Shaken not Stirred

[Bishop Odo]

Tonight’s project after class has been re-hydrating my Reaper Pro-Paint. I have not been painting very much in a while, they are about 8 years old, and still good, just too thick, and I‘m too cheap to get more stuff. My laboratory vibrating mixer is great for this and after about 45 minutes really well mixed and all ready to go. Good thing I don’t have to do this by hand.

 

I have been surprised by the failure rate of only 2% so far. Considering how long its been since, I serious, painted anything, that’s pretty darn good. Guess I should also say there good paints as well.

 

 

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o135/bl...33/DSCN0426.jpg

[Serenity]

That's a fantastic success rate. I doubt you'd do as well with some other brands. I wonder if the MSP line would fare so well after a long hiatus. Did you add any water before you put them away?

 

I don't have a paint shaker, and usually use my arms. However, I've used a car polisher when I have a lot to do, and it helps keep my arms from going numb. I've got a vibrating sander I've never tried, but probably should sometime.

[Qwyksilver]

I've had some MSP's that I purchased when the line was first released that I was able to resurrect with a little water and Acrylic medium, recently. They had settled, but after about 10 minutes on the vortex mixer were fine. I've only had to discard one bottle of white primer because that had seized up beyond saving. Fortunately, it was also almost empty.

 

Now, I leave my case of paints on the washing machine and flip it every couple of days. We end up doing on average, a load a day, so they get plenty of agitation during the spin cycles

[Ddot]

@Quiksilver: ever have any interesting *failures* in the washinh machine? (along the lines of "when a red sock gets in with the whites, everything turns pink")

[Qwyksilver]

@Quiksilver: ever have any interesting *failures* in the washinh machine? (along the lines of "when a red sock gets in with the whites, everything turns pink")

 

Not since I first started doing the family laundry when I was 7 as a household chore. Worst thing I can remember is a pair of new jeans turning some whites into powder blues. And the one time I washed/dried one of my mom's dry clean only dresses. But those were almost 30 years ago.

[Shortbeard]

Now, I leave my case of paints on the washing machine and flip it every couple of days. We end up doing on average, a load a day, so they get plenty of agitation during the spin cycles

That's a bloody good idea!!! I now have a new place to leave my paint cases.

 

I also have a lab vortexer and the original MSP line of paints with the labels that read both upside down and rightway up and have yet to throw a bottle out. Have to say reaper put together a damn fine paint.

[Bishop Odo]

I used just tad of distilled water on some, only about 30% needed it. Now to see how well they paint or really how well I paint. Funny thing was that, with the 2% failure was one color two bottles of Troll flesh where condemned as unusable and will need to be replaced.

[Kannan Fodder]

I haven't checked all my Pro Paints, but the few I've used recently have been fine. They've been sitting around untouched for years now, and they date back to when the line first released. The only one I had dry out was one pot of Walnut.

 

I also have most of the MSP line from the first release, augmented with a few new triads as they released. I haven't had any problems with them, except the white paint on primer. (It's gotten "clumpy" as it's settled, but hasn't totally solidified.) I contacted Reaper about the shelf life of the paints, and was told: "They can really last forever if one to two drops of water are put in each bottle every year."

 

Nice tip about the washing machine.... I have laundry to do, and that seems like a great idea.

 

~M

[awong]

Hello,

Sorry for the resurrection but this looked like a relative thread...

MicroMark is currently selling the Robart paint shaker, on sale for just a week, on-line only, @$35, with

only $4.95 shipping.

A little cheaper than usual.

 

I also use a lab vortexer type mixer so I can't say how good these are

but if you search other threads, the reviews seem positive.

 

Thanks

AWhang

[haldir]

The Robart is pretty good. It's been awhile since I've used it to shake any kind of paint but it does a good job on just about any kind of paint. Hell I've used it to shake a Tamiya paint can before. I was just curious.

 

About the only thing that needs to get replaced is the rubber strap as the holes do tend to rip but my local mom & pop hobby shop can order those in whenever I need them.

 

RM

[Darkstar]

You can also use the poor mans' method of paint shaking if you're not sure you want to plunk down the cash for a lab unit.

 

If you have a standard kitchen hand mixer, the kind you'd mix cake batter with, you can simply tuck a bottle of paint into the beater, wedging it tightly into the space between ...spokes. I'll call them spokes since I'm unsure what they're called.

 

Turn on the beater slowly to make sure you've got a good grip on the paint, then up she goes round and round until your paint is good and mixed.

 

 

Caveat= You can get some dangerous bottles flying around so hide your kids, wives, husbands etc...as those bottles can slip out and go across the room from time to time. Haven't had one break anything yet...yet.

[Kannan Fodder]

LOL! I'm know for occasionally accidentally launching a paint bottle across the room while shaking them by hand. I've also intentionally launched a bottle or two to break up a cat fight when the fur kids call my bluff.

 

Back on the "shaken" topic, I stole the idea of setting the paint caddies on the washing machine. Has helped a little. My older and less used colors don't look as "settled" anymore.

 

~M

[Bishop Odo]

I did an eBay search and found my mixer for 120.00 and free shipping, considering its quality and durability, I would say its worth it. I found others quite cheaper under 75.00, you get what you pay for, and as for the micromark one, I saw that in a catalog years ago, I thought the old one was battery powered, Plastic and with limited capacity, but it sparked the idea in me and lead me to what I have today.

[haldir]

Robart comes in 2 varieties, battery or corded. I can't recall what I paid for mine but I recall I was able to pay in "payments" so I didn't have to fork up the cash all at once for it.

[Kang]

I just zip-tie my RMS bottles onto a jigsaw blade and let it run for about 30 seconds for each bottle whenever I decide they've been just sitting there for a little too long. Got a big bag of those zip-tie things from my wife's work and they're just the right width to catch underneath the plastic collar just below the cap, so the bottles don't go flying, and if they're pulled to just the right tightness they can be carefully slipped on and off the blade without getting all scratched up, so you can pretty much do all your paints with just one. The few Vallejo droppers I have need a new zip-tie for every bottle though; they're a bit differently shaped. You can hear the skull agitators they put in the RMS bottles hammering around in there, even over the sound of the saw - it works really well (though on occasion I've found myself trying to think of ways to attach more than one bottle at a time), and it's almost free... if you already have a jigsaw.

 

Kang