are more likely 16.5ish as they are about .5mm shorter at the neck.
GW paints are listed as 12ml. So in all good theory, a single GW pot of paint should take up about 75% of my dropper bottles.

Alas!



As you can see my dropper bottle is little more than half full. And yes that GW pot is empty(I gain nothing from lying about this, that would be stupid). This reminds me of bags of chips that are listed as a certain size, yet when you open the bag, there is less than half there(I'm aware that chips are labled by weight and not by the bag size bla bla bla).

So, assuming you get a perfect pot of paint(my averland sunset was almost as thick as a drybrush paint so I'll be exchanging that one), you only get about 8 or 9 ml out of that GW pot, which is significantly less than advertised on the packaging. I found this was the case across about 20 GW paints, 10 of which were from the new range.

Now I'm not really whining, as I don't tend to use GW paints for the majority of my work these days, I just thought it was interesting so I snapped a pic of it.

/discuss.

bear in mind that you are also loosing some pain in the transfer process as it's impossible to move 100% of it across.

think of it as the inverse of when you dig a hole and fill it up, the loose material is not a denselly packed and therefore when you fill it back you have lots to spare. this is simply the opposite i would think you are loosing material that sticks to the pot, dropper whatever...and yeah it is alot less then i imagined anyway lol.

You should add a measured amount of water to the 'empty' pot and wash the last of the paint out, adding it to the rest, to give you a more accurate total.

Yeah, there is visible paint left in the pot stuck to the sides.
If the bottle says 12ml then there is 12ml in there- there has to be.

Lorizael wrote:Yeah, there is visible paint left in the pot stuck to the sides.
If the bottle says 12ml then there is 12ml in there- there has to be.

I do add some water/flo aid into the pots to squeeze every last possible drop out. There is no way that 3ml's of paint are sticking to the sides of brand new pots.

How exactly do you know there isn't 11.5 ml of paint in that dropper bottle?

I could take the time to measure the length of that pot up to the neck, then measure up to the line where the paint is, do a little math and come up with a close estimate of how much paint is in it.

Or I could eyeball it and tell that the bottle isn't 75% full...

EDIT: I whipped out a ruler and measured it on my screen.

At the pics size on my screen it is exactly 4.5 inches from the bottom rim to the neck.
That gives us 4.50=100% or 15ml

The paint measures 2.625 inches from the bottom. 2.625= 58% of 4.50.

58% of 15ml is 8.7. So over 3ml(25%) short of what is advertised.

Happy?

Now of course you are welcome to double check the math on it, just be aware that the pic may not be the same size on your screen as it is on mine, so you'll need to do the entire equation from whatever size you measure.

or - crazy option, put another empty pot beside it and fill it up using a graduated cylinder. Or you could weigh it. (water weighs 1000g for 1000ml)

Besides, I can see paint stuck to the sides of the paint pot in the first picture. There is obviously some paint still on there, and the amount could surprise you.

Until you actually measure the volume, this is meaningless.

lord_blackfang wrote:Until you actually measure the volume, this is meaningless.

Find someone good at math for the exact formula.
They'll tell you from the bottle alone, even when GW paint is filled 90%( which we all know its not completely full)
and even if you empty it out completely,

the bottle volume alone wont even change the margin of error by 10% when compared with the vallejo bottle.

And do we even need to get into GW flip top lids drying out?

I just purchased a load of GW paints and weighed them by lifting them up. I can guarantee that there is 12 mL in them.

See, I can do poor science as well.

Either measure it somewhat precisely, or don't get all worked up about it, because as a lot of people have pointed out there is visibly paint left in the pot, and you measured the amount of paint in the bottle by measuring a photo of the bottle. Let me spoil something for you: the angle of a photo will change the height of the bottle on the photo. And as this photo is clearly "birds eye", the bottom of the pot will be shorter than the top. Like this picture:



On this picture it looks like the spear on top is 1/4 the height of the building, but on this picture



It is obviously 1/8 or about that height. So measuring anything from a picture taken at an angle doesn't work - and your picture is quite clearly at a top-down angle.


Cheers

^ to poster above.

Implying those of us that posted doesnt own both Vallejo and GW paints -_-

LunaHound wrote:^ to poster above.

Implying those of us that posted doesnt own both Vallejo and GW paints -_-

What are you even talking about? If you want to measure the volume of paint, then measure it. Don't eyeball it.

LunaHound wrote:^ to poster above.

Implying those of us that posted doesnt own both Vallejo and GW paints -_-

What? I don't understand a word of that.

I use and own GW, PP and Vallejo paints. All of them have some great and some bad sides. But none of them seem to skimp on their volume. That's my point. What's your point?

EDIT: My reference to poor science was a reference to the OP, if that is what you found offensive. Otherwise I have zero idea what you are on about.

Kaldor wrote:

LunaHound wrote:^ to poster above.

Implying those of us that posted doesnt own both Vallejo and GW paints -_-

What are you even talking about? If you want to measure the volume of paint, then measure it. Don't eyeball it.

Before I measure, I'll ask first so I know Im satisfying your criteria.

How many pots of GW paints do I have to measure? incase y'know, someone waltz in and say "oh thats just a few random bottles missing few drops"
or things like.... " how do we know you didnt pour some out"
or.... " your scale is broken"

Because that would be.... waste of time ish -_-

I agree, at most this all looks like estimating. Could be close, but not quite precise. I wouldn't be surprised though if the 12ml was more or less an approximation. Sort of how you get the weight or volume of contents for other products; such as food.

However usually it shouldn't deviate far from that approximation usually sticking within some fault margin (has a specific term, though I'm not sure of the name of it at the second). A majority of the price however is likely in the label, which we should all sort of expect by now. Most companies do it anyway.

If indeed they are giving less paint than advertised then they're breaking the law and you should report them to the relevant authorities.
While it's true there's probably a thin layer left in the jar, it's unlikely to be 3ml. But as others have said, you should measure accurately.

Gorlack wrote:

LunaHound wrote:^ to poster above.

Implying those of us that posted doesnt own both Vallejo and GW paints -_-

What? I don't understand a word of that.
What's your point?

Its pretty clear that there is duality to the thread topic
one that is the 2 brand's volume vs price comparison
2nd, whether GW actually contains the labelled amount.

Gorlack wrote:It is obviously 1/8 or about that height. So measuring anything from a picture taken at an angle doesn't work - and your picture is quite clearly at a top-down angle.

Its not like ^ picture angle will change the outcome favorable to GW pot by anything significant.

Testify wrote:While it's true there's probably a thin layer left in the jar, it's unlikely to be 3ml. But as others have said, you should measure accurately.

Yes.

LunaHound wrote:Its not like ^ picture angle will change the outcome favorable to GW pot by anything significant.

Maybe the picture will transform them into dropper bottles.

@Luna: yes it will in fact change in favour of more volume in the gw bottle.

The op claim that 25% of the top of the bottle (like the top ofthe empire statee buildings needle) is free of paint. but as the picture shows, in a top down picture (like the OPs) the top part ofthe bottle will be exagerated in size when compared to a "straight on" photo.

this means that the 25% may be 10-15% in reality, thus meanig that the bottle is 90% full instead of 75%. but we can't know for sure, or even estimate closely based on this, so we should really just measure with a syringe instead of arguing :-D but my point stands. top down photo makes it look more empty.

and I'll stay out of the whole cost/quality thing. My point is just that this thread was filled with bad sciene and anger based on it.

@dropper vs gw: there is a lot of gripe about gw paint and quality. but thats not what this thread is about. this thread is about actual mL content. Don't mix everyhing else into it.

Gorlack wrote:@Luna: yes it will in fact change in favour of more volume in the gw bottle.

The op claim that 25% of the top of the bottle (like the top ofthe empire statee buildings needle) is free of paint. but as the picture shows, in a top down picture (like the OPs) the top part ofthe bottle will be exagerated in size when compared to a "straight on" photo.

this means that the 25% may be 10-15% in reality. but we can't know for sure, or even estimate closely based on this.

and I'll stay out of the whole cost/quality thing. My point is just that this thread was filled with bad sciene and anger based on it.

@dropper vs gw: there is a lot of gripe about gw paint and quality. but thats not what this thread is about. this thread is about actual mL content. Don't mix everyhing else into it.

See, you asked me what I was talking about, the part I highlighted in red.
I told you... I own both paints. I dont need to look at the photo for reference -_-

Did you take the pic in the OP? Because othervise I still dont get your point. I also own both types, but that doesnt mean I can messure the volume with my eyes?

edit: and 15% is probably also wrong. my point is that the picture is useless, not that it prooves me right :-D

Gorlack wrote:Did you take the pic in the OP? Because othervise I still dont get your point. I also own both types, but that doesnt mean I can messure the volume with my eyes?

I dont mean any harm but, what grade math did you take up to >.<

take an empty dropper bottle and fill it with 12ml measured water. Set it aside. Fill a second dropper bottle with a full pot of GW paint. Get as much paint as possible from the GW pot into the dropper bottle. Set next to bottle with water and compare.

The paint bottle should have less volume than the water bottle simply because of the problems getting all the paint out, but not significantly so.

Breotan wrote:take an empty dropper bottle and fill it with 12ml measured water. Set it aside. Fill a second dropper bottle with a full pot of GW paint. Get as much paint as possible from the GW pot into the dropper bottle. Set next to bottle with water and compare.

The paint bottle should have less volume than the water bottle simply because of the problems getting all the paint out, but not significantly so.

Dang it man! Don't bring logic into this!

But seriously, there is a lot of anger in this thread over paints.

Breotan wrote:take an empty dropper bottle and fill it with 12ml measured water. Set it aside. Fill a second dropper bottle with a full pot of GW paint. Get as much paint as possible from the GW pot into the dropper bottle. Set next to bottle with water and compare.

The paint bottle should have less volume than the water bottle simply because of the problems getting all the paint out, but not significantly so.

That was one thing I was going to do (or put them on my scale)
but I figured no matter what the outcome is, people can still dismiss it for the reasons I mentioned earlier ( if they dont feel like accepting it )

None taken, Im doing a masters in Chemistry so I have actually taken math at quite a high level.

I am beginning to think that we are talking about different things. I am talking about our shared ability to judge from the picture in the OP how much paint is in that bottle.

As proven by pictures of the empire state building, the degree of the camera is quite important when talking about sizes because things closer to the camera increase relative to things far away from the camera. Thus, when the OP says 25% and meassures it from the photo, that is useless because if the photo was taken looking UP at the bottle it might look like 8%.

What I dont understand from you is your comments about Vallejo. I own both, but both bottles are vildly different in shape, so judging with your eyes only will make any assesment of volume impossible, especially since we are talking few mL differences at most.

So... What is it that you dont understand, cause I will be happy to supply further examples of camera angles.

Alfndrate wrote:

Breotan wrote:take an empty dropper bottle and fill it with 12ml measured water. Set it aside. Fill a second dropper bottle with a full pot of GW paint. Get as much paint as possible from the GW pot into the dropper bottle. Set next to bottle with water and compare.

The paint bottle should have less volume than the water bottle simply because of the problems getting all the paint out, but not significantly so.

Dang it man! Don't bring logic into this!

But seriously, there is a lot of anger in this thread over paints.

Really? I read everyone's post, can say both sides sounds relatively calm and in order 0_o?

LunaHound wrote:

Breotan wrote:take an empty dropper bottle and fill it with 12ml measured water. Set it aside. Fill a second dropper bottle with a full pot of GW paint. Get as much paint as possible from the GW pot into the dropper bottle. Set next to bottle with water and compare.

The paint bottle should have less volume than the water bottle simply because of the problems getting all the paint out, but not significantly so.

That was one thing I was going to do (or put them on my scale)
but I figured no matter what the outcome is, people can still dismiss it for the reasons I mentioned earlier ( if they dont feel like accepting it )

Do it anyways at least you will know for sure

And regarding anger, I dont think so. At least Im not angered in any way sure hope Luna isnt either.