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’ve been painting seriously for two years or so and I’d say that the biggest challenge (or one of) is thinning the paint to the right consistency. So here’s a thought - why can’t they just sell it already thinned down to the right consistency for a nice bit of layering? Wouldn’t that just make life easier for all of us?

There are a few reasons. For one, the 'right' consistency really depends on what you're doing with it. If you're shading and layering, you want it fairly diluted. If you're drybrushing or wetbrushing, or doing basecoats, you often want it a little thicker. If it's diluted for layering, it's no good for the other uses.

For two, even within the above, that 'right' consistency varies from painter to painter, so you're not going to find a particular dilution that will please everyone.

And for three, even when sealed, it dries out somewhat in the pot over time, because the pots aren't perfectly airtight. That's one of the reasons that you get differences in consistency between batches or pots.

I get that. I was half joking. But still any video you watch always starts with “thin your paints” whatever technique you’re applying. So even for base costs the stuff out the pot is too thick, So it could come prethinned a bit couldn’t it?

Whenever I need a particular GW shade, I always buy Citadel Air since its already thinner. Works just as well for brushwork IME

But yeh, paint cannot really be prethinned perfectly because the properties of paint vary depending on context and the condition of the paint pot itself (paint tends to dry out the older the pot etc)

Try looking at it in terms of you're getting more for your money if you need to thin it a bit out of the bottle. They wouldn't be making the bottles any bigger to account for the pre-thinning!

Well, in terms addressing the challenge of getting the right, or desired, consistency, no this wont help because there isnt a single consistency needed in this hobby. Even if a paint were perfect for base coating out of the bottle, you will still want to thin for pretty much all other applications (shadows, glazes, highlights, washes, the list goes on).

That said, I do agree that paints could at lest start at the thickest consistency one could possibly want. Any thicker is just a waste of time...and makes the paint much harder to prep. There a many colors in the Vallejo range which are so thick there is no amount of shaking which will get them blended (resulting in the use of mixing balls or outright opening the bottle and sticking a old airbrush needle inside to get things mixed).

As for the "get more for your money" idea... yes I have gone through entire bottles of some shades (especially ones used for larger models) but the Lemon Yellow I bought 20 years ago and have used as the final highlight on scores of green vehicles and figures is barely down by 1/4. In this hobby far more paint gets thrown out due to age, poor storage, etc than actual empty bottles I figure.

I've recently be buying AK "3rd gen" and am pleasantly surprised at the out of bottle consistency. Fluid enough that just a gentle shake will do to get it ready and often just a moist brush is all you need for base coating.

 Sunsanvil wrote:
That said, I do agree that paints could at lest start at the thickest consistency one could possibly want. Any thicker is just a waste of time...and makes the paint much harder to prep. There a many colors in the Vallejo range which are so thick there is no amount of shaking which will get them blended (resulting in the use of mixing balls or outright opening the bottle and sticking a old airbrush needle inside to get things mixed).

I must like thicker paints than most, because I often use VMC unthinned on my models

I reckon a lot of people thin more than they need to for basecoats and stuff, the problem usually isn't the paint being too thick, it's that it's been applied too thick, and thinning is one way of overcoming the problem, another is working on a better application technique.

Sure, for glazing or layering, very thin is good, but for blocking in colours, thick paint can work with the right application method.

 insaniak wrote:


And for three, even when sealed, it dries out somewhat in the pot over time, because the pots aren't perfectly airtight. That's one of the reasons that you get differences in consistency between batches or pots.

Drying is not even the worst problem, a lot of paints are emulsions that tend to seperate over time and need to be stirred up to get rid of clumps and sedimentation - this is not a huge problem if you have very concentrated paint or paint in big pots, but it gets worse when you have thinned paint (de-emulsified faster) and small pots (hard to stir well). So if you sold already-thinned paints, you'd risk a lot of pots effectively becoming faulty product. Also, from an economic point of view, it's more efficient to ship the paint as essentially concentrate and have just one line of thinner useable with everything that you can sell in bulk than wasting comparatively large amounts of transport capacity and shelf space on already-thinned paint. If you take a look at e.g. home depot style markets, they use the same logic for room paint and such: there's a relatively small amount of base paints available that you buy in bulk, and mix with a wide variety of tinting paints to get the specific shade and tone you want. It's just more economical this way, because most of the paint is essentially white/colourless material that you need to get to your technical specifications, opacity etc. and is mostly the same in most formulations anyway.