I have long used Scalecoat I paints for my brass modeling, tasks that I only do episodically, sometimes a year or so apart, so that the paints sometimes sit years well-sealed between being called to duty. In this regard, I have a number of old metal cap pre-weaver bottles containing paints that certainly seem to be OK. But….but….I have just experienced my third bottle (among others over the years) where the well-mixed paint (1:1 Scalecoat I thinner, 18 psi) dries to about a 600-1000 grit finish, saved only by careful sanding and application of 0000 steel wool and Glosscoat. What a chore!

Have others had the same experience? Should I a priori pitch all these old bottles, a considerable investment?

There is nothing inheritantly wrong with old paint. I have used this past year to good and even superb effect several different iterations of SUPER Model Railroad Paint from late ‘40s.

Denny

Denny S. Anspach, MD
Sacramento, CA 95864