Vallejo (model air) turns solid?

[Steven000]

Hi guys,
As the temperature is slowly dropping I get that annual 'get back behind the hobby desk' feeling...

My paint bottles are stored inside a closet (dark/stable temperature), On first glance my other colors seem to be fine but
unfortunately the one Vallejo color I needed seems to have cured inside the bottle ?!

It looks like all pigments inside this bottle have cured together like a block of chewing-gum and the (transparent) liquid is still in there.
This bottle was bought early this year (2020) and used once, still 80-90% full.

Anyone else had a similar issue with Vallejo paint and how could I prevent this in the future?


I was able to stick a piece of sprue into the chewing gum, but I'm not able to re-dissolve it again bummer



Thanks & kind regards
Steven

[adt70hk]

Hi Steven

Sorry not come across that one before and use Model Air a lot.

Hope you sort it out.

ATB

Andrew

[Dave Ward]

I use a lot of Vallejo Model Air, and the only time I've seen this is with a 90% empty, old bottle.
You might try soaking the bottle in hot water, and adding an agitator ( ball bearing ). It may just work & get you out of a spot!
Dave

[Tim Marlow]

Never had this either. Mine (mostly model colour, but some model air) are all kept at room temperature on the desk. Some are at least five years old, and most are at least three. I’ve never had this happen. I’ve had it happen with enamel weathering washes and humbrol flesh colour though. The pigment seems to set at the bottom and won’t redissolve.....

[stillp]

I've just recently had a bottle of VMA Dunkelgelb turn into a gel-like substance, which sort of sprayed after I'd thinned it a lot, but didn't look right so I tried to strip it with Dettol, but that didn't work. Used IPA to remove it. I don't remember when/where I acquired this bottle so it might be a few years ols, but it's been kept in the spare room so not too cold.
Pete

[Guest]

I’ve had this happen with other Vallejo paint as wells. Shake the bottle, try to squirt some onto a palet but nothing comes out; take the cap off, and the paint inside is mostly solid If you find a way to make it liquid again, let me know … Adding isopropanol and stirring with a stick works for some other brands of acrylic paint, but I’ve not tried it yet with Vallejo, partly because the bottle makes it rather awkward to stir.

[Steven000]

Thanks for the comments,
I also had paint drying out in the past (revell, humbrol and Vallejo almost empty) but the weird thing is that all the (transparent) liquid is still in there,
it's like a solid block of pigments in a pool, never had a similar problem like that...

Perhaps it's was a faulty batch or something :thinking:

Thanks & kind regards
Steven

[Guest]

I doubt it, but I would like to know what does cause it.

Something else I just remembered: quite some years ago, I overheard Gino Poppe explain to someone else how he usually poured the liquid out of bottles like these so that what he had left was mainly pigment, and used that for painting his figures. I wonder if he was left with much the same stuff you and I end up with by accident?

[JR]

This both interesting and worrying, I did have a problem once with Ammo not spraying very well. That was put down to storing them in the shed with out any heating. Since the refurbished cave and some back ground heat they have behaved .
Can't imagine your paints being effected the way you store them , in fact it sounds ideal.
Wonder what sort of reply you would get from Vallejo ?