Acrylic colors?

[Tobbeswe]

Hello everbody,

I have a question regarding acrylics.

Im a "on and of" builder so i have not built anything for a while. After joining this forum and watched alot videos on youtube im ready to build again.
Anyway to the question.
I was looking over my colors and some of them looks very dry can i do anything to make them work like thin them? Or shall i throw them and buy new ones? They are acrylic colors.
Sorry for grammar or spelling mistakes.
Tobias

 

[THE NEW ONE]

well depends on the level of dryness, if the paint at the bottom is very hard, then throw it out, but if it is still in its liquid form, then you can add the paint thinner. Now depending on the type of paint, depends on the type of thinner, 1. "Walmart" paint can be thinned by water and rubbing alcohol. 2. Tamiya paint can be thinned with both water and rubbing alcohol, but also with the Tamiya paint thinner. Vallejo paint can be thinned both with water and rubbing alcohol. hope that helps.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

If it's Vallejo, do not use rubbing alcohol, they are not an alcohol based paint, and alcohol will actually gel them.

Water (preferably distilled water), or Vallejo AB thinner.

Having said that, I have some bottles of Vallejo that are 10+yrs old, and are just as good as they were when I bought them. Due to the bottle and nozzle design, pretty much the only way they will dry out is if you leave the cover off of them, and even then, if the nozzle is still in the bottle, it will dry out and block the nozzle leaving the rest of the paint in the bottle sealed up.

That is one complaint I have never heard about Vallejo paint drying out.

 

[THE NEW ONE]

If it's Vallejo, do not use rubbing alcohol, they are not an alcohol based paint, and alcohol will actually gel them.

Water (preferably distilled water), or Vallejo AB thinner.

Having said that, I have some bottles of Vallejo that are 10+yrs old, and are just as good as they were when I bought them. Due to the bottle and nozzle design, pretty much the only way they will dry out is if you leave the cover off of them, and even then, if the nozzle is still in the bottle, it will dry out and block the nozzle leaving the rest of the paint in the bottle sealed up.

That is one complaint I have never heard about Vallejo paint drying out.

huh, when i use alcohol with my vallejo paint, it doesn't get up

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

What line are you using? One of them will gel if you use alcohol, can't remember if it is the Model Color, or the Model Air.

Neither are alcohol based, so not recommended to use alcohol to thin them.

 

[WebbyNZ]

I would never use straight alcohol w model air but my current favourite acrylic thinner is actually a mix that can be found in many websites.
It contains distiller water, isopropyl alcohol and small amounts of flow improver and drying retarder.

As for the long term effects, those I have not tested, but if you get a few more uses out of the paint then you are better off than if it went in the bin untried.

 

[Tobbeswe]

Thanks for the answers
I needed to discard some of the color but have bought some new ones istead from Tamiya those color that has dried were Humbrol colors. Probably the lid was not closed tight.