Dried out Tamiya weathering master

[Ravhin]

I've got an old tamiya weathering master set that I haven't used in a few years and now it seems that it has dried out, I can't pick up any of the pigment with any brush ...

Anyone knows if it's possible to bring these things back to life ?

 

[Splashcoat]

I had one of these sets once and the same thing happened. I tried grinding the cracked blocks of pigment into a powder but they aren't really designed to work that way and I wasn't pleased with the result. In the end, I dissolved the pigments in acrylic thinner and used them in the same way that MIG pigments can be used as a sort of pin wash. The rust colour was particularly realistic for simulating rust streaks when used this way.

 

[Ravhin]

Going to try the acrylic thinner. I'm assuming you used the Tamiya one ? Any idea if iso alcohol works ?

 

[Splashcoat]

This was quite some time ago, so I'm not exactly sure which brand of thinner I used. I'm guessing Model Master Universal thinner is the one I used as that's the one I usually have on hand. I'm certain that I didn't use alcohol; I use 70% Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol to thin Tamiya paints and I've had problems in the past when using this thinner as a wash, it leaves a haze. I'm sure you could get away with using mineral spirts as well if you have some around... now that all the moisture has evaporated out of the pigment block there's probably not enough solvent left behind to cause any interaction problems.

 

[Ravhin]

Got plenty of spirits around and I guess worse than it is it won't get ;D . I'll see what I can do with it.

Thanks