Citadel paint shelf life

[Dakwan]

greetings,

Due to the fact i\'m now settled in life (out of school etc) i\'ve decided to get back into wargaming and painting like i was in my teenage years. I have a whole bunch of citadel paints probably 6 years old. I opened a couple up and they seem to have been sealed quite well. they have lost a little moisture but i am sure i can thin them out. My question is am i going to find any unforseen problems? i know acrylics supposedly have a shelf life but i don\'t know if the tight seal on the citadel containers helps mitagate that or what not. Any feedback or help is appreciated! thanks.

 

[J2FcM]

all I gotta say is, \"DAAAAAAAAYUM\" if those paints are still good.

 

[laurence]

Citadel Paints

I say have a few paint sessions with them and see how you go.

I picked a couple of those old ciatdel paints up a couple of years ago and mine are still like new. They\'re great paints to paint with!

Great to hear that you\'re settled and are getting back in to painting etc. Have fun and happy painting.

Cheers.

 

[Ebonbuddha]

A friend of mine has some old Citadel paints from back in the early 90s (91? 92?) and they are still good. He even uses some of them today. If they are fine, I might suggest going to a hobby store, or on line, and getting some of those eye dropper bottles like Vallejo Model Colours. Sounds like you might have the old ‘bullet’ topped bottles. They tend to dry out when used. The eye dropper bottles will help preserve them.

If you want to try something different, I suggest Vallejo. They are cheaper and you get more. The model colours are good for displays, the Vallejo Game Colours are good for people who game or handle their miniatures a lot (insert sexual joke here.lol) I am also a self professed Vallejo Colours purist. I love the stuff.

Ther are other out there too. Rackham has a paint set. Privateer Press and Adiken (Adikolor) have one too.

Ok. Someone else talk.

 

[funnymouth]

y paints tend to dry out quite a lot, even when im careful. usually i just add water, stir, and shake excessively, and they\'re fine. ive even had one pot dry out until it was a moist cracked wafer, and i still brought it back. i havent noticed a difference. the one thing you do want to watch for, it tiny lumps of totally hardened paint - because if it sets in your mini, your screwed.

 

[Dakwan]

great advice guys! thanks!

i see this is the forum to be at for painting advice

 

[mattsterbenz]

Never had a single citadel paint ever dry out on me (even the new flip tops). However that could be because I paint so much (Contracts) and I run through each color every 2 months or so (Chaos black every couple weeks ).

-Matt

 

[No Such Agency]

I also have some Citadel colours from c. 1990, flip-top pots from the old Space Marine Paint Set. Blood Angels Red died out but the rest are fine (though I did transfer them to new polypropylene containers recently).

 

[War Griffon]

I still have a large collection of the old GW/Citadel paints in the flip tops and I will say this about them:

1. Don\'t change the pots - why swop them when you know if you do they will dry out in weeks;

2. Keep using them as long as possible - even the ones that have dried out a little can be resurected with a little flow enhancer

3. I have the round old Citadel pots as well as the Hex shaped GW pots and all are producing excellent results, the reds and yellows are still a bit wishy washy just like they used to be but experience over the last few years on CMON has taught me how to use them properly

4. Some of the colours are more usful than those GW produce today.

5. Most of these paints and inks laid dormant in my garage/cupboard under the stairs (depending on which house I was in) since the early 90\'s until 3 or 4 years ago

For the record if you remember when they first did inks in the dropper bottles well I have a black and a dark blue in the GW/Citadel dropper bottles that I still use. I would rather have the paints in these flip top pots than the modern ones but then I am a coffin dodger

 

[Beelzebrush]

Agreed with all above. I still have some Citadel paints from circa late 80s early 90s and they are fine... probably a little thick but nothing a dash of water wouldn\'t sort out!

(gah! does this mean I\'m entering into the arena of the coffin dodger lol)

 

[War Griffon]

Originally posted by Beelzebrush

(gah! does this mean I\'m entering into the arena of the coffin dodger lol)

Entering no, you are already amongst us you just took a long time realising it lollollol

 

[Beelzebrush]

It can\'t be true... I still play with toy soldiers!!!

I thought I\'d be okay upto the point where the 3 changed to a 4 ??? Gah! I can almost hear the shadowy dude sharpening his scythe lol

 

[War Griffon]

Originally posted by Beelzebrush
It can\'t be true... I still play with toy soldiers!!!

I thought I\'d be okay upto the point where the 3 changed to a 4 ??? Gah! I can almost hear the shadowy dude sharpening his scythe lol

The deffinition of that is you are an adult not a grown up - grown ups don\'t have fun and therefore don\'t play with toy soldiers lol

Look at it the way I do I am 18 it\'s just that over teh years I have gained a lot of experience at being 18 so now I am 18 with 28 years experience

 

[Modderrhu]

@Dakwan: I didn\'t see this tip in the previous posts; if you\'re using flip-top jars, add a few drops of water to each paint pot at the end of each painting session. The water will settle on top, and that\'s where the drying will happen. Or you could just do what EB and I do, transfer them all to dropper bottles.

@War Griffin: Silly bastard. The idea is to remain 18, but have given everyone else 28 years of experience and grey hairs.

 

[War Griffon]

Originally posted by Modderrhu

@War Griffin: Silly bastard. The idea is to remain 18, but have given everyone else 28 years of experience and grey hairs.

Yes but I have lost most of my hair and what is left is grey so that won\'t work

 

[DaN]

I still prefer my old Rogue trader GW Blood red to the new one, which seems a little more orangey :/

 

[Torn blue sky]

I suspeced that, but i\'m a bit to dim to ever let it register lol
Main probs with drying colours wth me always seem to be the greys, bleached bone, black, white and GY earth + kahki!
Always the same. Still got ancient pots though that are still like bought them!
This smacks of lost tech to me!

 

[vincegamer]

I too am using some ancient paints - some round, some hex. I just kept having the little hinge thingy on the flip top break so I switched them to droppers.

My only caveat is that the metalics don\'t seem to thin up and remain useful as much as the others.
Of course my old Armory metallics actually rusted!

 

[supervike]

I have ancient paints as well (plus many new ones)

But the Citadel paints from back in the day, are around 18 years old. Thats since I bought them.

They have been frozen and thawed many many times as they used to be stored in my garage.

A few of them have gone bad, but a majority still is painting strong...

 

[Modderrhu]

Originally posted by supervike
They have been frozen and thawed many many times as they used to be stored in my garage.

A few of them have gone bad, but a majority still is painting strong...

Are we talking about paint or women? ???