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So I'm still fairly new to the hobby, I'm only just starting to paint and I have a few questions. Yesterday I bought some paint to paint my custom SM chapter (which is in my signature) and not only did I not buy the black spray paint (too expensive) I forgot to buy two colours. I remembered what I needed when I was at GW but I didn't want to buy more, too painful. Which kind of leads me to my questions. 1. The little pots do last a while, right? You only use a little bit of paint each time, don't you? 2. Does paint have an "expiration date"? 3. Best place to store it? Out of direct sunlight etc...
Sorry if my questions are unclear. I don't want to retype...
Thanks in advance!

Yes the little pots do last a while but some of the more used colours to run out rather quick(black for example).

You only use a little at a time unless your painting some grand terrain product and then I would use household paints.

Yes paint has an expiry date like all paint but it has rarely bothered me(about 2 pots have gone off in the last 3 yrs).

Yes just store it like normal paint.


Hope this helps

Don't forget to thin your paints they will last even longer.
I have some paint that is about 10/12 years old and still going strong even after an 8 year break from the hobby.
Just make sure your pots are well sealed again when your done.

I have all the paints and still use them since I started painting in 2012. Be sure to thin your paints, make sure they're is a good seal when you close them add you will be just fine

My Reaper paints are still perfectly fine after 6+ years. GW paints, though, tend to have a shorter lifespan due to their crappy paint pots. Dropper bottles are so much better.

Prime your models, thin your paints (wet palettes are best for this, no messing around with ratios of water to paint), keep your pot lids clean of dried and caked up paint to seal them properly, and store them in a box or somewhere dry and room temperature. The little pots will last a long time if you ration them right, and if you keep them in proper conditions they can last for years. I took a 7-8 year break, got back into it and opened my pots, the majority were still usable. Some needed some water to "refresh" them, others were completely dried up due to me not properly cleaning the pots.

i have thrown away maybe 4 bottles of paint in 2 years, 3 of which were because i was an idiot and thinned the paint in the container. Little bit if its really thick is fine, but i tried to get it to the perfect consistency i want to paint with so i can just go straight from the bottle easier. Made colored water by accident lol.

They last quite awhile too. I think ive bought like 3 different colors more than once in 2 years, and those were the primary colors (green for my orks, purple for my tau, yellow for priming my gold and bad moonz ork armor)

Thanks guys! Sorry if my questions seem stupid, you know how it is with games workshop money money. I guess I was being... cautious? Anyway thanks again.

GW paints are a lot more prone to drying up. If you're using them constantly you can keep an eye on them and add water, acrylic medium and drying retarder as needed, if you go away from the game for a while you'll often return to find them dried out and need to buy them all over again.

I've been collecting for 18 or so years and I've gone through about 4 batches of GW paint, that is, I've probably had to replace each paint about 4 times. If it weren't for the fact the closest stores to me sell GW paint, I probably would have entirely swapped over. But I'm too lazy to drive 15 minutes further to the next closest store and/or order them online and have to wait for them and guess at the colours.

GW tins are simply more prone to drying out and IMO more finicky to use, I went overseas for a year and a half and a good slab of my GW paints dried out while I was gone, granted some of them were a bit thick before I left and I probably should have put some drying retarder in before I left, none the less GW pots do suck.

IMO, GW's strength is their base range. I like the GW base range, but beyond that these days I try and go for alternatives. P3, Vallejo, Reaper, Army Painter for washes, artist acrylic inks, Mr Hobby acrylics, Tamiya acrylics. Mr Hobby and Tamiya acrylics are alcohol based and don't tend to mix well with the others, but the other ones can all be intermixed quite happily.

Quick on expiration dates. Ther are none, if pots/paint is properly stored.
I took a big, big hiatus (about 15-18 years long.. I stopped the year 3rd ed. came out and restarted a month before 6th). When I "rebooted", only two colours were dried out: a shinong gold and a tin bitz in the infamous screw-capped pots.

 Kerrathyr wrote:
Quick on expiration dates. Ther are none, if pots/paint is properly stored.
I took a big, big hiatus (about 15-18 years long.. I stopped the year 3rd ed. came out and restarted a month before 6th). When I "rebooted", only two colours were dried out: a shinong gold and a tin bitz in the infamous screw-capped pots.

If most the pots were pre-screw top, I'd believe that. Those pots were great, they're the same ones P3 uses now, they never dry out. Of all my old paints that have survived the test of time, most of them are the pre-screw top ones. I have a couple of screw tops that survived and a couple of the post-screw top pop tops that survived (out of heaps), but pretty much all my pre-screw top pots are still good. As you say, those would have to be 15+ years old now, and they've survived better than any of the newer GW pots.

I think that's a large part of the reason I like P3, they use that same type of pot that lasts forever.

Thank - you fellow Dakka knights! You have relieved my worrying thoughts once again! I have enough money to buy the rest of the required paint and the black spray, but then I will have no more WH money. Anyway ...

I'm just gonna throw this out there, if you have a look at pretty much any hardware store around, you'll find a decent black spray for basecoating/undercoating for literally a fraction of what GW charge. This might be an Australian market thing, but $23 for a can of black..? No thanks. Bunnings or Masters mate, there's a brand called Septone do a decent Matt black for around $7 a can. Just a suggestion, might save you some $$.

Thank man