Humbrol petrol?

[Centurion3RTR]

Hi all,

Before i start, all the old school among us who has stripped a weber carb down will know the smell i'm talking about.

Can someone tell me what is going on with Humbrol paints? I've just opened up a tin and it smells like i've just stripped my Capri down in the bedroom, it smells like old petrol. Wendy (wife) thought i'd taken my carbs upstairs so i know it's bad. The tin i open was green matt so it must be unleaded.

John

[Ian M]

Hm not come across that one befor. I have found that the colour of Humbrol paint does affect the way is smells. Their black can be a bit of a stinker some times.

I think it has some thing to do with the binders for the different pigments in the paint. Some pigments are heavier than others, so need a different binder to hold it in suspension.

Ian M

[stona]

Hi all, The tin i open was green matt so it must be unleaded.

John

Very good! I've just spluttered into my morning cuppa. I know the smell you mean very well indeed,though it mainly emanated from the Dell'Orto on my old Ducati.

I can only guess that this is due to the decision of Hornby/Airfix/Humbrol to manufacture the paints in China. Maybe they have been reformulated. All my Humbrol tinlets are at least three years old (or a lot older) and I haven't noticed the whiff of carburetters in any of them.

Cheers

Steve

[AlanG]

Don't know if humbrol are having a few QA issues at the moment. I've had a few tins abit smelly lately and bought some of their brushes the other week, the tips were a real mess. So much so i had to re-shape the small brush just so i could use it.

[Guest]

It may well be worth dropping Humbrol a line and asking them what they think. I know the range is now made in China and has been reformulated but that should not have affected the performance of the paint.

Smell is another strange think though, maybe the Chinese are using recycled engine oil as a solvent!lol

[stona]

The Humbrol range has definitely been reformulated and,yes,the Chinese have had some quality problems. The general view is that some paints,particularly some metallic and clear finishes have taken a turn for the worse. Others seem to suffer from inconsistency (some always did anyway,I had significant variations of good old matt black 33). I haven't bought any for a while so I can't say if these issues are ongoing. Production was moved to China a while ago now and we can only hope that these were teething problems.

I'm lucky in that I now only use enamel paints for detailing and I've got a large stock of old Humbrol paints which will last me for some time yet.

Cheers

Steve

[Centurion3RTR]

Glad it's not just me, thought i was going around the bend (always wanted to travel). I've sent Humbrol a E-Mail so we'll see what happens. Got to admit, the paint did go on well and dried good too. I normally use Vallejo but on the last two tanks i've used Humbrol, i was thinking about a sound chip for the Sherman i'm working on. Well, i have the looks and smell of one lol.

Have fun, John

[Guest]

I hope you have better luck than me in mailing Humbrol I have tried 3 times about paint problems 4 months ago as of yet no answer

not wanting to hi jack thread this was about a tin of Green clear on opening all I had was a very evil smelling brown gunk

[Guest]

I can't see what the issue is - I just want to go and buy a new stock of Humbrol based on this thread hehehehe :twisted:

[Guest]

Sounds like a similar smell we had once with a batch of paint at work, when the rep called in he said its a paint mix from China, and its been known for them to dissolve their paints in low grade Naptha,( hence your petrol smell), so we fired the paint back to him and keep away from certain producers now as alot of the firms use China to mix their paints, Plus we found these paint batches to be 2 or 3 shades out.