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That's what I mean - they are doing that now adays. Back before I took a long break from the hobby, they were still pretending that painting from the pots was fine, which is the only way that their pot design makes any sense.

Ya definitely common problem. I clean my pots every once in a while, usually a little build up doesn't dry out the whole paint pot though (haven't had that happen in quite some time actually)

I've been considering converting all the citadel paints to dropper bottles but not sure how the transfer would go.

 Ghaz wrote:

 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.

That's what he said, he just said it in a confusing manner

And believe it or not, English is supposed to be my first language.

Yeah, it was kinda of a sarcastic double negative, didn't transfer well to text and had me fooled. Maybe it needed a big Wayne's World style 'MUCH' afterwards for comedic affect or whatever.
Don't be hard on yourself English is insane.

They don't think it be like it is, but it do.

Personally, I don't mind GWs new pots, as I transferred the contents to dropper bottles and haven't thought about it since.

I have also thought about it. There would barely be any paint loss, compared to what the crappy bottles already cause. I too love Army Painter paints, though I still find the GW base range gives the best coverage of all the common brands.

The Warstore still carries dropper bottles for a dollar apiece. It would be interesting to see if the GW bottle is the true fault in how long GW paint lasts.

 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.

See! Right there! That pot labelled "Brazen Brass": the devil pot!
For some reason I had got into painting a fair bit during that time and that screw-on cap was the worst thing ever.
It must be cleaned carefully to keep paint out of the threads or... let us say "channel locks" were a necessity.

IF I buy GW they go into an eye-dropper container I like, some "matt-medium" added and a drop of flow-aid.

Prior to this fix, an every six month "resuscitation" job was needed to keep the paint alive.
Nice history of those paint pots here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/235627-why-the-current-gw-paint-pots-are-their-best-ever/

I mainly use Liquitex now BUT I do prefer miniature specific metallics (finer grain metallic flakes).
"Shader" is easily made with a fair bit of "matt medium" and multiple drops of flow-aid so I do not typically buy that stuff.

GW makes good paint but like with everything to do with them: cost is a very non-competitive.

If those are the best pots I really don't wanna see the worst...

kb_lock wrote:
They don't think it be like it is, but it do.

Personally, I don't mind GWs new pots, as I transferred the contents to dropper bottles and haven't thought about it since.

You seem to be a person who knows how to get things in this upside down world of ours, do you know of any cheap sources of coat d arms/P3 style pots down under?

There was a link on the previous page but I believe they only service Europe. Black Hat Miniatures sells them, I don't know if they ship to Australia, but they're considerably more expensive ($1.50 each compared to $0.50).

For the most part I'm on indifferent to droppers or pop tops as long as the pop top doesn't suck like GW's do But I'm not a huge fan of storing dropper bottles, most of mine are just sitting loose in a big box because I have no idea how to store them in a space efficient manner that's also ordered

GW paints are not the only paints that dry up. I just threw out a bunch of Game Color paints from 2003 that I hadn't used in ages. I haven't had a new GW paint dry on me yet and that's because I've switched to using a pallet and not painting from the pot.

 Groundh0g wrote:
And believe it or not, English is supposed to be my first language.

 Alex Kolodotschko wrote:
Yeah, it was kinda of a sarcastic double negative, didn't transfer well to text and had me fooled. Maybe it needed a big Wayne's World style 'MUCH' afterwards for comedic affect or whatever.
Don't be hard on yourself English is insane.

An English professor is teaching his students about double negatives. "In English a double negative is a positive. In some languages, such as Russian, a double negative can remain negative. However, in no language does a double positive become a negative"
To which one student replied, "Yea, right!"

That actually happened at a lecture of professors, one from a rival school called it out. Somewhat ironically, the lecturer wasn't wrong, No is a negative irrefutably, NoooooOOOOOoooo in a sarcastic way may be meant as a yes, but the word itself is still negative.

I just finished making fun of other people for power-nerding on the forums and now you've got me arguing RAW vs RAI on the English language.

 chiefbigredman wrote:
Ya definitely common problem. I clean my pots every once in a while, usually a little build up doesn't dry out the whole paint pot though (haven't had that happen in quite some time actually)

I've been considering converting all the citadel paints to dropper bottles but not sure how the transfer would go.

Right after I wrote this went to paint up a Lurtz model...BOOM the black paint I rarely use was dried up and rubbery...nice

I still have some of the paints shown in that picture !! Still perfectly useable.

I've had a BRAND NEW Mega Paint set dry out even before I was able to open a single one of the paints. Yes, GW replaced it, in it's entirety but it is indicative that the failure is in the pot design itself.

Just slowly start to convert over to Vallejo paints, and never look back.

Vallejo all the way. Made the switch years ago, would do it again in a heartbeat.

If you plan on going vallejo, the model air silvers are pretty much the best metallic iv used. gun metal, aluminum (my favorite) silver and steel.

the Golds are kinda meh. the best one for me is P3 Brass balls. and some of the newer GW golds. (liberator gold?)

by no means does that mean Vallejo has all the best colors though.

 DalinCriid wrote:
After a couple of months I realized that my Maccrage Blue is slowly turning to... stone. Literally.

I can guarantee the your paint is not literally turning into stone.... lol

I have a problem with paint drying into the lid as well, but i've only had 1 or 2 paints dry on me and they were both white.

My advice to you is:

Only use Citadel's base paints, they are highly pigmented and cover extremely well.

Get everything else from Coat d'Arms. They have washes but I've never tried them so I can't tell you how good they are.

Personally, I only use about 5 Citadel bases and 2 Citadel washes. Everything else is Coat d'Arms.

My ~7 (technically ~5) Citadel bottles are finicky, but the Coat d'Arms NEVER EVER dry out, and their fantasy range is the original GW range I believe.

I'm sure DD has a conversion chart somewhere to make an easy switch.

Just clean the lids lids and rim out. They accumulate dried-up paint; use a sculpting tool to scrape them periodically, and they stay good for a long time.

No, that's not a lot of fun. Yes, I wish there was a better way. On the plus side, they don't dry up IN the pot, like the previous generation of flip-top GW pots that look similar. That's actually worse, IMO.

I've lost 5 pots of Ceramite White so far.

I still have citadel paints circa 1994. Up until a few years ago THEY WERE STILL GOOD. The company that manufactures them now is called Black Hat Miniatures and the paint line is Coat D'Arms. I only use their product now (not a shill--it's a genuinely excellent product and I think it needs that recognition)

Present day Citadel paints dry up in a very short period of time and I refuse to buy them. I find Vallejo are *okay* and have a couple of pots but they don't knock my socks off, but they're still better than Citadel.

Add a little water to the pot and shake it before using it.

GW paint pots.........lol.......what a disaster. I only use the pots now to stick my mini on top with bluetack temporarily while i paint.

 hemingway wrote:
I still have citadel paints circa 1994. Up until a few years ago THEY WERE STILL GOOD. The company that manufactures them now is called Black Hat Miniatures and the paint line is Coat D'Arms. I only use their product now (not a shill--it's a genuinely excellent product and I think it needs that recognition)

Present day Citadel paints dry up in a very short period of time and I refuse to buy them. I find Vallejo are *okay* and have a couple of pots but they don't knock my socks off, but they're still better than Citadel.

While I like the old GW pots, I'm not a huge fan of the old paints. There were some good ones in the range, but for the most part I found them to not have good enough coverage.

They're probably good for layering techniques, but I tend to not use layering techniques all that much.

I do love the old inks though.

I enjoy GW paints. The pots are something I have grown to like. I have dropper bottles that I use for the washes, glazes, lahmian medium, those I need in dropper bottles so I don't waste too much. To prevent the paint from going around the lip, When I open the pot after shaking, I only pop it open a little, then let the paint drip back into the pot before i open fully. So far it has worked for me.

Bluedorian wrote:
GW paint pots.........lol.......what a disaster. I only use the pots now to stick my mini on top with bluetack temporarily while i paint.

You cant even do that with the new bottles