Vallejo weathering powders and safety caps

[gorepants]

A word of warning when using vallejo weathering powders. This does not relate to the quality of the powders themselves, but to the packaging.

I just bought two shades of green to make moss/mould and found a slight problem with the design of the bottles used to hold the powder. For those unfamaliar with the bottles, they are tall pill-style bottles with push-down safety caps (70mm high, 35mm dia). The lid is quite large and has a large degree of play in the safety push down.

The problem with this design is two fold. First they bottles are top heavy. The powder is light and the cap is not, this makes them inherently unstable. Not a problem when everything is sealed up, but the second problem is is that the large play in the cap means that it is hard to judge when it is opened and closed properly. You can see what happens when these two factors align in the attached photo.

As a caveat, this will not be a problem for most people most of the time. Assuming a sufficient degree of coordination the likelihood of covering oneself with green pigment is limited. But I've just come out of hospital and have a small deterioration in some of my fine motor skills and balance. I also got my brother to check that it was a little tricky to work the lids, and he had difficulty telling if it had been secured (and he hasn't been in hospital).

So, if you are tired or sick, be careful using vallejo's pigments! Hopefully I'll be able use them without covering myself in green soon and post a more upbeat thread about them!

[Aldramelech]

I know your pain. I managed to spill a brand new pot of Bahab Black all over my paintstation last Monday.

[gorepants]

Ouch! At least I could vacuum up most of the pigments! Hopefully black can be the new black for you.

On a better note, I'd emailed Vallejo yesterday (not wanting to just slag them off on a forum) and they have already replied offering to replace the spilled pigment AND send out alternate containers. That's some mighty good customer service.

I still stand by my belief the pigment jars could be better designed, but that not withstanding, good one Vallejo!

[chromedog]

That's more of a personal discipline problem as I see it.

DON'T use paints or powders when sick or you aren't concentrating on the job.

Rather like not applying static grass while you have hayfever (unless you WANT to look like a flouro green wookiee.)

Live and learn, eh?

[Lane]

Got you beat on the Bahab Black.

Last week I spilled half a bottle of the old GW Black INK.
That hurt, it was most of what I had left.

[gorepants]

That's more of a personal discipline problem as I see it.

DON'T use paints or powders when sick or you aren't concentrating on the job.

Rather like not applying static grass while you have hayfever (unless you WANT to look like a flouro green wookiee.)

Live and learn, eh?

I can't really agree, it's more of a problem of over-engineering. I had just successfully used some Mig powders in the same session, and it was not a question of concentration. The lid itself is over-engineered for its purpose. The aim is to prevent children spilling the pigments [This is from Vallejo themselves, the pigments are non-toxic but will stain readily]. The cap fulfills this aim. But for most users it doesn't NEED quite that level of safety (for reference the play is similar to that in say a bleach bottle lid with heavy play). I had two people use the lids, neither of whom were sick or tired, and they both confirmed that the action was difficult to use.

I do not know the reason Vallejo decided that preventing child spills was important, no doubt at the time it was good. Certainly reducing the risk to children directly, and through distress to parents, is a good thing, but I would debate the degree of necessity in this case.

I'd say it was a poor decision to use a safety cap because while it prevents undesired access by little uns (safety caps are designed to prevent 85% of under 5 opening it in under 5 mins), if they have access to your pigments then they have access to your paints too, and these don't have safety caps so the marginal benefit is slim. Instead you are imposing a cost on regular users in terms of increased difficulty of use relative to the way most paint and pigment jars work.

For most users this will be little more than an irritant, but there will be those (as I am myself temporarily) for whom this will be a little more bothersome. I'll just be sticking the pigments in an easier to open jar and be happy with it.

@chromedog - sorry to rant at you, been doing conceptual design and have usability on the brain! I have spilled all sort of things before and will own up to carelessness on those occasions. Just this time I was being careful and was so thrown out by what happened (I actually managed to flip the bottle 180deg and clamp down on the hole before more powder spilled out!) I thought it was worth a word of caution to anyone who might have a little motor trouble.

[gorepants]

Got you beat on the Bahab Black.

Last week I spilled half a bottle of the old GW Black INK.
That hurt, it was most of what I had left.

OK, that's gotta hurt. I've still got some of most of the old inks. There are somethings washes won't do. Black shouldn't be too hard to replace should it? I have a P3 brown that flows well.

[Aldramelech]

Ive got some of those old inks. I stopped using them a long time ago for some reason and used the pots with some blue tack on top to hold small pieces during undercoating and painting. They are about 10 years old and 3/4 full and I have no idea whats in them! lol

http://i749.photobucket.com/albums/xx135/andyblackmore/100_0297.jpg

Theres one, got a full set.