What is the oldest paint you have that is still good?

[bigbluejavelin]

As an old modeler that has been in and out of the hobby many times, I ask what is the oldest bottle of model paint you have been able to use? I first started building around 1968 with the Red Baron show car. About my 3rd time re-entering the hobby in the 1990's I was able to use an old bottle of Testor's flourescent pink that had the 10 cent price printed on the cap. Around 1997 I bought a display rack from a hobby shop that was no longer carrying Pactra paints for about 20 -25 dollars and had at least 60 bottles. There were many flat acrylic enamels and the the time I was still using mostly enamels. I am currently trying out some of them as I am building the Round 2 / Lindberg Jolly Roger kits. Surprisingly, most of the bottles I have cracked open are still good, even the ones I used when I first bought them in 1997. I have noticed that as long as the bottles are mostly full they have a really long shelf life, but custom colors of enamels that I mixed 2 years ago are now not useable if there was less than 3/4 of a bottle. What do you old timers have that still is good?

[southwestforests]

PollyScale from 1990s; know of at least 2, a metallic green bought just for for the aft half of a Monogram 1/48 F-15 cockpit, & an Italian Hazel tan I like for a basic Caucasian skin tone, even used it last week on a couple guys to put in an Airfix 1/72 Grumman Widgeon/Gosling.
Uncertain exactly how old they are but am certain it is pre-Y2K.
And maybe 2 Tamiya acrylics from mid/late 1980s, been about a decade since last opening them.

Don't have any old enamels on account of having to avoid exposure to them from mid 1980s to around that same Y2k.

[irishtrek]

I've still got a dozen or more of MM acrylic with the white and black label they used when they switched to their new formula.

[jpolacchi]

I have some Floquil enamels that are 30 to ...close to 40 years old that are still good in the bottle. They need to be shaken up periodically, but are as good as the day when new on the shelf.

[Kekker]

Some Gunze, some Aeromaster, some Testors, and I think a old Floquil.

At least they were still liquid the last I checked, some may have fossilized in the meantime!

[jpolacchi]

You gotta shake up those old enamels like Floquil and Areomaster. Even if the pigment has settled to the bottom of the jar and its all solvent&resin binder on top, the paint(believe it or not) is still good. You have to shake the hell out of it. I would not open the jars and "break the seal" unless absolutely necessary. The only other thing you really have to do is if you use them and after vigorous mixing&then thinned)...STRAIN the paint before pushing it through your airbrush.

[seam-filler]

I have some Tamiya Clear Yellow and Clear Green from the early '80s (in the old 20ml jars). They're now a bit syrupy but still thin well I use these colours so rarely that while they are still viable, I am loathe to replace them.

[SpaceRanger1]

I’ve got 60-year-old Humbrol enamel still as fresh as the day it left the factory. Humbrol is my go-to paint for just about everything.

[jpolacchi]

I've got a few model master and testor enamles that are a good 25 years old. Yeah...Humbrol. They don't make them like that anymore.

[sbaxter]

I've got a few model master and testor enamles that are a good 25 years old. Yeah...Humbrol. They don't make them like that anymore.

Because I essentially had to halt virtually all model-building activities about 20 years ago, I still have dozens (maybe as many as a couple of hundred at a guess) of bottles of Model Master paints. When I randomly sampled several of them a year or two ago, every one I tried still seemed perfectly usable.

I hope that still holds; I'm finally building the 1/1000th Reliant, so I need to go dig through my stash to find some Intermediate Blue and Light Gray (among others). I think I'm going to teach myself how to mix craft store acrylic paint to get good eyeball matches for these colors going forward.

Qapla'

SSB

[Saturn]

Still have the old Pactra International colors in my stash. (1980s) Haven't cracked them open, but the carriers are still liquid, so some of the pigments may have settled. If I ever get back on a Japanese WW2 A/C kick, I'll find out.

Even if the pigment has settled to the bottom of the jar and its all solvent&resin binder on top, the paint(believe it or not) is still good. You have to shake the hell out of it. I would not open the jars and "break the seal" unless absolutely necessary.

QFT.

I also have a lot of Boyd's Auto and MM Automotive Lacquers decanted from aerosol cans- still in bottles ready-to-go.

[dizzyfugu]

I (still) have a tin from Humbrol's Authentic range, HJ04 "Mauve", the highly debatable "IJN Purple". Used it several times and i's still "alive" and fully operational, even though it smells funny (ever did so, though, a unique sour note). Not certain when I bought it, might have been in the mid-Eighties or the early Nineties.

[Lt. Z0mBe]

I have a lot of 30-plus year old Testor’s and Model Master enamels. I don’t airbrush them much but I do end up using them on cockpits and crew figures. I think I do it just so I can use a bit of thr old stuff from the old days, lol. Additionally, I have lots of 15-plus year old Apple Barrel and Vallejo acrylic that work just fine for brush and airbrush. The key is to keep your threads clean and nozzles clean so that the bottles seal up properly.

I hope this helps.

Kenny

[bigbluejavelin]

Need to mix up some bronze and was quite surprised that I have some vintage 90's testors enamels that are sill good. Epic score .

[jpolacchi]

Yeah,I uncovered a time capsule myself a few months back.An old,unlabeled box of mine filled with NOS Floquil enamels,model master enamels and Testors 1/4 enamel bottles and about 5-7 30z. aerosol cans. I'd be into selling or trading for other colors if others were interested?

[blakeh1]

I still have Polly Scale paints from the late 80's early 90's that are good

Also I have some original Citadel paints (the kind in the old pots that had the flat flip top white lid, not the new style GW paints)

(this line has been worked into the Privateer Press P3 paint line by Mike McVey)




These kind



After GW switched to the new line of paints I stopped using them. Half the time the paints would dry in the jars before you even opened them if left around too long. They were terrible compared to the original line

[jpolacchi]

Speaking of "old paints",I have a pretty big project that I need some NOS Model Master Metalizer lacquers for.I don't have enough(or all the right colors). I'd be into buying or trading for them as I have some back stock of some m.m enamels I am not sure I will ever use. I need either the 1/2 bottles of or the 3 oz. aerosol cans of every color:

Aluminum Plate - Flat 1401 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Stainless Steel - Flat 1402 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Magnesium - Flat 1403 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Titanium - Flat 1404 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Gun Metal - Flat 1405 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Exhaust - Flat 1406 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Dark Anodonic Gray - Flat 1412 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Brass Non-Buffing - Flat 1417 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Aluminum Non-Buffing - Flat 1418 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Steel Non-Buffing - Flat 1420 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Gun Metal Non-Buffing - Flat 1423 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Burnt Iron Non-Buffing - Flat 1424 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints
Burnt Metal - Flat 141501 - 1/2 oz. Metalizer Lacquer Paints

[bigbluejavelin]

I do have some testors metalizer lacquers from the 90's, but they are all the buffing metalizers for airbrush only, although I have brushed them before. 1/2 oz bottles :
1- gunmetal
2- stainless steel
3 - aluminum plate
I may have some spray cans, but not easy to get to right now.

[sbaxter]

"Barbatos Rex" on YouTube posted a video yesterday (at this writing) of his tests of a 50-year-old bottle of Testors Metallic Green enamel. This was back in the day when the price was printed on the cap -- 19¢.

https://youtu.be/jQJheigwXIc

It worked just fine, with the caveat that the bottle may never have been opened prior to his test.

Qapla'

SSB

[jpolacchi]

I almost bought Testor's paint that was that old.It was a box of them from the late 60's or early 1970's.It was at least 50 years old(possibly older).It was "Pearl White".Some guy had a case of it he was trying to auction on EVIL BAY, for over $200.00.Problem was, you couldn't use it.The paint had aged to the point that even though it was liquid inside and you could thin it and use it, the liquid part turned "brown" and if used,you would hardly see the "pearl" of the paint.It would go on looking "dirty".It was more of a collectors/novelty item I suppose? I also couldn't justify buying a paint that was unusable at around $25.00 per 1/4oz. bottle.

[bigbluejavelin]

So I must be really lucky regarding my old paints. I am still working on the repo pirate kits from Lindburg and need orange and green for some of the clothing. I actually had both in the old square Testors bottles both were separated carrier and pigment. the green mixed up well. I always stir, not shake. I opened the orange and the liner part of the lid would not come off, into the trash it went. Turns out I had another bottle in my stash. Can't explain why I would have bought these gloss paints, so they may have been given to me at some point. A little mixing later and they are still good. I cleaned the the threads of the bottles and the lids with acetone and Q-Tips. Anyone heard if Round 2 plans on doing another run of "Hex Marks the Spot"? If so I would be up to buying 3-4 copies.

[BTrekker]

I was just doing some piddly things to make sure my supplies were still good.

30+ year old bottles of Model Master took a bit to stir up, but once done worked just fine.

[Kylwell]

I used to have a bottle of Pactra (or was it Revell?) acrylic from the 80s that I kept just to be reminded of how bad a paint can be. The stuff refused to cure. Ever. Even after 10 years it was still tacky. Finally tossed it back in the aughts. I've got some Tamiya that's 20 or so years old as when I moved back in the late 90s I sold off all my models & supplies. Got back seriously in '01s.

[Andrew Gorman]

I have some Pactra enamel in the square teardrop bottle that is still fine after a couple of drops of thinner. I'm guessing those are from the 1970's. Almost all of the acrylics I've picked up over the past 20 or so years have turned into marshmallow like blobs that respond to nothing except being thrown out.

[Mick4350]

I still have a number of the old Humbrol Authentic colours from the 1970's and tonight I found two unopened tinlets of Humbrol #170 Brown Bess. These two tins are from the early eighties and are now discontinued.

[Bellerophon]

I still have a number of the old Humbrol Authentic colours from the 1970's and tonight I found two unopened tinlets of Humbrol #170 Brown Bess. These two tins are from the early eighties and are now discontinued.

Those tinlets of Brown Bess would fetch a nice price from Aliens model and prop builders. They might be most valuable used to make color chips, if you were so inclined.