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I know that being a negative nancy is the new cool thing, but it is time for my very first GW rant. Recently I decided to invest in good paint and start replacing all my alcoholic and acrylics with Citadel paint. At first their paint looked like THE GOD!. After a couple of months I realized that my Maccrage Blue is slowly turning to... stone. Literally. Then this started happening with other colors untill I realised that I actually have to "maintain" the pots, because paint that is coming down the "throat" is going down the lid and getting dry. I had no idea that this prevents the pot of being properly closed. Half my paints were literraly gone. So I started claring the lids. However, how I am supposed to prevent that, when everytime I open their pot the paint is going down the "throat" of the lid and both the top and the pot are getting covered with paint.... !? It took me one hour to "fix" all my citadel pots. It was a nervous and neat job, because I didnt want to spill any paint on the table...

I had to chop off any dry paint in order to prevent the paint from evaporating:


Then I ended up with lots of rubber gooish old paint....


I don't get this. Is this intentional dick move to make us waste more money on pots or GW are just kind of stupid?
I do realise that this could be a known issue for a very long time among fantasy/sci-fi painters, but this is my first encounter and I am not happy at all. GW paint is good, but redicilously overpriced. I started to replace my old and cheap paint so I can avoid such issues and here I am again in the same boat, again. I hear some good words about Vallejo Model Color, but I am not sure if their, for example, Maccrage blue equavilent is the exact same color. Those paint charts are kind of deceiveing.

Their paint pots are just awful. Make them replace it - send them the photo.

I do love their actual paints, but the pots UGH! ...you could transfer them to droppers but it's tough not to lose some paint in the process.

Citadel paints are pretty good - the pots are horrible though.

That's a pretty common opinion, and probably one of the main reasons brands like Vallejo are so popular - they use dropper bottles...some people actually go to the trouble of buying or re-using empty dropper bottles and transferring citadel paints into them!

From what the old timers tell me, this has been sort of widely known forever. You can tinfoil hat the idea that GW knows and they have left the defect all this time to force you to buy more paint, but thats up to you.

Thanks for the comments!
I followed a youtube guide to transfer paint and then ordered 10 droplets from ebay. I plan on switching to vallejo or privateer. Can you please let me know if Vallejo are 100% compatible or at least vert close.

I haven't had a problem with losing an entire pot, surprisingly. I went almost a year without painting anything and mine were fine. My plastic glue didn't survive. I still get drying near the top. I was looking at trying some different metallic paints, and may eventually transition.

The amazing thing is the OLD Rogue Trader era Citadel paints last forever. Mine were up in my parents attic with extreme heat and extreme cold year to year, decades later they still work fine - though they are not as nice as the newer formulas anyway.

 Gunzhard wrote:
The amazing this is the OLD Rogue Trader error Citadel paints last forever. Mine were up in my parents attic with extreme heat and extreme cold year to year, decades later they still work fine - though they are not as nice as the newer formulas anyway.

oh yeah, those ancient tall hex-pots were sculpted by the emperor himself I think! glorious!

 ZoBo wrote:

 Gunzhard wrote:
The amazing this is the OLD Rogue Trader error Citadel paints last forever. Mine were up in my parents attic with extreme heat and extreme cold year to year, decades later they still work fine - though they are not as nice as the newer formulas anyway.

oh yeah, those ancient tall hex-pots were sculpted by the emperor himself I think! glorious!

Yep, I still have about 10 pots that I use regularly. Oddly enough, they have roughly the same cap design as the current pots, but were much harder to open, especially after that little tab broke (and it WILL break). At least the newer pots got rid of the tab. Worst paints ever from GW were the ones with the simple screw-on cap. They didn't last at all, and every single one of my pots with those screw caps ended up as solid blocks of paint.

One thing I do regularly is to take the handle of a smaller paint brush and dig out the dried paint around the cap seal. It normally comes out pretty easily (usually in a single piece) and will make your paint last much longer.

 DalinCriid wrote:
Thanks for the comments!
I followed a youtube guide to transfer paint and then ordered 10 droplets from ebay. I plan on switching to vallejo or privateer. Can you please let me know if Vallejo are 100% compatible or at least vert close.

Direct 1 to 1 no.

there might be some close matches but its honestly not going to be exactly the same.

 Zach wrote:
From what the old timers tell me, this has been sort of widely known forever. You can tinfoil hat the idea that GW knows and they have left the defect all this time to force you to buy more paint, but thats up to you.

The conspiracy theories probably come from the fact they DID have good pots that didn't dry out.... 20 or so years ago. Then they swapped to screw tops which were awful, if they didn't dry up then the lid jammed and you couldn't get in to them, then for the past 15 or so years they've been going from one crappy pop top to the next crappy pop top and they all suck.

But anyway, yeah, I hate GW pots. To the point I only buy a handful of GW paints that I like (such as Rakarth Flesh and Mephiston Red) and have swapped to other companies for the rest.

I could buy superior pots and transfer the paints I have, but screw that, I'm not paying even more money for pots and then wasting time transferring them when I can just buy other paints to start out with.

 Desubot wrote:

 DalinCriid wrote:
Thanks for the comments!
I followed a youtube guide to transfer paint and then ordered 10 droplets from ebay. I plan on switching to vallejo or privateer. Can you please let me know if Vallejo are 100% compatible or at least vert close.

Direct 1 to 1 no.

there might be some close matches but its honestly not going to be exactly the same.

Thanks for confirming. I already bought some pots, but my next buys will be vallejo. Thanks

The pots are designed to not allow paint to last too long so you have to buy more. Its very obvious

Neh. I'm having the same problem, but none of the paints seem to dry over time. I've found that the best way to overcome this problem is to not to open the bottle fully and scoop the paint not from inside, but from the lip part which tends to have a lot of paint on it if you shake the bottle priot opening.

A fellow named "Nesbet" posted his efforts for re-potting:
http://nesbetminiatures.blogspot.ca/2011/02/showcase-desktop-and-paint-racks-with.html
Part 2 with more detail on the pots:
http://nesbetminiatures.blogspot.ca/2010/11/wip-building-my-paint-racks.html
The research here:
http://wargameguru.weebly.com/in-focus-review---coat-d-arms-acrylic-paints.html
http://www.shcweb.co.uk/eshop/product.php?xProd=67&xSec=7

You might want to PM him on how he got those specific pots later-on.

Well I've just tossed another 7 pounds on empty bottles. The problem is that Vallejo are hard to find in my country. I have 3 shops selling GW paint and only one have Vallejo, but they sell the Model Color not the Game Color.... I guess Ebay...

I was trying to find a history of the GW paint pots for your info and came across this,

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/235627-why-the-current-gw-paint-pots-are-their-best-ever/

Obviously the article is bias towards the new pots cos the guy likes them but does show you all the changes from the starting paint so quite interesting.

I started the hobby when I was small and got many of the 2nd type hexagonal ones in the 90s, No issues with this type of pot, I kept them in the conservatory so they got roasted and frozen. Most of these pots are still alive today or I finished the pot without the paint "going off". A few of the lids are starting to crack now and as a child they made my thumbs incredible strong (therefore winning all thumb wars ) If anyone wanted this type of paint you can still get them from a company called Coats D'Arms (pots are round).

The 3rd type, screw pots were awful, they were kept in the same conductions as the 2nd type and they all dried out. Least said about them the better.

I have quite a few of the 4th type, majority of them are fine and lasted reasonably well, some went a bit thick and need rehydrating. No issues with this type of pot.

The 5th and current type of pot, I've slowly been adding to my collect and now have as many of these as the others combined. I find them pretty easy to use and certain yellows and reds cover very well, but I have knocked a couple of pots over, only had one doggy one which tbh I should have returned but I thought I could fix it, turns out I can't. 2 hints that might be helpful using them.

1. Don't open the lid all the way, paint will follow gravity so if you open it past the half way point of course the paint will flow down the lid and clog up the seal. I tend to open them so the lid rests with a small slit to get the brush in and I take from the tongue of the lid to transfer it onto a palette to thin.
2. When closing them put them on a flat surface and push down on the top with the middle of your hand till you hear the big click. If there is paint clogging the rim up and stopping it closing use a paper clip to dig it out, won't take long, only had to do this 2 or 3 times in the last 18 months..

Interesting article.

Here is a side by side of paint pots from my bench:


Honestly, I like the old ones best, but the new ones aren’t bad.

Well I just walked into a GW store with a dried out technical paint pot less than an hour ago, they just exchanged it - no questions asked, I didn't even buy it there.

 Nevelon wrote:
Interesting article.

Here is a side by side of paint pots from my bench:


Honestly, I like the old ones best, but the new ones aren’t bad.

Agree with Nevelon. Old ones are better, but new ones aren't so bad.

It's a crap pot design but just to play devil's advocate I suspect some user error here too.
How long are your sessions, how warm is your work area, do you have a fan on and are you painting straight from the pot and/or leaving it open while you use that colour?
You should really be using a pallette with divots or a wet pallette.
Shake paint, open the pot halfway, transfer paint to pallette, close pot properly(this newer style tend to stay open at the back a bit and are often even sold partly open), thin as required, paint toys.
Job done.
Your paints will stay in much better condition for far longer like this.

I'm taking some time away from my paints. Normally I just give them a bit of a shake every few days to keep them liquid.

Because I'm not going to be able to do that I decided instead to remove the lids off all my paints, clear out and gunk and close them again (properly!) in the hope that the paints won't settle and set.

I'm still separated from my paints (boo hoo) but I'll try to remember to check back in this thread to post on if any of the paints have dried out.

The lids were pretty easy to clean when I took them off the pots (I took the entire lid piece off, complete with the ring which attaches it to the pot). I also cleaned the rim of the pot in some cases.

Store them upside down too if it's for long periods.

I almost exclusively use Coat d'Arms paints. As they were once the manufacturers of GW's paint, most of their paints still have the old GW colours. And another reason is ( a rather big one); They have the old pots still!

Furthermore they contain 18ml of paint.

You can find them with Hasslefree or from their own website. Ebay is also a good place.

I use acrylic paint for a couple of years for canvas painting. Unless you're spending hundreds of euros/dollars for Studio paint à la Lascaux which come in very nice pots/tubes, you have to deal with clocked up pots & tubes. Keeping your acrylic paints, or any paints for that matter clean is priority #1. I personally have no problem with the GW paint pots. A) They're dirt cheap compared to the amount you use & B) The quality is on the upper spectrum.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
It's a crap pot design but just to play devil's advocate I suspect some user error here too.
How long are your sessions, how warm is your work area, do you have a fan on and are you painting straight from the pot and/or leaving it open while you use that colour?
You should really be using a pallette with divots or a wet pallette.
Shake paint, open the pot halfway, transfer paint to pallette, close pot properly(this newer style tend to stay open at the back a bit and are often even sold partly open), thin as required, paint toys.
Job done.
Your paints will stay in much better condition for far longer like this.

You mean I have to thin the paints and use palette?

Joke aside, I do use wet palette and I know how to thin my paints. I rarely use paint directly from the pot, but part of the problem is that my sessions are kind of short.

However the error is mainly main, cause I was not paying enough attention when closing the lid... but then, again, I had no such issues with the rest of the brands I am using.

Threads like this make me not miss GW paints...I went Vallejo a while ago and haven't looked back. Huge upgrade (just based on the pots!). I do miss the old gunky rings of paint from the bottles around 95-99. So rewarding to peel those huge rings out.

 Nevelon wrote:
Interesting article.

Here is a side by side of paint pots from my bench:


Honestly, I like the old ones best, but the new ones aren’t bad.

I still have pots of Glistening Green, Amethyst Purple, and Sapphire Blue that I still use. Still work absolutely perfect. Why GW does not go back to those bottles is simple idiocy. Although all the pots since then has certainly driven up their paint sales, which I am sure makes them give about two craps.

I picked up the complete set of Army Painter paints and love them, and only use Citadel for some of their more interesting metallics and other random shades. Even the Army Painter inks are fine replacements for Citadel washes. I hate having to scoop paint out onto my pallette, and it seems strange they still do this considering GW don't even pretend palettes and thinning paints aren't things you need to do anymore in their offical painting videos.

 Groundh0g wrote:
... and it seems strange they still do this considering GW don't even pretend palettes and thinning paints aren't things you need to do anymore in their offical painting videos.

I don't know what videos you're watching because the GW videos constantly show them using palette pads and thinning the paints.