Reviving Dead Paints

Telchar · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:29 am

(not sure wether this should be here)

I just came back form a holiday, when I saw that before we left, I'd left my Kommando Khaki pot wide open :oops:

. Of course, it had dried stone-hard. Is there any way of getting it back (I use it on the rims of mini's, and am getting a queue of mini's waiting for their base rims to get finally done). I already tried using a paint thinner (Revell), but it didn't work.

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:44 am

Gw paints are water based so depending how badly dried up it is - add some water then use the wrong end of a brush or something similar and give it a good stir - keep adding water until you get the consistency you desire ...... failing that throw it away and buy a new one.... and shut the lid next time

Whatevier · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 11:29 am

a toothbrush could work aswell.. that's what I did with my 10 year olds paints.. didn't work very good on the metallics for some reason, but the other paints came back from the realm of the dead

theOneRider · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:01 pm

Make sure that you only add water slowly, though. Otherwise, not only will it get too thin, it'll also make bubbles in the medium no matter what you do - acrylics work that way. :sad:

Telchar · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:15 pm

Dead Marsh Spectre wrote:

Gw paints are water based so depending how badly dried up it is - add some water then use the wrong end of a brush or something similar and give it a good stir - keep adding water until you get the consistency you desire

That sorta worked, only its very watery with clumps of dry paint now.

Dead Marsh Spectre wrote:

...... failing that throw it away and buy a new one....

It'll be weeks untill I visit a GW store again, and I don't want to wait weeks before painting again

.

Dead Marsh Spectre wrote:

and shut the lid next time

I'd figured that out myself :twisted:

Dead Marsh Spectre · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:21 pm

Hey Telchar - if your paints watery with lumps in your nearly there mate - keep stirring it - not gently try and scrape the bottom and sides of the pot .. go on give it some it will work

Pindergorn · **Posted:** Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:07 pm

I use my old dried out paints for basing. I just add copious amounts of water, mash it up well then use it to stain/wash sand or paint the rims of a base.

lorderkenbrand · **Posted:** Sun Mar 04, 2012 12:23 am

King Ondoher wrote:

I use my old dried out paints for basing. I just add copious amounts of water, mash it up well then use it to stain/wash sand or paint the rims of a base.

Ditto! I'm not sure about the new paint pots (which look smaller) but i still have many with the black lids from years ago. The trick is to add water every couple of months, only takes a few minutes. Also keep them in a cool, dark place and most importantly away from heat/ out of direct sunlight. GW never tell you this, they want you to come back and buy more of their paints. In reality you can make them last, providing you close the lids after use

Telchar · **Posted:** Sun Mar 04, 2012 7:32 pm

King Ondoher wrote:

I use my old dried out paints for basing. I just add copious amounts of water, mash it up well then use it to stain/wash sand or paint the rims of a base.

Do you like the paint work it gives on base rims? I hate the granulary structure of the stuff. But I'll just go on mashing.

Valamir · **Posted:** Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:06 pm

'Tis the best that can be done- keep at it, but failing that, do you like mixing paints?

londoncalling · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 3:58 pm

Perhaps, also resting the pot in a bowl of hot water will help soften the paint, before then adding a little cold water to the paint.

I have done this a couple times before !

Valamir · **Posted:** Mon Mar 05, 2012 6:09 pm

@londoncalling- Hmm... I've never tried that before, and I really should on some of my dried paints...

imrail · **Joined:** Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:24 pm **Posts:** 666

I use picks (toothpicks) to make little holes in the dried up paint and then I add some water.
After that I keep picking the paint and it will soften the paint very good.

rififivos · **Joined:** Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:03 pm **Posts:** 50

Try making some holes in the dried paint with a metal rod (screwdriver, hard cable etc.) and then add in windex or another similar window cleaning product.
Leave it that way for a couple of days and then check if the paint has been revived. If not repeat until you see the results you want.
Acrylic paints such as GW's react pretty well with windex and unless they are extremely dried out they should be revived that way.

PS. On a sidenote you should never mix paints with thinners if you haven't checked that they are of the same base. Acrylic paints are water-suluble and are not supposed to be diluted with non-acrylic thinners.

PS2. As already mentioned, heat is always your friend when reviving paints but keep in mind that GW's paint pots are made out of plastic and not glass which makes them a lot less resilient in heat.

Reviving Dead Paints

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