GHQ Models Forums

Hi all,

I have recently returned to the states and moved to a new house. All of my modeling stuff was in storage for a complete year and was subject to cold weather as well as hot. My question is this: will cold (or hot) temperatures affect my paints and glue in anyway? The bottles were all sealed. I am just now unpacking my house and this thought occurred to me, will I need to throw them out and start over or will they be ok once at "room temperature"?

steve-o

If the seals on the jars are good, you might be able to use the paint. Being a dedicated miser, I keep model paint jars until the paint is either absolutely useless or the bottle is completely empty. I'm not sure what the extreme temperatures will do to the paint. The glue is probably shot, in my experience, most hobby glues have a too short shelf life.
These results are not scientific. Others may have had different results. Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.

Groundlber

groundlber wrote:If the seals on the jars are good, you might be able to use the paint. Being a dedicated miser, I keep model paint jars until the paint is either absolutely useless or the bottle is completely empty. I'm not sure what the extreme temperatures will do to the paint. The glue is probably shot, in my experience, most hobby glues have a too short shelf life.
These results are not scientific. Others may have had different results. Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.

Groundlber

I agree with Groundlber, the glue is probably shot. The paint should be OK. Some of it may have died but if they were sealed I would think they are fine. I've certainly had, and have, bottles of usable paint that are multiple years old.

cool guys, thanks for the responses.

steve-o

Refrigeration is generally good for adhesives; I have kept bottles of ACC (crazy glue) for over a year by refrigerating them in between instances of use. Heat on the other hand...

Speaking of glue...

Seems to me that the "more adhesive" the glue is, the shorter its shelf life is. I rarely have a bottle of "super glue" last more than five or six months -- which is why I buy the smallest bottles available (unless I'm going to be doing a lot of gluing!). On the other hand... I've found bottles of good ol' Elmer's White Glue still very viable years after the kids finished a school project and put the bottle in a "hidden place" until I stumbled upon it...

As for refrigeration -- I tried that once, but the missus didn't like it at all. She wasn't too crazy about 35mm film in the 'fridge, either...

Oh, well -- she puts up with me, what more can I ask for!!?

Regards,
Tom Stockton

From years of experience as a house painter, once acrylic paint has frozen, it is crap. Freezing screws up the binding agents and the paint doesn't stay mixed; it'll start to separate almost immediately.

I echo what has been said about the super glue. I buy the tiniest tubes I can get preferring the gel to the liquid. Basically I plan on one or two uses then the tube will be glued shut.

Until last year I used foam and Panzer keepers so I never glued on machine guns or aerials. Now that I have discovered steel foil tape and magnetic sheeting I may have to reconsider this.

As far as paint I had a 2 year period when I relocated to a new city that I didn't paint. When I started up again I had several bottles on Ral Partha and Howard Hues. Some were dried completely but some had partially dried.

If you can still stir it try dropping 2 or 3 drops of dawn liquid soap then add water and stir. I saved 6 to 8 bottles that way.