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 got a bottle of VLM old gold about 5 months ago. as recently as 2 weeks ago, it was fine. when I opened it up today, though, it was sludgy and didn't look properly mixed. no amount of stirring or shaking got the mix to look right again (even after adding a bit of alcohol). I don't paint from the bottle and I'm always careful to re-seal it immediately after pouring a bit out onto my palette. is it common for VLM to go bad so quickly?

No idea man, I have a pot of the Tamiya liquid gold for about 3 months now and it hasn't happened to me yet....

I don't think its gone bad, that paint tends to seperate badly and require insane amounts of stirring

Did you get water in it? That will spoil the bottle...

I dunno. I've shaken the crap out of it for over 5 minutes both last night and just now. also tried using one of this battery powered paint stirrers for a few minutes. the consistency still looks wrong both on the palette and on the model. I tried just putting a bit on the palette and slowly adding alcohol to see if I could mix it back up to the right consistency, but no joy with that either. absolutely no water. I'm very careful about that. 91% isopropyl alcohol only and I use the same thing to clean the brush when I'm done (I have a brush dedicated to VLM paints).

I've got a replacement bottle on the way, so it's not the end of the world, but it'd be good to know how long I can expect this next one to last. running out mid-project really takes the wind out of your sails...

exact same thing happened to me and i too was very careful. i have no idea what made it go bad.

waste of money, pain in the butt to use and only marginally more shiney than acrylic metallics.

Happened to me too. Silver and copper don't have this problem.
I think its some thing with the gold pigment.
I shake it well before use than dip the brush in to the liquid and wipe it on some of the sludge on the edge of the bottle.
It seems to work out fine especialy with dry brushing. My only gripe is that sometimes it flakes a little when applying it regularly.