#I keep wasting so much paint

7 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

eager topaz
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I am using Army Painters paints and I keep having one of two problems about half the time I try to get paint out of the bottles:

  1. I shake the bottle, let it sit for a moment, and then as soon as I remove the cap, paint immediately begins oozing up out of the hole, often much more than I need. Only thing I can think of is that shaking the bottle builds up pressure inside?
    Or
  2. I can't get paint to come out. I use a needle to clear the hole and often there is no resistance at all, yet as soon as I turn it over and squeeze, nothing comes out. In one case, I had the inside cap (the part you would need to remove in order to put a mixing ball in it) fly off and half the paint in the bottle squirted all over the table. After that incident, I hold that piece firmly on the bottle while squeezing. In this case, paint still will suddenly squirt out of the hole, usually like 10x more than I need and it shoots quite far making a mess. I don't understand how it is blocked because every time I reinsert the needle into the hole to clear it, there is no resistance at all. The only thing I can think is that the mixing ball is blocking the hole.
teal girder
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It might be just what you described at the end yes. I never had those issues, never used a mixing ball in those bottles

eager topaz
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The bottles all come with a mixing ball in them when purchased.

teal girder
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I meant regular drop bottles, I don’t own any army painter yet

surreal zenith
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@eager topaz maybe try letting the paint sit for a minute or two after shaking? What could be happening is the agitator ball tends to cause bubbles which increase pressure inside the bottle.

Letting it sit for a minute after shaking well will allow those bubbles to settle so you can pour/drip

severe nest
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I don't use AP, but I have Vallejo, Scale75, Reaper and AK and I usually shake the bottle intensely before using and then make pendulum movements holding the cap so that the paint returns to the bottom of the bottle.

charred copper
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I slam the bottom of the bottle on the table after shaking, (before taking the cap off). This usually clears the spout of mixing balls, air bubbles or unmixed paint that might be caught up in there. This also stops the paint oozing out when I take the cap off.
If there is no paint, I put the cap back on and give the bottle a short sideways shake holding the bottle horizontal to get the paint flowing into the spout again.
I have learned to not squeeze very hard to get paint out, but rather use shaking (with the cap on) to get the paint flowing properly.