Paint life?

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I was going through some of my Model Masters enamel paints today and noticed I have some with price tags from 1992! It seems like it still works okay when I tested it on a scrap. Does anyone know if these paints have an expiration date, or is it just if it doesn't work throw it out?

[Joseph Osborn]

If the paint is still liquid, it's still good. If the solvent has evaporated out of the enamel paint and it's dried out, it's probably toast. Sometimes if it's a little gooey, you can add some mineral spirits or turps or even lacquer thinner and mix the pigments back into a usable paint. On a similar vein, I have added Gunze thinner to an old jar of Mr Surfacer 500 to thin it out enough to use.

[Lt. Z0mBe]

Echoing Joe's remarks here. Also, usually you will get better results if you actually stir your paint with a stick than only shaking. I have paints that are 20+ years old that I have dipped into. Shaking them, you'd think they were toast. But, give them a thorough stir and then some shaking after that, and they are like new a lot of the time.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

[Mad Ma.Ks]

I use a battery powered paint stirrer - worth its weight in gold..

http://www.micromark.com/cordless-mixer ... ,7616.html

[Andrew Gorman]

Instead of a paint stirrer I just use a 99 cent latte whippper from Ikea. I build stuff so slowly that all of my paint is ancient. I even still have some Pactra in the square bottles with a drip molded in.

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

Okay, thanks. I saw the date and thought "no way are these still good!" and all of them except aluminum and another metal color cured okay. Those two were still soft and sticky.

[mightymax]

I have paint that is 35 years old and still useable. As noted if it is still liquid then it probably is still useable. just stir thoroughly.

Max Bryant