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Hi everyone,

I've just returned to the hobby after an absence of over six years. Came to discover (no surprise) that about 1/2 of my Citadel paints have completely dried out. Goodbye $$$.

I search around for a method to resuscitate these paints, and the consensus seemed to be that if they've dried to the point of being a solid block, they're beyond salvage. My early attempts to revive them, using distiled water, Tamiya paint thinner, and Flow Aid (not all together at the same time) all seemed to bear this out.

Then I came across a thread here on Dakka, https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/611852.page and read this:

 Sean_OBrien wrote:
As long as the acrylic hasn't cross linked, you can put it back into solution by adding solvent (water).

If it has cross linked though, you won't be able to bring it back around without some chemistry. Small amounts of ammonia can break the chain without causing significant damage to the pigments. This can soften it enough that you can add something like a thin binder (Future for example) and then reconstitute it that way.

Once you have done your work though and it is completely mixed - you will want to go ahead and strain the paint to remove all the chunks of acrylic that had cured and were not broken down again.

Sounded intriguing, so off I went to test that out.



This is the paint "consistency" before I started--pretty solid (sorry about the poor lighting).




I added about 15 drops of ammonia to the paint pot, and tried to poke into the gummed up solid mass of dried paint. Then left it sitting for a couple of hours. Went back, poked some more, and added 1:20 solution of Flow Aid. Left it overnight.

Here's the result:






It looks good, at least on the cardboard, but I'm wondering, before I start trying to resuscitate more dried pots, or start painting with these, if there would be any negative consequences of using paint thinned with ammonia?

Thanks for any info and help.

I wouldn't use your tongue to repoint your brushes any more...

For brush paint, I think it's probably fine, but it can do nasty things to the plating on airbrushes.

 Maelstrom808 wrote:
For brush paint, I think it's probably fine, but it can do nasty things to the plating on airbrushes.

Good point, thanks. Can ammonia affect/damage the brush hair, too? Synthetic or not?

Trying this method on a few other "hitherto-unredeemable" Citadel pots, will report back later with results.

GamerSTGM wrote:

 Maelstrom808 wrote:
For brush paint, I think it's probably fine, but it can do nasty things to the plating on airbrushes.

Good point, thanks. Can ammonia affect/damage the brush hair, too? Synthetic or not?

Trying this method on a few other "hitherto-unredeemable" Citadel pots, will report back later with results.

I am not a chemist by any stretch of the imagination, but from my meager understanding what you have in that paint pot is basically a somewhat basic, polar solution of ammonium hydroxide, water, medium and pigment.

The thing is that a natural haired brush has oils on it that keep the bristles soft and from what I understand, while this oil is of course nonpolar, ammonium hydroxide (due to it basic properties) and the oil will probably undergo saponification to some degree. I'd definitely not use a natural hair brush.

As for a synthetic brush, I can't imagine that a non-neutral solvent is good for them, but I don't think it would destroy it immediately or anything. But over time, I'd imagine it might have some small effect. Keep in mind, the jug you poured the ammonia out of is plastic and it's still there, so it can't be too horrible on it. Of course, our miniatures and brushes are made from different sorts of plastic, but the idea is still the same, ammonia is polar and plastic is not.

But um, again, I might not have any idea what I am talking about.

Just one minor safety warning: don't let that stuff make contact with bleach. Chlorine gas is no joke.

What a great case study!!! I will have to remember this and agree that synthetic brushes would be the way to go.