Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I have some Vallejo Game Color and Model Color paints I hadn't used in a few months and when I went to use them I have run into a problem. The pigment seems to have to dried inside and is mostly medium with the pigment, which is way to thin to use. Shaking rigoursly doesn't seem to make a difference but I can't imagine they are useless after only a few months of sitting around. Any experience with this issue and how to get them back into painting shape?

Pop the nozzle out and mix the pigment back into the medium with a stick ( sprue should do). You’ll probably find that they’d started to separate before you bought them, sat on the shelf. I find you have to give them a really long, vigorous shaking when first purchased to stop this happening.

Two things I found to help for getting separated paints back in working order are agitators and a vortex mixer.

The Agitators are great for getting pigment off the sides of pots and breaking up clumps, while the vortex mixer I found quite helpful for reconstituting medium and pigment.

Shaking is great for maintenance (especially with an agitator), but when paint has already separated and settled, stirring is the way to go. Dropper bottle necks are narrow, so I've used a stiff piece of wire (paperclip would work) I could bend a little foot and a dogleg into to let me really scrape down the bottom and sides of the bottle.