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Hello, everyone. To make a long story short, I've been out of the painting hobby for at least 3 years now and all of my old GW paints have dried out. I'm looking to replace about 20 colors, and I'd like to know from those who've used them if there's a major difference in drying out between a standard GW paint pot vs a Vallejo dropper bottle. Or any dropper bottle period. Basically my concern is if I ever go on another very long hiatus, will Vallejo paints be able to survive? Are they air tight in a way that GW paints are not? And if nothing else, is there a comparable brand out there that can last a very long time between uses?

Thanks.

GW engineers their pots to purposely dry out early. I get droplets whenever possible.

Vallejo bottles go dry far, far more slowly than GW pots. You only really have to deal with the pigments separating, and sometimes clinging to the bottom of the bottle.

Any paint container on the market is better than a GW paint pot. The paint itself is great, the container was designed by Satan himself.

Droppers have mixing issues (sometimes) and the tips can clog, but the whole bottle does not dry out when properly closed. The flex-top pots like P3 and Coat D'arms are also good, provided the rims are kept decently clean they'll stay liquid for many many years.

Standard 'craft paint' style bottles (both twist and flip top) are also pretty good at staying airtight. It's rare that I've had one dry out with many that are decades old and still kicking.

If you want to stick to pots that don't suck, P3. If you want to try bottles, Vallejo has the biggest range of colours but be aware that many of their formulas separate heavily. Hope you like shaking bottles. Really though pick and choose the best of each range rather than getting one brand exclusively. Every company on the market has stars and duds, and everyone's personal preferences will pull them towards and away from certain kinds of paint. Find what's best for you.

"Really though pick and choose the best of each range rather than getting one brand exclusively. Every company on the market has stars and duds, and everyone's personal preferences will pull them towards and away from certain kinds of paint. Find what's best for you."

Great advice overall!

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
GW engineers their pots to purposely dry out early. I get droplets whenever possible.

I know everybody likes to paint GW as the big bad evil corporation that's just out to get our wallets, but this is complete BS. I guarantee you that their paint pots are not deliberately designed to dry out. If anything, they're shaped the way they are because they're instantly recognizable and stand out in a sea of dropper bottles.

OP - dropper bottles do dry out more slowly, but they also clog if you're careful. If you're unsure about your GW paints lasting, get a bunch of dropper bottles on eBay and transfer the GW paints to those. Tons of tutorials out there on how to do it.

GW's paint pot designs (MkIII and onward) consistently fail to do their primary task, which is keep paint as, well, paint. And not an expensive blob of dried plastic. Yes, you can keep them alive with regular attention by adding back the evaporating water - I've got MkIII & MkIV series pots, the notorious 2000's era black bolter shell tops & first flip tops - that are still liquid. But only because I do maintenance on those paints every single year, without fail.

For the regular hobbyist who wants to be able take breaks without worrying about their supplies croaking, that's not very practical. And the plethora of container designs that work without sacrificing an air tight seal on the market shows everyone else seems to be able to get the job done. GW, for reasons we can only guess at, has chosen to stick with their tongued dome topped pot and its myriad of associated problems. That plus their paints being the most expensive per ml by a good margin, to me, makes them a weak bargain.

Some suggestions to get you started, Pojko:

Vallejo Extra Opaque line - great 'base' paints. Heavy Goldbrown in particular is any TMM gold's best friend.

P3 (Privateer Press Paint) skin & brown tones. No orange-y caucasian here, nor weirdly saturated dark skin. All their earthtones are solid workhorse paints, particularly Umbral Umber, Bloodstone, Bootstrap Leather and Jack' Bone, plus anything with 'Flesh' in its name.

Artist paint white, particularly an airbrush white. Most miniature range whites are terrible in both texture and opacity. I like Createx Airbrush Colors Opaque White - comes in 60ml bottles and goes down smooth as butter. Golden Airbrush Colors are good too, I have a Carbon Black from them that's 20+ years old and still as liquid as the day it was opened.

P3 Amethyst Rose & Sanguine Base - extremely opaque, cool deep reds. Sanguine is a black-red, Amethyst Rose is neither purple nor rose, but a dark crimson. Vallejo Burnt Cad. Red is similarly dark & opaque, but leans more brown/orange.

Vallejo Game Color Scurvy Green & P3 Coal Black - dark jade green and a jade black, respectively. Vallejo Blue Green / P3 Meridus Blue are comparable aquas, with Blue Green being slightly lighter. Meridus is a dead ringer for GW's discontinued Hawk Turquoise.

Kick-in-the-teeth bright colours - Coat D'arms. Don't expect good opacity from this range, but if you need that late 90's, early 2000's vaporware or GW "Red Period" aesthetic, they've got it covered. Needs underpainting support for most of the range, and/or white primer. Dusky Yellow, Golden Yellow, High Elf Blue, Scorpion Green - all make great highlights or glazes. Vallejo's Game Color range is also vibrant, but has serious separation issues.

Reaper Master Series Paint (MSP). If you love having thin paint ready to go right out of the bottle, this may be the range for you. MSP has flow improver in its base formula, so it layers up a real treat. Walnut Brown is my favourite out of my limited sampling, as a 'not quite black, but dark enough to pass for black' paint. Extremely opaque and not grainy either.

Army Painter Quickshades - best mildly tinted washes on the market, and some of the least expensive too. Do not confuse the dropper bottle Quickshade range with the Quickshade in metal cans - completely different products. Near perfect matches to the old Badab Black and Agrax Earthshade from GW. Combine with inks to get something similar to Contrast paint.

For all these ranges (or any others you are considering) I'd strongly recommend getting the 1-2 colours you're most interested in, and trying them out to see if you like them before buying a set or larger collection. If you have any local painting friends you can have an art sesh with that's even better, but most of us paint alone so opportunities to try new products are usually limited to what we buy ourselves. Resist the temptation to acquire a full range unless you are 100% sure it's going to be your core paint forever.

Fire_Forever wrote:
Vallejo Extra Opaque line - great 'base' paints. Heavy Goldbrown in particular is any TMM gold's best friend.

The 'Extra Opaque' paints in the Game Color line are simply renamed Model Color paints. For example, the VGC Heavy Gold Brown is the same paint as the VMC Gold Brown.

 Ghaz wrote:

Fire_Forever wrote:
Vallejo Extra Opaque line - great 'base' paints. Heavy Goldbrown in particular is any TMM gold's best friend.

The 'Extra Opaque' paints in the Game Color line are simply renamed Model Color paints. For example, the VGC Heavy Gold Brown is the same paint as the VMC Gold Brown.

Good to know! Regardless, they're the most opaque of Vallejo's offerings, and they do what they say on the tin. Sadly model paints don't tell you their transparency-opacity on the package the way artist's paints do. Nor their pigments, for that matter.

Fire_Forever wrote:
Good to know! Regardless, they're the most opaque of Vallejo's offerings, and they do what they say on the tin.

From the Vallejo FAQ (attached below)

4.2. Are the new extra opaque colors in Game Color similar to Model Color?

Yes, for these 16 Extra Opaque colors, the Model Color formula was used, since the viscosity of this formula supplies the opacity needed for a quick, one-coat base or foundation application.

4.4. Are the colors in Game color the same as in Model Color, only more liquid?

No, we produced a selection of colors designed for Fantasy Figures, and although the basic colors (red, blue, etc.) may be alike, the major part of the range will not have any match in Model Color, always excepting the 16 colors in the Extra Opaque series, which have exact equivalents in the Model Color range

So the 16 'Extra Opaque' colors in the VGC line should be no more opaque than the 182 remaining paints in the VMC line which weren't rebranded for the VGC line, barring slight differences in the pigments in each particular color.

I still have 3 bottles of Devlan Mud, all never opened. Its the one paint/wash that I wish GW still made.

 Mr. Grey wrote:

 SlaveToDorkness wrote:
GW engineers their pots to purposely dry out early. I get droplets whenever possible.

I know everybody likes to paint GW as the big bad evil corporation that's just out to get our wallets, but this is complete BS. I guarantee you that their paint pots are not deliberately designed to dry out. If anything, they're shaped the way they are because they're instantly recognizable and stand out in a sea of dropper bottles.

They used to have a tab built into the lid base that held the top open and let the user get paint from the lid due to the built in lip. Now they removed that tab AND made the lip too short to let the paint fall back into the pot. Now the lip only allows paint to fall into the hinge area which accumulates and lets air into the pot, even though it appears to be shut. It used to work fine and they changed it in a precise manner so that it works exactly how you would want it to sell more paint. Not sure how you can call that anything other than on purpose. Not even going into how their larger bottles are the perfect proportions to tip over, spilling your expensive as gold dust and cocaine paint everywhere.

For long-term storage, turn your paint pots and bottles upside down. This prevents air from circulating into and out of the bottle if there is a leak.

 Ghaz wrote:

So the 16 'Extra Opaque' colors in the VGC line should be no more opaque than the 182 remaining paints in the VMC line which weren't rebranded for the VGC line, barring slight differences in the pigments in each particular color.

I have more Model Color than Game Color, and find on average both to be less opaque than the 'Extra Opaque' line (Exception for Burnt Cad. Red, Hull Red and Blue Green, which are on par). Pigment plays a HUGE part in how transparent a paint will be. It's the reason why it's so hard to get an opaque, vivid yellow or orange or magenta. The few pigments we have for those colours that aren't toxic are transparent, no matter the acrylic base.

The same is true with every other miniature acrylic range - transparency varies by pigment / pigment mix. Ditto for artist's acrylics. It's the nature of the product. But I'd still recommend the Extra Opaques to a new painter, because they're guaranteed to be exactly what they say they are - very opaque. At least where I buy, there's no difference in cost vs. a bottle of Model Color or Game Color.

But the direct equivalencies are good to know - some places with hobby shops only carry Vallejo MC, and nothing else, so in that situation someone can still buy the 'extra opaque' subset.