old GW paints

[Grimnar42]

I have a lot of the old black screw top GW paint pots in which the paint has long since dried out does anyone know of a way to make them useable again or are they useless ? Many of them where never used so be nice to find a way to recoup some of the investment.

[OdinStormfist]

In my experience I toss them if it's completely dry. I am not sure if Gum Arabic can re-constitute it or not at that stage.

If it's very tick and tacky I use RO or distilled water and an eyedropper to re-hydrate it.

I have a cheap set of hematite beads that I throw in bottles to act as an agitator for some of these paints.

[SotonShades]

if its solid, it's dead. If it still has some fluidity, you can use water or an thinner for acryllic paints to revive it, but it will be a lot of effort and, in my experience, the paint won't behave quite as it did before. they usually dry out a bit quicker and don't flow as nicely as they should.

I'm afraid to say that you may have a bit of wasted investment there.

[lobster-overlord]

as they get thicker, I only use them for drybrushing. Their acrylic (the clear plastic they are made from) have been a bad idea from the start. I still have some of their plastic bottles from the 90s that are usable. Toss the solid ones and find a suitable replacement from Vallejo, Army Painter or Reaper. More paint for your money and all three are in eye dropper bottles and will last longer (if the tip dries out, just remove it, clean it and pop it back in, and you're in business again)

[SotonShades]

Just as a side note, where you are in the world seriously affects if the Vallejo paints get you more for the money. I was at a local store today who were having a clearence of all of their Flames of War Range, including all their Vellajo paints. Even with a 50% reduction and a further dicount, it still worked out as more expensive per ml of paint than buying from GW. Incidentally, their sale also included GW paints at 25% discount. From what I've seen, Vallejo is certainly cheaper in the US, but elsewhere I'd advise checking the numbers for yourself.

[lobster-overlord]

Yeah, sorry... being a bit Amero-centric in my thinking... ;-)

Although find a cheap US supplier, and your non-US currency may go further...

[Grimnar42]

Yeah those clear acrylic pots with the screw top lids where a major con half dried out when you bought them even had a GW rugrat try telling me they didnt leak when right behind him I could see ten pots brand new in the rack with serious leakage problems. I still have 40 or so pots of the older type pop top lids and softer plastic that are still perfect.