Empty paint bottles?

[Charlie_]

I'm fed up with the vallejo dropper bottles - trying to get a little drop, but a huge flood pours out.....


Most of my paints are Vallejo, though I have a few Citadel ones too - what's up with their ridiculous paint pots??? Years ago they used to very practical, nowadays their design is just weird, it's pretty much impossible to open the lids and leave them open....


I'm thinking I want to decant all my paints into new bottles / pots, or at least the ones I use the most... Including lots of colours I've mixed myself.

I can find lots of empty 17ml dropper bottles to buy online, but does anyone have any tips for alternative paint pots I should use, which I can buy empty?

I'd also like a paint rack for them - companies like 4ground and Warlord sell laser-cut MDF paint racks, one of which I use for my vallejos. I'd like one to fit all of my re-potted paints.

Any pointers?

[Captain Blood]

All very good points Charlie. Completely agree. Vallejo bottles are shit. The paint separates, the pinhole nozzles get blocked, the heads get clogged up with solids, sometimes they split, you either can’t get anything out at all, or you get a dramatic pressure explosion that splurts paint all over your palette and half painted figures.
Citadel bottles are also shit, but in a different way. As you say, the lids won’t stay open - but then again they don’t close properly either. Air gets in and the paint thickens and dries out... it also congeals on the internal ‘tongue’ of the lid, forming great solid lumps. The design is basically shit. The old ones were much better. Why can’t someone design decent paint pots for painting model soldiers? I mean really, how difficult can it be?
Makes me nostalgic for simple tins of Humbrol enamel 

[anch_io]

This.



https://www.missionmodelsus.com/

Although their paint is probably too thin for miniatures. It is made for airbrushing. Probably the best bottle for model paints that I have found. Do they sell empty bottles? I really do not know...

[dadlamassu]

I can find lots of empty 17ml dropper bottles to buy online, but does anyone have any tips for alternative paint pots I should use, which I can buy empty?

I'd also like a paint rack for them - companies like 4ground and Warlord sell laser-cut MDF paint racks, one of which I use for my vallejos. I'd like one to fit all of my re-potted paints.

Any pointers?

I would use the Coat d'Arms pots as they are very similar to the old round Citadel paint bottles.  Empty bottles are available from Blackhat Games:
https://www.blackhat.co.uk/product-category/coat-darms-paints/coat-darms-paints-extras/

[MagpieJono]

I would use the Coat d'Arms pots as they are very similar to the old round Citadel paint bottles.  Empty bottles are available from Blackhat Games:
https://www.blackhat.co.uk/product-category/coat-darms-paints/coat-darms-paints-extras/

These are basically the old GW paint pots as they used to be made by the same company. After prolonged use the hinge tends to fail sometimes though. The tab used for pushing the lid up also sometimes breaks off causing you to have to use a small tool to open the pot.

However they are better than the Vallejo or Citadel paint pots. I still can't believe that a company as big as GW makes such poor paint pots. Their paint is pretty good but the pots are shite. Such a tendency for paint to dry up inside the ring of the lid seal making it not shut properly.

[Drunkendwarf]

These are basically the old GW paint pots as they used to be made by the same company. After prolonged use the hinge tends to fail sometimes though. The tab used for pushing the lid up also sometimes breaks off causing you to have to use a small tool to open the pot.

Blackhat even sells replacement lids, I use them for  my Foundry paints after the lid broke

DJ

[Orctrader]

I haven't needed to buy any for years, but used SHC Web

https://www.shcweb.co.uk/store/20ml-plastic-paint-pot-with-white-flip-top-lid.html

Take a look around their site and you will see every possible container you could ever want.   

[FifteensAway]

Rooster climbing on to pile of sh*t to crow here.  I dumped on those paint pots years ago and all I got was grief and how the paints were "so great".  Bought a few and instantly hated them (the paint was okay) but turned away quickly because I foresaw the complaints above.  Those pots are why 98%, or more, of the paint I buy now is craft paint.  It works just fine and it is vastly less expensive and lasts forever - I have a few bottles that are over twenty years old (bought for terrain projects that needed lots of paint, before I started using cheap house acrylics for such projects) and the paint is still useful.  But, hey, those are "great companies" screwing us with their pricing schemes and crap containers.  Okay, I've crowed enough now.   

Now, as an aside, I've yet to fail to find a color I need through craft paints - or be able to easily mix something.  Mind you, I'm not a perfectionist and am happy with "good enough" because I paint playing pieces, not contest work.  Still, the craft paint palette is astonishing. 

With craft paints, if you keep the lid clean, especially the little nib that seals the container, the stuff never seems to go bad.  And if you learn a little bit about mixing - and buy an expensive art product for mixing - you can use the craft paints as if it were custom made hobby paint, including using in an air brush.  Personally, I don't do the latter because I'm okay with my results for my purposes.

Happy painting!

[Charlie_]

I would use the Coat d'Arms pots as they are very similar to the old round Citadel paint bottles.  Empty bottles are available from Blackhat Games:
https://www.blackhat.co.uk/product-category/coat-darms-paints/coat-darms-paints-extras/

I haven't needed to buy any for years, but used SHC Web

https://www.shcweb.co.uk/store/20ml-plastic-paint-pot-with-white-flip-top-lid.html

Take a look around their site and you will see every possible container you could ever want.   

Ahhh perfect, these are both exactly what I was looking for - thanks guys, I'll check them both out!!!

Now does anyone know of a company that makes a handy laser-cut MDF paint rack that will fit these pots?

[Belisarius]

Companies selling expensive paints in pots which w,ont seal properly , result - customers buy more paint ?  Deliberate policy ? Surely not 😎 That’s capitalism for you 🎩 or good business sense , maybe.

[dadlamassu]

TTCombat - holds 35 pots
https://ttcombat.com/collections/painting/products/paint-rack-30-p3-coat-darms-size

[Mindenbrush]

I purchased a lot from The Plastic Bottle Company in the UK
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=108833.0

[jon_1066]

I used nail varnish racks for my paints.  I have the Foundry triad so went for three tier racks (makes sense for the shade, base and highlight).  If you search ebay you can find them relatively cheaply.

[Daeothar]

To be honest, I've never had a single issue with any of the pots described!

I too am still nostalgic for the older Citadel pots made of a flexible plastic; both the round and hexagonal pots; as far as lidded pots go, those were the absolute best. in fact they still are, as I've still got some of those in my collection which I occasionally use; over 25 years old, and still useable...

The only one I might not have liked is the citadel pot following the above: the hexshaped pot with the threaded lid. Those were too prone to getting permanently screwed shut due to paint getting into the lid's thread. And it would always get there because paint needs to be shaken before use!

I'm not too much of an expert on the Citadel types following the hexshaped flip-top pots with the black top, since I started using vallejo around that time, but the occasional pot I did get was pretty much ok, even though the paints in the later soft plastic flip-tops seemed to be much more prone to seperating than other paints.

But the best pot by far, in my opinion, is the Vallejo (style) dropper bottle. They're absolutely amazing, and I've used them almost exclusively since I switched.

All the complaints I've heard so far, I feel are related to one thing though; discipline. Make sure that every time you get paint, you close the pot immediately after. And make sure that any paint that drips off the dropper opening is wiped off before closing the cap!

And the same goes for all the other types of pot; get paint out of the pot/bottle, clean and then close asap.

It reminds me of people complaining locally about the Revell Contacta glue container with needle applicator. They hated it because it constantly got clogged, but they did not mention that they left the tip exposed for hours, so the glue would dry in the needle, instead of putting the cap on immediately after use.

I've used these glue applicators for decades without any issue, mostly because I strictly adhere to my own rule of closing it the moment I've applied the glue. And for those moments I do slip, I've got a small tool I made myself with a small grip and a piece of broken figure saw blade, to de-clog the nozzle.

Same thing with paint pots; some bottles are used a lot less frequently than others, so I always have a trusty needle handy to pierce any dried paint in the dropper tip, but that rarely, if ever happens. (coincidentally, I had one this week, but that was the first one in several years).


Disclaimer: Sorry if this is not very helpful, but I was just really surprised to read all the hate for current paint pots. Besides; I had some time to kill... 

[Treebeard]

That's probably because we don't have your discipline :p