I bought some Army Painter airbrush medium and followed your guide… it worked great! Thank you! Now I just have a stupid large backlog of paints to rebottle. For people saying “don’t buy GW”, sure… I’m doing that more these days, but when I started, I was so low experience, low confidence, that I just wanted to follow recipes. GW paint eliminated a variable and allowed me to just improve my skill. Love your videos!
Thanks man! Yeah I had 76 Citadel paints. I have a multitude of other brands too and the advice to not buy GW paint is valid but many will still have loads of them.
I just finished pouring paints from the citadel bottles into the droppers. I used a brush to collect the residues that, due to their shape, did not want to come out on their own. It took me about 5-6 hours to pour 35 paints. I am very pleased with the effect, especially since I use a wet palette. No more wasting paints that dry on the edges or containers that cannot be closed. Thank you so much for inspiring me to do this.
I've been transferring my paints for a few years now and my technique is very similar to yours. I might add that the tiny plastic funnels with some of the bulk bottles are too restrictive to use as-is, but you can carefully cut the cone off to fit tightly around the top of the new bottle (trial & error,) to make life a bit easier. I also add a couple of 4mm stainless-steel balls to the pot before shaking on the old lab vortex. Good Video.
@@thestateofplay2023 well I subscribed anyway lol. I like the different topics you cover. Also, I have tried keeping paint in jars, plastic is definitely the way to go, I have some glass ones and the agitators broke the bottom of 2 of them.
First, a question: I have been using the Golden Airbrush Medium that you briefly showed as a general purpose thinner and like it a lot. I haven't gotten around to transferring my Citadel paints yet though. What about the Army Painter medium in your experience makes it preferable for this job? Second, a couple of tips: For anyone in the US, I recommend Monument Hobbies' glass agitators over Army Painter's. Not because there's anything wrong with them, but because Monument's are way less expensive. You also don't run the risk of a bad batch maybe someday rusting, but I think that's pretty unlikely. UK/RoW shipping might make this a less valuable prospect though. And, if you do want to use a funnel, grab some silicone ones. Acrylic paint conveniently does not adhere to silicone and can be peeled right off after it dries, no mess. On Amazon you can get a set of four or five for a few dollars, and set them up to let a handful of pots drain hands-free. Could save you some time or at least let you do something else while you wait. Cheers, thanks for the great tips!
I use Golden Airbrush medium in my airbrushing video and for flow and pressure it’s great. When pouring from pot to dropper I just found army painters stuff to work better. I can’t really put a finger on why that’s the case but it worked.
This is an amazing video, I just got into the hobby and am not a big fan of the idea of my stuff drying out and making a mess. One question I have though is if you do this, are your paints pre watered down or do you still need to mix a bit an of water in to thin it down for a nice even coat on your mini's?
Exactly my method regarding the poring. When most paint is out of the pot i just took a fat new cheap brush and just scooped all the paint out and then running the brush over the edge of the opened dropper bottle. Allmost got every drop of paint out of those darn pots! :) In my quest finding the perfect dropper bottle, i quickly found out i dont like cheap soft ones and i think they dont look nice.. I found an absolute gem.... AK interactive's 17ml empty droppers. Actually the same ones in wich they use for their new line of 3th gen paints at the moment, with the thick white screwcap, wich work like an absolute dream comparing to regular dropper bottle caps. I did this only to the Base and Layer paints. With the exception of Nuln Oil, Agrax, Reikland and Seraphim Sepia and finally Abaddon Black, wich are all in much larger 35ml Vallejo empty mixing bottles :) The plastic is also so much firmer and thicker then the mass produced cheap bottles you'll likely find on Amazon/ebay. So currently im looking at allmost 80 rebottled citadel layer/base paints, nicely arranged in multiple hobbyzone painting racks. Couldnt be more happy. For the medium i mostly used Vallejo's flow improver with Lahmian Medium, wich worked just fine.
Oh, if I only have had this video 20 years ago when I rebottled like 20 Citadel pots... In the end I did the sane thing and switched back to my good ol' Vallejo, which in my area is also cheaper than Citadel. And I never liked Citadel paints anyway, I bought them because in Spain at that time there was a huge fad about GW and I wanted to test them. But the thing is that I had to rebottle 20 pots or so, I stopped after rebottling the handful of colors I actually liked and threw away the rest, out of frustration. I was using water, a bit of Vallejo medium, and a ton of elbow grease because I don't happen to own a Vortex. Never thought about adding any flow improver to the mix, and I don't know if they were widely available 20 years ago anyway. Thanks for the video, even if it comes late for me. It was informative, extremely funny (as all your videos) and useful!
@@thestateofplay2023 Oh, many of the tips in your videos are very valuable for me NOW, like using Lego slabs as dry palettes, or the silicone oven mats, instead of ruining my cutting mats painting all over them 😆 Really, your videos have been very useful. Now I just have to find a place and some spare time to paint again 😆
Hi! Great video! I have the same issue with the availability of the army painter products here locally. I just want to clear something up: For the 80/20 mix using vallejo thinner and flow improver - is it vallejo THINNING MEDIUM? Or would the regular airbrush thinner work as well? Thanks! Again, nice video!
Almost finished transferring all my citadel paints using your method and it’s worked great thus far! My only question is for the metallics do you use the same amount of thinner? / Is it the same process?
Are the thinned down paints still good for use on a wet palette afterwards? In the video you mentioned you do this mainly for using these paints for airbrushing, but I am using brush/wet palette for my painting. Just making sure the paint is still viable before I do this to my ~80 GW paints!
Yes, there are. When I say airbrushing I mean easier to drop into the airbrush. Not that I’ve thinned them to airbrush consistency. I still thin them massively for airbrushing.
I used golden medium and i found some paints like wraithbone are just too thin now after transfer if I had to use some of the medium to thicken it back up what amount would you suggest?
Honestly if it’s too thin the only way to get back the consistency is to buy a new pot and mix some of that in. You can buy liquitex liquithick and use very small amounts but it’ll never be the same as the original paint.
Honestly great idea. I'm considering doing it just like this. I don't really paint that much and if I'm able to make my paints last longer, that's better. But I do I have a question. Is the vortex thing really necessary or can we get there with a firm shake. I only have like 10 or so citadel paints
Would like to check, what was your experience with the Vallejo Airbrush Thinner/Flow Improver, as well as the Liquitex Acrylic Medium Matte? I am living in Singapore at the moment, and these are the only options I have domestically. The Army Painter Airbrush Medium is sadly sold out across all LGSs in SG, so was considering using the options I have available instead. Would you recommend any of the three I mentioned? Great guide by the way! :D
Ok, if you have no Army Painter medium then get both Vallejo thinner AND flow improver and mix them 80% thinner to 20% flow improver in a larger dropper bottles.. 80ml to 20ml. Now use this for the drops instead. 👍🏼
I'm a big fan of your videos and subscribed the other day. When editing your videos though, if you could increase the master volume slightly. I have a hard time hearing you even when I have the volume all the way up.
Exactly the same conclusion I came to. I would add one more step of using a wide toothpick to help coax paint out. It cut down on the amount of thinner I needed to use.
Drops, schmops. I have thinned and rebottled all of my citadel paints, 150+, (except contrast paints, as they don't need to be thinned) using the exact same amount of DIY lahmian medium. I normally put enough medium in so that it just kisses the upper part of the pot, about 3 ml. I have found that to be the sweet spot, and not too thin. Truth be told, I prefer them thinner and use "multiple thin coats " anyway.
Just found your channel (the battle mat ZM one) and look forward to checking out your videos! I don't have a vortex mixer, do you think this would work without, or are there alternatives?
Vortex mixer is just quicker. You can absolutely shake by hand. I guess I’d just drop the mixing ball in the citadel pot and pour it with the paint when transferring.
@TheStateofPlay you have a fancy intro, a cool studio and visual effects, why is the sound volume not normalized?? (just setting the highest peak to -1db is not enough!) i had to double my pc volume to comfortably listen to this. cool and informative video otherwise tough, keep it up!
Because although it looks like a cool studio it’s the room in my house where the CCTV system runs 24/7. So to remove the annoying hum I have run the audio through a noise reducer. Which then makes everything so much harder. I’m a design guy. Not an audio guy. I don’t even know what normalised means. I’m totally happy for you to point me in the right direction. Are my later videos better? I try to improve audio each time but the hum is a pain.
Ok I think I know what you mean. Logo sound was loud. My voice wasn’t. To hear my voice the logo pitch pierced your ear drums. I believe I fixed this in the last two videos. Let me know if I did and I can replicate for future. And seriously, any tips you have, I’m all ears. (See what I did there - made an ear reference) 😜
@@thestateofplay2023 will do. thanks for the tip. i was planning on wrapping them in plastic wrap and tape so they didn't explode, so i'll see what your video has
Don’t thin it - just pour it neat. It pours really easy. Just shake the life out of it before you pour. You want all the pigment that gathers in the bottom fully mixed. Especially for the greens and the whites.
@@cave43 the ones from B&M probably came with the correct size bolts. These didn’t. Amazon expected me to wait 6 weeks for new bolts from China. To which I replied, “no, refund me AND I’m keeping them to fix myself.” They agreed. 😜
Wrong response. Sorry. If I’m honest, I’m pretty certain most droppers all get made in the same factory in China so all of them are practically the same. I’ve tried loads. Base and layer fit in 18ml. Shades and contrast in 24ml.
@@thestateofplay2023 Thanks, I did a bunch recently using my own flow improver / distilled water mix as a thinner (and funnels!) I've had at least half a dozen cases where the insert has stuck to the inside of top, making me have to use a new insert and top (some I've managed to soak and separate). I just wondered if it was bad luck or a bad batch
@@tonyjones6256 it’s probably bad luck and bad batch. I had an entire set of 20ml bottles with dropper tops too small. So they immediately fell out. Useless. I actually started buying them from physical shops so I could try them first. I think we all got too reliant on online shopping and can get taken for a ride. 😀
Basically did the same but used Liquitex medium instead. I don't understand why people keep cutting off the lids though, they're so easy to remove (yes, you do end up with some paint on your hand^^)?
I wish I had this video years ago. I know I made a few of my paints too thin because I wanted to get every single drop of paint out. Now I just use different brands of paint in dropper bottles instead.
The only thing Im missing is a vortex mixer as they are seemingly impossible to get here in Norway. But oh well, gonna just have to shake em like crazy while having the agitator mixing balls in there as well
Is the vortex mixer really that necessary? Even the cheaper ones are really quite expensive for what is going to be used for a one time session of transferring. I'm basically asking if I can get away with just shaking the god damn pot instead. I think most of them can just be poured as is to be honest. Regardless dropper bottles seem to be the way forward ESPECIALLY as you say, for ratios, this is something I have really been struggling with doing accurately. I have read some of the comments here and people against dropper bottles seem to manage fine but the brushes just dont pick up the same amount each time most evidently when using contrast paints.
No, the vortex mixer isn’t really necessary. It’s basically a speed and pain reduction thing. 🤣 Shaking 76 paints 3-4 times per paint really does a number on your arm and shoulder. But no, if you’re confident you can mix the thinner and paint by hand, you don’t need it.
Cheap funnels that often come with bulk packs of dropper bottles make decanting much easier. Also, don't use agitator balls (metal or glass) in dropper bottles - they tend to block the nozzles. I use marine grade stainless steel M5 nuts. They do not block the nozzles, do not rust and agitate better due to the more irregular shape 👍
Great tip on the agitators but man, funnels are sooo slow. I tried one once and felt like I’d aged 5 years just watching it pour. Then had to coax it down with a cocktail stick, then had to wash the funnel which I felt still had loads of paint on it. 🤣🤣
@thestateofplay2023 TBH I rarely use Citadel paints, just the washes mainly. I use Vallejo paints. When I do decant paints it's usually for airbrushing so they are much thinner and go through the funnels much more easily.
Straws…disposable straws. Finger to hold it in. WEll easier. Just blow it out.Takes a minute, but a hundred straws is pennies. And you just bin em afterwards
Yeah nowhere sells plastic straws anymore and paper ones don’t work. And even if I could find plastic straws, my kids wouldn’t let me “bin them”. We live in a post Greta Thunberg world, sadly.
El mejor sistema es usar una jeringuilla con un trozo largo de plástico de un bolígrafo bic en la boquilla. Una vez absorbida toda la pintura que sea posible toca rebañar con pincel.
Ah yes but then you need to clean the syringe and tube every time. There simply isn’t any quicker way than just pouring directly from one bottle to another. No mess, nothing to clean. Done! 🤔😜
A word of warning - you can always add more thinner to the paint, but you can never take the thinner out of it. It is better to keep your paints on the thicker side and add thinner as you use them. Paints have different properties, and some may lose some of their qualities. For example I did the same thing you recommend here a few years back, and some of the paints became too thin / translucent, and I lost the ability to create 1 good opaque layer with them, which was annoying. It really depends on the paint. So yeah, I recommend actually spending more time and transfer a thicker paint. Maybe dilute it just a little bit. But my real recommendation? I only buy some of GW washes and metallics nowadays. All the rest I get from Vallejo or Army Painter. And those come in dropper bottles. Seriously, if GW made their paints in bottles - I'd buy them. But pots are just not woth the hassle. It's not like GW paint is actually any better in quality - but you waste so much of it using those damn pots! If you really love a color - sure, go for it! I still use a couple of GW paints and transfer them to droppers. But most colors are just easier and sometimes cheaper to get from other brands.
I’ve personally moved mostly to pro acryl. I keep the citadel around for an easy colour grab for things you can’t find elsewhere. Rakarth Flesh for example. Army painter is terrible. 20 coat coverage is not my idea of fun. 🤣 Vallejo are better but their metallics are a disaster. You can thicken up paints with quite a few products from the art world. Gesso, liquithick etc. and you can always just buy a new pot and pour that in but you’re absolutely correct not to overthin. Having said that, what defines thin. A glaze is thin. A wash is thin. Just requires more coats. Just like Army Painter 🤣👍🏼
This. Thin the paint, mix, and pour. No funnels required. I even started adding an agitator into the pot to help with the mixing, and just pouring that into the bottle with the rest of the paint. I also don't even cut the lids off... I've always found them easy to just pop the whole ring off.
This is in theory a good idea, but most of the dropper bottles I've found are pretty shit. I've had many bottles where the cap or the nozzle break, meaning your paint will dry or get sucked out of the bottle and wasted. Beside, while pre-diluting your paints is often good, it can be counterproductive at times. I think the best solution is to drop Citadel paints altogether and start buying AK Interactive, or another better (and cheaper!) brand.
I completely agree about dropping citadel. But many people already have loads or just want to follow tutorials without having to buy or figure out equivalent colours. 👍🏼 Generally I just contact whatever seller and tell them the nozzles don’t fit (even if they do). 👍🏼 They usually send a big FREE bag of replacements
@@thestateofplay2023 Yeah, I get your point. If I could find good quality dropper bottles, I'd do it for all my citadel paints. But so far, I've only had mediocre experiences with amazon or ebay dropper bottles...
@@ArmandDupin the ones on Amazon that tend to be better come in 20 packs, rather than 50+ packs. They are often a bit more costly but, you get what you pay for I guess. I once received a 50 pack where the bottle, nozzle and cap were all different sizes!
Now how do you prevent the dropper bottles from clogging? Constantly! Pro-Acryl has the best tips to prevent clogging. And what about the cost of the dropper bottles, even at bulk rates?
Well, a paperclip pushed quickly into the nozzle. And the clogging is what keeps that paint from drying out over many many years. I have 33 year old Citadel inks that still work because GW made them in droppers. But my 6 month old Ulthuan Grey is now a dried out mess. 🤣🤣 And I actually replaced all my pro acryl tips because of the amount of paint I had to keep wiping off the nozzle every time. 🤔 And the cost of dropper bottles are a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of unpainted grey plastic sitting on everyone’s shelves. That pile of shame wasn’t cheap. 🤣🤣🤣
@@thestateofplay2023I just recently used up my last little bit of Go Fasta Red; I had put it into dropper bottles a long time ago...clogging is good in some cases lol
Edit: Make sure they're stainless steel lol I bought 1500 steel balls made for airsoft guns for about 10 pounds. They're the perfect size for using as mixing balls and they'll probably last me a lifetime. Can't say where to get them in England though, I think the store I bought it from is in Scandinavia only (Jula).
On Guy's video someone commented that the thinner makes it unusable in combination with a wet palette. What is your experience with this thinner and further thinning the paint with water?
@@thestateofplay2023 I am not sure which thinner exactly was used. I should check if I can find the video again, but with my UA-cam activity lately, that is going to be quite the challenge haha. I know that someone on that video commented that with the thinner he used, you couldn't use the paints on a wet palette anymore. At least not properly. You have no problems with your thinner?
Found it. ua-cam.com/video/etWoLysumg0/v-deo.html For me it is about comment 4, by @TheRagnartheBold: "Guy doesn't use the wet palette. But when you dilute your paints with airbrush thinner, strange things will happen after putting the diluted colours on the the wet palette. There is some detergent inside, so the surface tension is broken."
@@Sylvaantye ah yes! Ok gotcha. Flow improver and alcohol based thinners won’t work properly on a wet pallette. The flow improver will make the paint run everywhere and the alcohol causes issues with osmosis through the paper. On a wet pallette use water or water based mediums only.
@@thestateofplay2023 so basically don't follow this video if you use a wet palette? or at least don't use the medium shown in the video? I feel like that's quite an important information missing xD
Matter transportation is in its infancy and unreliable for paint...I prefer using a stargate...I actually got really good at getting large amounts of printing ink off of my mixing table and into ink cans (and later, ink tubes).
Nice streamlined process. Although there is one even easier method, just dont buy GW paint. Buy paint from Valejjo, 2 thin coats, army painter or any number of the other paint makers that already supply the paint in dropper bottles. Most of them color match GW AND you get more paint per pot AND its cheaper per ml (and in my experience better paint)
Hmm, I’ve got a load of all brands and I agree that Pro Acryl and AK 3rd gen are really great. If I started again, I’d just buy those and skip GW. But Army painter’s coverage is terrible (5 thin coats) and many Vallejo are hit and miss. But I can’t disagree.
@@thestateofplay2023facts. I'm sorry but Army Painter stuff is straight garbage including their super thick primer that has already nearly destroyed 2 minis. I bought their mega set when I first got into this hobby and realized pretty quick that it's horrible compared to GW and others. I hate GW as a company but finding Vallejo is difficult around here (finally getting better stock tho).
Some people don’t have access to many paint brands locally outside of GW. I’m lucky to have a couple local stores that carry a variety, but if I need a paint ASAP or want to see it in person to get a good idea of what exact shade it is, for a lot of gamers their LGS is a GW store or an independent that stocks primarily GW paints. Within -30 minutes of me, there’s 8 hobby stores (I’m lucky to live in a larger metro area). 7 of the 8 stock GW (the one that doesn’t is an rc sports store that also stocks gundam and historical scale models and doesn’t carry any GW at all). Beyond that, 3 carry Vallejo Model, 2 carry Vallejo Game Color, 1 carries ProAcryl, 1 carries Scale75, and 2 carry Army Painter. Where my parents live, which is still a decent sized small city, it’s pretty much only GW paints at the 5 stores there. Two used to carry P3 Paints and Vallejo Model Color until PP essentially died and Flames of War’s popularity nose-dived. It’s lazy to just claim a lot of gamers can avoid GW paints. Yes, internet shopping is a thing, but it’s not always practical for younger gamers or for someone wanting/needing to see paints in person or get them same-day.
@@MasterShake9000 You’re right. I have a GW 17 mins away. No other hobby store at all. The closest would be central London, an hour away. But even then, weirdly London is devoid of any hobby stores that carry any other brands of paint. For me, internet is the ONLY way. Which is sad in todays world.
@@MasterShake9000 What on earth are you going on about?? I never said anything like "a lot of gamers can avoid GW paints". If a particular person has particular limitations in what paint they can get hold of (be it GW, Valejjo or whatever) then OBVIOUSLY thats a limiting factor, but again, I didnt say anything about that.....
The only problem I have found with transferring paint to other bottles is there is always some paint left in the bottle you're poring from. I'm tight and I hate to waste anything.
Citadel paint consistency? You mean thick goop that needs instantly thinned and/or dries out in a terrible pot with a year or so? 🤣 I now get full coverage in one coat straight out of the droppers. Not to mention ease with an airbrush. Not for everyone I know but I now get twice as many excellent consistency paints on a shelf than I did before. 👍🏼
Couldn't you use a blunt syringe and dropper bottles? i don't see the need to thin all of my paints just to move them. I'm not being a jerk, I am genuinely curious.
The paint is often too thick to suck up a syringe and you’d lose loads to the syringe itself (then you’d have to thin what’s in the syringe anyway to get it out and what’s left in the pot you can’t get). Making a much longer job on say, 40 paints. It’s not a paint that can ‘pour” sadly. There’s load of alternative methods but this way loses the least amount of paint and is the absolute quickest process. Do consider you’re thinning them anyway to use them so once this is done there’s actually less thinning to do if not none at all. 👍🏼
I know it doesn't help people with large Citadel paint collections...but the easiest way; stop paying double for Citadel paint and buy an alternate brand (Vallejo, AK Interactive...anything but Army Painter pretty much).
Totally agree, I'd happily migrate if I didn't already have loads of citadel. I don't use any citadel metallics anymore in favour of Vallejo. And let's face it, citadel lighter colours are chalky with terrible coverage. I'd personally go all out on Pro Acryl if I had to make the switch.
My only two suggestions here would be to use glass agitators instead of the metal which has a tendency to rust and to go ahead and include the funnels when it comes to transferring contrast paints and washes.
To be clear, stainless steel won’t rust. The issue is quality control - hobby companies using lowest bidders from China or such are likely getting NON-stainless steel balls mixed in with stainless steel.
I tested a whole bunch of metal agitators and the only ones that didn't rust in water were the army painters. I know some aren't fans of their paints but their metal agitators are good in my opinion.
@@MasterShake9000this couldn’t be more wrong high grade stainless won’t rust but cheep stainlesss (90%) of stainless stuff is made out of definitely can rust not normally badly but it does
@@thestateofplay2023 You dare come between me and my retribution? I was just gonna dump them in FLGS recycling but using em as cheap handles would work too. Especially with Levi on the horizon. Oh, and your method works amazing btw.
It really didn’t. I tried. Loads left in the syringe. Couldn’t get the last drop out of the pot. Pouring is infinity quicker. With much less cleaning. 😜👍🏼
@@thestateofplay2023 you prime the syringe with water first, no paint remains at all, suck and squirt take a few seconds at most, pouring takes minutes
You're changing the properties of the paint by adding medium to it, like it consistency and drying time. Also don't une stainless steel mixing balls, they'll probably rust quicker than paint drying in a citadel pot (even if the name say "stainless" steel)
We change the properties as soon as we paint with them by diluting them. The amount added to the already thick paint in really minimal. And if you test your stainless steel balls in a jar of salt water for 3 weeks you’ll know if they are actually stainless steel. Real stainless steel doesn’t rust. Only fake stuff does. 👍🏼
I absolutely HATE dropper bottles! I actually started transferring all my Vallejo dropper bottle paints into pots I sourced from Ebay, much easier to use!
I can’t disagree. But you have to admit they have some cracking colours you can’t get elsewhere. Rakarth Flesh being a prime example. I mostly use pro acryl as my go to but still reach for the Khorne Red! 🤣
@@DefaultProphet yup! Not to mention if they ever did, people would immediately stop buying pots. They’d be left with warehouses filled with pots no one wanted. They’d lose millions.
Why would I bother , droppers are wasteful ,tend to clog and is an additional expense on already expensive paint. Shake the pot ,open pot, move paint to pallet, close pot , what's so difficult about that?
Hmm, airbrush, repeatable mixing ratios, dried out paint. After 33 years in this hobby and many, many different types of citadel pots you’ll lost more than half to drying over time. It’s even more expensive when you open that pot to find sticky goop. 🤣
@@thestateofplay2023 well after 39 years in the hobby, never lost any pots and still using some that liquid after all that time, you just have to know how to look after your pots, rather than spaffing more money on wasteful dropper bottles.
@@magunra3k if you managed to get through the era of citadel screw lid hex pots without a dry paint then I salute you! Those were drying out in a friends shop before they were even sold. But hey, if you’re happy pouring air paint from a pot to an airbrush you’re a better man than me! 🤣🤣
@@thestateofplay2023😂 Now THIS I can attest to. Many of those screw tops I bought were dried before I got them home! After 42 years (seeing as we’re comparing) I’ve been through every $hiteration of citadel pots and no amount of “taking care of them” really works. Like I wanna spend my time scraping paint from around the rim when I can poke a pin into the top of a dropper.
I still have and use some citadel paints from the 80s but they were inks…. And they came in droppers. I’ve few flip tops that still work but you’re right, not one screw top has survived. You can revive them with matte medium but with all the new cheaper paints available today, it’s just not worth it.
This. Thin the paint, mix, and pour. No funnels required. I even started adding an agitator into the pot to help with the mixing, and just pouring that into the bottle with the rest of the paint. I also don't even cut the lids off... I've always found them easy to just pop the whole ring off.
I bought some Army Painter airbrush medium and followed your guide… it worked great! Thank you! Now I just have a stupid large backlog of paints to rebottle. For people saying “don’t buy GW”, sure… I’m doing that more these days, but when I started, I was so low experience, low confidence, that I just wanted to follow recipes. GW paint eliminated a variable and allowed me to just improve my skill.
Love your videos!
Thanks man! Yeah I had 76 Citadel paints. I have a multitude of other brands too and the advice to not buy GW paint is valid but many will still have loads of them.
Same here
I just finished pouring paints from the citadel bottles into the droppers. I used a brush to collect the residues that, due to their shape, did not want to come out on their own. It took me about 5-6 hours to pour 35 paints. I am very pleased with the effect, especially since I use a wet palette. No more wasting paints that dry on the edges or containers that cannot be closed. Thank you so much for inspiring me to do this.
You’re welcome!.
That citadel air bottle skit... Hilarious! I am subscribing for the jokes and tips!
Well, I better step it up a bit then!! 🤣
I've been transferring my paints for a few years now and my technique is very similar to yours. I might add that the tiny plastic funnels with some of the bulk bottles are too restrictive to use as-is, but you can carefully cut the cone off to fit tightly around the top of the new bottle (trial & error,) to make life a bit easier. I also add a couple of 4mm stainless-steel balls to the pot before shaking on the old lab vortex. Good Video.
Thanks!!
Thanks for the video, just went through doing this with all my citadel paints today following your guide, worked a treat.
Glad it worked!! Thanks!
Thank you so much for listing the amount of thinner necessary.
👍🏼👍🏼
Love your videos. Very useful stuff so far.
Thank you so much for sharing.
You’re very welcome!
First video I've watched of yours. Very good.
Thank Chris! Probably all downhill from here….🤣🤣
@@thestateofplay2023 well I subscribed anyway lol. I like the different topics you cover.
Also, I have tried keeping paint in jars, plastic is definitely the way to go, I have some glass ones and the agitators broke the bottom of 2 of them.
Yeah I once did glass jars with steel agitators. On a vortex mixer it turned into a paint grenade…
I have been procrastinating doing this ... Solid plan !
Takes time but is well worth it.
Top notch once again. Really appreciate your take on this
Thanks Sam!
First, a question: I have been using the Golden Airbrush Medium that you briefly showed as a general purpose thinner and like it a lot. I haven't gotten around to transferring my Citadel paints yet though. What about the Army Painter medium in your experience makes it preferable for this job?
Second, a couple of tips:
For anyone in the US, I recommend Monument Hobbies' glass agitators over Army Painter's. Not because there's anything wrong with them, but because Monument's are way less expensive. You also don't run the risk of a bad batch maybe someday rusting, but I think that's pretty unlikely. UK/RoW shipping might make this a less valuable prospect though.
And, if you do want to use a funnel, grab some silicone ones. Acrylic paint conveniently does not adhere to silicone and can be peeled right off after it dries, no mess. On Amazon you can get a set of four or five for a few dollars, and set them up to let a handful of pots drain hands-free. Could save you some time or at least let you do something else while you wait.
Cheers, thanks for the great tips!
I use Golden Airbrush medium in my airbrushing video and for flow and pressure it’s great. When pouring from pot to dropper I just found army painters stuff to work better. I can’t really put a finger on why that’s the case but it worked.
This is an amazing video, I just got into the hobby and am not a big fan of the idea of my stuff drying out and making a mess. One question I have though is if you do this, are your paints pre watered down or do you still need to mix a bit an of water in to thin it down for a nice even coat on your mini's?
If you’re lucky they end up perfectly watered down but I’d err on keeping them thicker to water down to be on the safe side.
Exactly my method regarding the poring. When most paint is out of the pot i just took a fat new cheap brush and just scooped all the paint out and then running the brush over the edge of the opened dropper bottle. Allmost got every drop of paint out of those darn pots! :)
In my quest finding the perfect dropper bottle, i quickly found out i dont like cheap soft ones and i think they dont look nice..
I found an absolute gem.... AK interactive's 17ml empty droppers. Actually the same ones in wich they use for their new line of 3th gen paints at the moment, with the thick white screwcap, wich work like an absolute dream comparing to regular dropper bottle caps.
I did this only to the Base and Layer paints.
With the exception of Nuln Oil, Agrax, Reikland and Seraphim Sepia and finally Abaddon Black, wich are all in much larger 35ml Vallejo empty mixing bottles :)
The plastic is also so much firmer and thicker then the mass produced cheap bottles you'll likely find on Amazon/ebay.
So currently im looking at allmost 80 rebottled citadel layer/base paints, nicely arranged in multiple hobbyzone painting racks. Couldnt be more happy.
For the medium i mostly used Vallejo's flow improver with Lahmian Medium, wich worked just fine.
Great info! Thanks. Yeah those cheap Amazon bottles are terrible. The 50 packs. The 20 packs are much better quality.
@@thestateofplay2023thank you for spreading the word, cool video! Keep it up
Oh, if I only have had this video 20 years ago when I rebottled like 20 Citadel pots... In the end I did the sane thing and switched back to my good ol' Vallejo, which in my area is also cheaper than Citadel. And I never liked Citadel paints anyway, I bought them because in Spain at that time there was a huge fad about GW and I wanted to test them. But the thing is that I had to rebottle 20 pots or so, I stopped after rebottling the handful of colors I actually liked and threw away the rest, out of frustration. I was using water, a bit of Vallejo medium, and a ton of elbow grease because I don't happen to own a Vortex. Never thought about adding any flow improver to the mix, and I don't know if they were widely available 20 years ago anyway.
Thanks for the video, even if it comes late for me. It was informative, extremely funny (as all your videos) and useful!
Hey one day I might hit on something new for you. 😜👍🏼 but I’m glad you enjoyed the video anyway even if 20 years too late.
@@thestateofplay2023 Oh, many of the tips in your videos are very valuable for me NOW, like using Lego slabs as dry palettes, or the silicone oven mats, instead of ruining my cutting mats painting all over them 😆 Really, your videos have been very useful. Now I just have to find a place and some spare time to paint again 😆
Thank you for another great tutorial!
Thanks!!
You are welcome!@@thestateofplay2023
Hi! Great video! I have the same issue with the availability of the army painter products here locally.
I just want to clear something up:
For the 80/20 mix using vallejo thinner and flow improver - is it vallejo THINNING MEDIUM? Or would the regular airbrush thinner work as well?
Thanks! Again, nice video!
It’s regular airbrush thinner. 👍🏼
@@thestateofplay2023 thanks a bunch!
My area finally got Army painter locally so I made the switch to fanatic paints. And omg….one of my latest videos cover it.
Almost finished transferring all my citadel paints using your method and it’s worked great thus far! My only question is for the metallics do you use the same amount of thinner? / Is it the same process?
Yup, same process. Just be more careful not to overthin. Less drops if thinner is always better. 👍🏼
Are the thinned down paints still good for use on a wet palette afterwards? In the video you mentioned you do this mainly for using these paints for airbrushing, but I am using brush/wet palette for my painting. Just making sure the paint is still viable before I do this to my ~80 GW paints!
Yes, there are. When I say airbrushing I mean easier to drop into the airbrush. Not that I’ve thinned them to airbrush consistency. I still thin them massively for airbrushing.
@@thestateofplay2023 thanks for the clarification! Love watching your videos as a new hobby painter
Would i still need to thin my base paints after transferring them, or would adding the medium make they good straight out of the bottle?
Often yes as it’s best not to overthin when transferring. Always best to leave enough thickness in the paint.
Would Vallejo airbrush flow improver also work? I have that already!
Yes and no, with flow improver you can quickly ruin the paint consistency very quickly with even one drop too much.
Keep knocking it out of the park you legend. The subscribers are coming in fast
Haha! Thanks!
I used golden medium and i found some paints like wraithbone are just too thin now after transfer if I had to use some of the medium to thicken it back up what amount would you suggest?
Honestly if it’s too thin the only way to get back the consistency is to buy a new pot and mix some of that in.
You can buy liquitex liquithick and use very small amounts but it’ll never be the same as the original paint.
Honestly great idea. I'm considering doing it just like this. I don't really paint that much and if I'm able to make my paints last longer, that's better.
But I do I have a question. Is the vortex thing really necessary or can we get there with a firm shake. I only have like 10 or so citadel paints
Nah, it’s not needed. A really good shake will work. I did 76 in one go so was no way going to shake them all! 🤣
@@thestateofplay2023okay good to know. I'll be looking into it then. Thank you 😅
Good video, I've been looking at the Army Painter one.
I believe it was also the cheapest option too.
Would like to check, what was your experience with the Vallejo Airbrush Thinner/Flow Improver, as well as the Liquitex Acrylic Medium Matte? I am living in Singapore at the moment, and these are the only options I have domestically. The Army Painter Airbrush Medium is sadly sold out across all LGSs in SG, so was considering using the options I have available instead. Would you recommend any of the three I mentioned?
Great guide by the way! :D
Ok, if you have no Army Painter medium then get both Vallejo thinner AND flow improver and mix them 80% thinner to 20% flow improver in a larger dropper bottles.. 80ml to 20ml. Now use this for the drops instead. 👍🏼
@@thestateofplay2023 Thanks so much for the prompt response! I shall try your mix then! 😄
I'm a big fan of your videos and subscribed the other day. When editing your videos though, if you could increase the master volume slightly. I have a hard time hearing you even when I have the volume all the way up.
This were the older videos. All the newer ones are normalised and increased. 👍🏼
Exactly the same conclusion I came to. I would add one more step of using a wide toothpick to help coax paint out. It cut down on the amount of thinner I needed to use.
Good tip. I managed to fill all my droppers without it, but it’s a great tip!
Drops, schmops. I have thinned and rebottled all of my citadel paints, 150+, (except contrast paints, as they don't need to be thinned) using the exact same amount of DIY lahmian medium. I normally put enough medium in so that it just kisses the upper part of the pot, about 3 ml. I have found that to be the sweet spot, and not too thin. Truth be told, I prefer them thinner and use "multiple thin coats
" anyway.
Yeah, I prefer them thinner too. Then just paint straight out of the bottle!
I guess those videos are forbidden in Gw's headquarters
There’s probably lots of videos forbidden there. Anything 3d printing is probably number 1.
Just found your channel (the battle mat ZM one) and look forward to checking out your videos!
I don't have a vortex mixer, do you think this would work without, or are there alternatives?
Vortex mixer is just quicker. You can absolutely shake by hand. I guess I’d just drop the mixing ball in the citadel pot and pour it with the paint when transferring.
It might be a bit cheesy to say that a vortex mixer is life-changing, but... it kind of is. Absolutely worth saving up for.
This is what I did, brought some funnels and after the first two thought forget this and just whacked some airbursh thinner in and poured lol
I know right. So many complex, time consuming ways - and you can literally just pour it! 🤣
Where u get the mixer from?? Ive looked about n only ever found em for £100 and up
I got mine from Amazon a long time ago. Have a search for mini vortex mixer they’re cheaper and basically do the exact same thing.
haven't been able to find anything about this, but does the thinner have any weird interactions with metallic paints?
No. None at all. Hope that helps!
Army air brush medium cant be found here.
Can I use any alternative? Thanks
Try Vince Venturella’s 80/20 mix of Vallejo thinner and flow improver in the same drop ratios. Start with less and add more if needed.👍🏼
Thanks Sir. Have a nice day!@@thestateofplay2023
i have a lot, totally agree with you, but it take a alot of time for me
Yeah I had 76. It took 5 hours.
top video man well done
Thanks Ross!
Would this ruin the base paints as theyre meant to be thicker?
No because you have to thin them to use them anyway. It actually gets you more paint.
@@thestateofplay2023 did you say 80ml dropper bottles?
Woah! No. 🤣 18ml
@TheStateofPlay you have a fancy intro, a cool studio and visual effects, why is the sound volume not normalized?? (just setting the highest peak to -1db is not enough!) i had to double my pc volume to comfortably listen to this. cool and informative video otherwise tough, keep it up!
Because although it looks like a cool studio it’s the room in my house where the CCTV system runs 24/7. So to remove the annoying hum I have run the audio through a noise reducer. Which then makes everything so much harder.
I’m a design guy. Not an audio guy. I don’t even know what normalised means. I’m totally happy for you to point me in the right direction. Are my later videos better? I try to improve audio each time but the hum is a pain.
Ok I think I know what you mean. Logo sound was loud. My voice wasn’t. To hear my voice the logo pitch pierced your ear drums. I believe I fixed this in the last two videos. Let me know if I did and I can replicate for future.
And seriously, any tips you have, I’m all ears. (See what I did there - made an ear reference) 😜
Thanks for the video! Just wanted to let you know your voice recording is a lot quieter than the intro and outro bits.
Yes, I know. I was starting out and this is all fixed in later videos. Thanks!
going to have to try this out after i move... i just hope my paints survive the plane trip from the US to Turkey
Watch the dried out paints video and pack them like that. 😀
@@thestateofplay2023 will do. thanks for the tip. i was planning on wrapping them in plastic wrap and tape so they didn't explode, so i'll see what your video has
When bottling a Contrast Paint, should I use Contrast Medium instead of Thinner?
Don’t thin it - just pour it neat. It pours really easy.
Just shake the life out of it before you pour. You want all the pigment that gathers in the bottom fully mixed. Especially for the greens and the whites.
@@thestateofplay2023 thank you very much. Putting together wet pallets is a nightmare with pots.
@@thestateofplay2023 THat's the one time I will drop an agitator in the old bottle, contrast pigment is some of the stickiest pigments around, imo
@@JimmyCrawford yup! I have two agitators in Apothecary White and two in Militarum Green.
Gosh. Do we use some of the same stuff and go to the same shops? The sheleves you showed the comparison for space is the same one i use.
Good old Amazon nail polish shelves.
@@thestateofplay2023 oh gosh they look so much like a set I got from b&m
@@cave43 the ones from B&M probably came with the correct size bolts. These didn’t. Amazon expected me to wait 6 weeks for new bolts from China. To which I replied, “no, refund me AND I’m keeping them to fix myself.” They agreed. 😜
@@thestateofplay2023 oh I meant the clear plastic ones
@@cave43 yep, that’s the ones I’m talking about. They bolt together at the sides.
1:00 please elaborate on the matter transporter, i'd like to diy one.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 I’ll send you mine!
Any recommendations on bottles?
Wrong response. Sorry.
If I’m honest, I’m pretty certain most droppers all get made in the same factory in China so all of them are practically the same. I’ve tried loads.
Base and layer fit in 18ml. Shades and contrast in 24ml.
@@thestateofplay2023 Thanks, I did a bunch recently using my own flow improver / distilled water mix as a thinner (and funnels!) I've had at least half a dozen cases where the insert has stuck to the inside of top, making me have to use a new insert and top (some I've managed to soak and separate). I just wondered if it was bad luck or a bad batch
@@tonyjones6256 it’s probably bad luck and bad batch. I had an entire set of 20ml bottles with dropper tops too small. So they immediately fell out. Useless. I actually started buying them from physical shops so I could try them first. I think we all got too reliant on online shopping and can get taken for a ride. 😀
Basically did the same but used Liquitex medium instead.
I don't understand why people keep cutting off the lids though, they're so easy to remove (yes, you do end up with some paint on your hand^^)?
👍🏼. I guess the lid thing is to be able to keep putting it on and off again easily, when shaking up to get those last precious drops out. 😀
What about metallics? Does it work the same?
Yup, totally the same. Just go slower on the drops until you’re happy. Add less then add more.
Cool... I'm gonna need more dropper bottles.😁
Yeah I needed 76 when I did it. 😳
I wish I had this video years ago. I know I made a few of my paints too thin because I wanted to get every single drop of paint out. Now I just use different brands of paint in dropper bottles instead.
Yeah I’m becoming way more partial to pro acryl and AK 3rd gen.
Ya need to try a drop dripper best way to transfer paint I find
Yeah, it’s far too slow. And another thing to clean. 🤣
Thanks!
Thanks mate!! Really appreciated!
The only thing Im missing is a vortex mixer as they are seemingly impossible to get here in Norway. But oh well, gonna just have to shake em like crazy while having the agitator mixing balls in there as well
There’s loads of things that vibrate or spin. You don’t need a vortex mixer. 😜
Is the vortex mixer really that necessary? Even the cheaper ones are really quite expensive for what is going to be used for a one time session of transferring. I'm basically asking if I can get away with just shaking the god damn pot instead. I think most of them can just be poured as is to be honest. Regardless dropper bottles seem to be the way forward ESPECIALLY as you say, for ratios, this is something I have really been struggling with doing accurately. I have read some of the comments here and people against dropper bottles seem to manage fine but the brushes just dont pick up the same amount each time most evidently when using contrast paints.
No, the vortex mixer isn’t really necessary. It’s basically a speed and pain reduction thing. 🤣 Shaking 76 paints 3-4 times per paint really does a number on your arm and shoulder. But no, if you’re confident you can mix the thinner and paint by hand, you don’t need it.
Cheap funnels that often come with bulk packs of dropper bottles make decanting much easier. Also, don't use agitator balls (metal or glass) in dropper bottles - they tend to block the nozzles. I use marine grade stainless steel M5 nuts. They do not block the nozzles, do not rust and agitate better due to the more irregular shape 👍
Great tip on the agitators but man, funnels are sooo slow. I tried one once and felt like I’d aged 5 years just watching it pour. Then had to coax it down with a cocktail stick, then had to wash the funnel which I felt still had loads of paint on it. 🤣🤣
@thestateofplay2023 TBH I rarely use Citadel paints, just the washes mainly. I use Vallejo paints. When I do decant paints it's usually for airbrushing so they are much thinner and go through the funnels much more easily.
@@spacedock873 gotcha! Makes sense!
Going to keep using the Citadel Paints until they slowly dry'n'die then replenish with Army Painter.
That makes sense.
Straws…disposable straws. Finger to hold it in. WEll easier. Just blow it out.Takes a minute, but a hundred straws is pennies. And you just bin em afterwards
Yeah nowhere sells plastic straws anymore and paper ones don’t work. And even if I could find plastic straws, my kids wouldn’t let me “bin them”. We live in a post Greta Thunberg world, sadly.
@@thestateofplay2023 😂😂
I like gw paints but im not going to go through that trouble. Vallejo and AK are good enough.
Yes, AK 3rd Gen are fantastic.
El mejor sistema es usar una jeringuilla con un trozo largo de plástico de un bolígrafo bic en la boquilla. Una vez absorbida toda la pintura que sea posible toca rebañar con pincel.
Ah yes but then you need to clean the syringe and tube every time. There simply isn’t any quicker way than just pouring directly from one bottle to another. No mess, nothing to clean. Done! 🤔😜
A word of warning - you can always add more thinner to the paint, but you can never take the thinner out of it.
It is better to keep your paints on the thicker side and add thinner as you use them.
Paints have different properties, and some may lose some of their qualities. For example I did the same thing you recommend here a few years back, and some of the paints became too thin / translucent, and I lost the ability to create 1 good opaque layer with them, which was annoying. It really depends on the paint.
So yeah, I recommend actually spending more time and transfer a thicker paint. Maybe dilute it just a little bit.
But my real recommendation? I only buy some of GW washes and metallics nowadays. All the rest I get from Vallejo or Army Painter. And those come in dropper bottles.
Seriously, if GW made their paints in bottles - I'd buy them. But pots are just not woth the hassle. It's not like GW paint is actually any better in quality - but you waste so much of it using those damn pots!
If you really love a color - sure, go for it! I still use a couple of GW paints and transfer them to droppers. But most colors are just easier and sometimes cheaper to get from other brands.
I’ve personally moved mostly to pro acryl. I keep the citadel around for an easy colour grab for things you can’t find elsewhere. Rakarth Flesh for example.
Army painter is terrible. 20 coat coverage is not my idea of fun. 🤣 Vallejo are better but their metallics are a disaster.
You can thicken up paints with quite a few products from the art world. Gesso, liquithick etc. and you can always just buy a new pot and pour that in but you’re absolutely correct not to overthin. Having said that, what defines thin. A glaze is thin. A wash is thin. Just requires more coats. Just like Army Painter 🤣👍🏼
Love your well reasoned comments though!! Keep ‘em coming!
This.
Thin the paint, mix, and pour. No funnels required.
I even started adding an agitator into the pot to help with the mixing, and just pouring that into the bottle with the rest of the paint.
I also don't even cut the lids off... I've always found them easy to just pop the whole ring off.
This is in theory a good idea, but most of the dropper bottles I've found are pretty shit. I've had many bottles where the cap or the nozzle break, meaning your paint will dry or get sucked out of the bottle and wasted.
Beside, while pre-diluting your paints is often good, it can be counterproductive at times.
I think the best solution is to drop Citadel paints altogether and start buying AK Interactive, or another better (and cheaper!) brand.
I completely agree about dropping citadel. But many people already have loads or just want to follow tutorials without having to buy or figure out equivalent colours. 👍🏼
Generally I just contact whatever seller and tell them the nozzles don’t fit (even if they do). 👍🏼 They usually send a big FREE bag of replacements
@@thestateofplay2023 Yeah, I get your point. If I could find good quality dropper bottles, I'd do it for all my citadel paints. But so far, I've only had mediocre experiences with amazon or ebay dropper bottles...
@@ArmandDupin the ones on Amazon that tend to be better come in 20 packs, rather than 50+ packs. They are often a bit more costly but, you get what you pay for I guess. I once received a 50 pack where the bottle, nozzle and cap were all different sizes!
Now how do you prevent the dropper bottles from clogging? Constantly! Pro-Acryl has the best tips to prevent clogging. And what about the cost of the dropper bottles, even at bulk rates?
Well, a paperclip pushed quickly into the nozzle. And the clogging is what keeps that paint from drying out over many many years. I have 33 year old Citadel inks that still work because GW made them in droppers. But my 6 month old Ulthuan Grey is now a dried out mess. 🤣🤣
And I actually replaced all my pro acryl tips because of the amount of paint I had to keep wiping off the nozzle every time. 🤔
And the cost of dropper bottles are a drop in the ocean compared to the amount of unpainted grey plastic sitting on everyone’s shelves. That pile of shame wasn’t cheap. 🤣🤣🤣
@@thestateofplay2023I just recently used up my last little bit of Go Fasta Red; I had put it into dropper bottles a long time ago...clogging is good in some cases lol
Edit: Make sure they're stainless steel lol
I bought 1500 steel balls made for airsoft guns for about 10 pounds. They're the perfect size for using as mixing balls and they'll probably last me a lifetime. Can't say where to get them in England though, I think the store I bought it from is in Scandinavia only (Jula).
Are they actually stainless steel though? If not they’ll corrode over time as most air soft ones are aluminium. You don’t want that in your paint. 👍🏼
@@thestateofplay2023 Just checked and they're not stainless! Oops! Thanks for the heads up!
No worries. Wouldnt be a problem for a year or so, but then you’d see the paint changing to weird colors. 🤣
I think that droppers looks better also.
They really do!
On Guy's video someone commented that the thinner makes it unusable in combination with a wet palette. What is your experience with this thinner and further thinning the paint with water?
Which thinner? Just water? Or an actual alcohol based thinner?
@@thestateofplay2023 I am not sure which thinner exactly was used. I should check if I can find the video again, but with my UA-cam activity lately, that is going to be quite the challenge haha. I know that someone on that video commented that with the thinner he used, you couldn't use the paints on a wet palette anymore. At least not properly. You have no problems with your thinner?
Found it. ua-cam.com/video/etWoLysumg0/v-deo.html
For me it is about comment 4, by @TheRagnartheBold: "Guy doesn't use the wet palette. But when you dilute your paints with airbrush thinner, strange things will happen after putting the diluted colours on the the wet palette. There is some detergent inside, so the surface tension is broken."
@@Sylvaantye ah yes! Ok gotcha. Flow improver and alcohol based thinners won’t work properly on a wet pallette. The flow improver will make the paint run everywhere and the alcohol causes issues with osmosis through the paper.
On a wet pallette use water or water based mediums only.
@@thestateofplay2023 so basically don't follow this video if you use a wet palette? or at least don't use the medium shown in the video? I feel like that's quite an important information missing xD
Matter transportation is in its infancy and unreliable for paint...I prefer using a stargate...I actually got really good at getting large amounts of printing ink off of my mixing table and into ink cans (and later, ink tubes).
🤣🤣🤣 I’ll try the Stargate!! But don’t want any Goa’uld in my paint!
Nice streamlined process. Although there is one even easier method, just dont buy GW paint. Buy paint from Valejjo, 2 thin coats, army painter or any number of the other paint makers that already supply the paint in dropper bottles. Most of them color match GW AND you get more paint per pot AND its cheaper per ml (and in my experience better paint)
Hmm, I’ve got a load of all brands and I agree that Pro Acryl and AK 3rd gen are really great. If I started again, I’d just buy those and skip GW. But Army painter’s coverage is terrible (5 thin coats) and many Vallejo are hit and miss.
But I can’t disagree.
@@thestateofplay2023facts. I'm sorry but Army Painter stuff is straight garbage including their super thick primer that has already nearly destroyed 2 minis. I bought their mega set when I first got into this hobby and realized pretty quick that it's horrible compared to GW and others. I hate GW as a company but finding Vallejo is difficult around here (finally getting better stock tho).
Some people don’t have access to many paint brands locally outside of GW.
I’m lucky to have a couple local stores that carry a variety, but if I need a paint ASAP or want to see it in person to get a good idea of what exact shade it is, for a lot of gamers their LGS is a GW store or an independent that stocks primarily GW paints.
Within -30 minutes of me, there’s 8 hobby stores (I’m lucky to live in a larger metro area). 7 of the 8 stock GW (the one that doesn’t is an rc sports store that also stocks gundam and historical scale models and doesn’t carry any GW at all).
Beyond that, 3 carry Vallejo Model, 2 carry Vallejo Game Color, 1 carries ProAcryl, 1 carries Scale75, and 2 carry Army Painter.
Where my parents live, which is still a decent sized small city, it’s pretty much only GW paints at the 5 stores there. Two used to carry P3 Paints and Vallejo Model Color until PP essentially died and Flames of War’s popularity nose-dived.
It’s lazy to just claim a lot of gamers can avoid GW paints. Yes, internet shopping is a thing, but it’s not always practical for younger gamers or for someone wanting/needing to see paints in person or get them same-day.
@@MasterShake9000 You’re right. I have a GW 17 mins away. No other hobby store at all.
The closest would be central London, an hour away. But even then, weirdly London is devoid of any hobby stores that carry any other brands of paint.
For me, internet is the ONLY way. Which is sad in todays world.
@@MasterShake9000 What on earth are you going on about?? I never said anything like "a lot of gamers can avoid GW paints". If a particular person has particular limitations in what paint they can get hold of (be it GW, Valejjo or whatever) then OBVIOUSLY thats a limiting factor, but again, I didnt say anything about that.....
The only problem I have found with transferring paint to other bottles is there is always some paint left in the bottle you're poring from. I'm tight and I hate to waste anything.
Add in some Matte medium. Often you can get half to a full pot back.
It's amazing to me that people would just ruin their paint consistency to move it to another bottle
Citadel paint consistency? You mean thick goop that needs instantly thinned and/or dries out in a terrible pot with a year or so? 🤣 I now get full coverage in one coat straight out of the droppers. Not to mention ease with an airbrush. Not for everyone I know but I now get twice as many excellent consistency paints on a shelf than I did before. 👍🏼
Couldn't you use a blunt syringe and dropper bottles? i don't see the need to thin all of my paints just to move them. I'm not being a jerk, I am genuinely curious.
The paint is often too thick to suck up a syringe and you’d lose loads to the syringe itself (then you’d have to thin what’s in the syringe anyway to get it out and what’s left in the pot you can’t get). Making a much longer job on say, 40 paints. It’s not a paint that can ‘pour” sadly.
There’s load of alternative methods but this way loses the least amount of paint and is the absolute quickest process. Do consider you’re thinning them anyway to use them so once this is done there’s actually less thinning to do if not none at all. 👍🏼
Thanks! Great page and I’m glad I found it.
buy ak or pro acryl avoid the whole hassle
I have them both. Doesn’t stop some citadel colours being better. 🤣👍🏼
I know it doesn't help people with large Citadel paint collections...but the easiest way; stop paying double for Citadel paint and buy an alternate brand (Vallejo, AK Interactive...anything but Army Painter pretty much).
Totally agree, I'd happily migrate if I didn't already have loads of citadel. I don't use any citadel metallics anymore in favour of Vallejo. And let's face it, citadel lighter colours are chalky with terrible coverage. I'd personally go all out on Pro Acryl if I had to make the switch.
Green Stuff World too
👍🏼
I agree but for beginning painters watcher tutorials I would much prefer to just have dropper bottles
Why not army painter? I've had great results with some of their stuff.
My only two suggestions here would be to use glass agitators instead of the metal which has a tendency to rust and to go ahead and include the funnels when it comes to transferring contrast paints and washes.
Good suggestions. In fact, I put the army painter ones in a jar of salty water for 3 weeks before I transferred just make SURE they didn’t rust.
To be clear, stainless steel won’t rust. The issue is quality control - hobby companies using lowest bidders from China or such are likely getting NON-stainless steel balls mixed in with stainless steel.
I tested a whole bunch of metal agitators and the only ones that didn't rust in water were the army painters. I know some aren't fans of their paints but their metal agitators are good in my opinion.
@@MasterShake9000this couldn’t be more wrong high grade stainless won’t rust but cheep stainlesss (90%) of stainless stuff is made out of definitely can rust not normally badly but it does
Bottles, thinner and corks ordered.
Then i can burn all of these citadel pots in a religious self purification ritual
Lol. No! Keep the pots. They make great spare painting handles with a bit of blu tack on top or a paperclip stuck in the lid for painting heads.
@@thestateofplay2023 You dare come between me and my retribution?
I was just gonna dump them in FLGS recycling but using em as cheap handles would work too. Especially with Levi on the horizon.
Oh, and your method works amazing btw.
@@kainoctis7724 🤣🤣
Use a syringe, loads easier
It really didn’t. I tried. Loads left in the syringe. Couldn’t get the last drop out of the pot.
Pouring is infinity quicker. With much less cleaning. 😜👍🏼
@@thestateofplay2023 you prime the syringe with water first, no paint remains at all, suck and squirt take a few seconds at most, pouring takes minutes
@@georgemoonman2830 now try that with 1 year old pot of White Scar. 👍🏼
@@thestateofplay2023 whitescar is junk when its new, use proacryl whites instead
I found a much faster solution. I stopped buying Citadel paint. My life have since been so much better and I even save money in the process.
Yeah I stopped too. But the only way to keep them from drying out was to rebottle them or stick them in a humidor.
@@thestateofplay2023what did you switch to?
@@kdos15Ak 3rd Gen and pro acryl.
Or just switch to a better paint-range 😅
Agreed. But what about all those pots that people already have. That’s a lot of wasted money to just dry out in pots….🤔🤣🤣
Glitter, the herpes of every artist :p
Totally. Some of these metallics are best put on with a spoon, not a brush. Glitter!! 🤣
You're changing the properties of the paint by adding medium to it, like it consistency and drying time.
Also don't une stainless steel mixing balls, they'll probably rust quicker than paint drying in a citadel pot (even if the name say "stainless" steel)
We change the properties as soon as we paint with them by diluting them. The amount added to the already thick paint in really minimal.
And if you test your stainless steel balls in a jar of salt water for 3 weeks you’ll know if they are actually stainless steel. Real stainless steel doesn’t rust. Only fake stuff does. 👍🏼
I absolutely HATE dropper bottles! I actually started transferring all my Vallejo dropper bottle paints into pots I sourced from Ebay, much easier to use!
Totally valid if that’s what you like to use. 👍🏼
And you left 20% in the original pot....
I did. And I filled it with medium and made another full pot! 👍🏼😜
paint pots are absolutely a pain to use, not using dropper bottles should be a criminal offense.
🤣🤣 Agreed!
the best solution is not buying citadel paints so they get the hint
I can’t disagree. But you have to admit they have some cracking colours you can’t get elsewhere. Rakarth Flesh being a prime example.
I mostly use pro acryl as my go to but still reach for the Khorne Red! 🤣
Not gonna happen, they wouldn’t willingly give up the brand recognition of the pots vs the infinite other brands that use dropper bottles.
@@DefaultProphet yup! Not to mention if they ever did, people would immediately stop buying pots. They’d be left with warehouses filled with pots no one wanted. They’d lose millions.
@@thestateofplay2023 good point!
I have luckily avoided Citadel paints so I don't have to deal with this.
Ah, but there’s a few paints that just don’t have any equivalents. Rakarth Flesh being an amazing one. 👍🏼😜
Why would I bother , droppers are wasteful ,tend to clog and is an additional expense on already expensive paint.
Shake the pot ,open pot, move paint to pallet, close pot , what's so difficult about that?
Hmm, airbrush, repeatable mixing ratios, dried out paint. After 33 years in this hobby and many, many different types of citadel pots you’ll lost more than half to drying over time.
It’s even more expensive when you open that pot to find sticky goop. 🤣
@@thestateofplay2023 well after 39 years in the hobby, never lost any pots and still using some that liquid after all that time, you just have to know how to look after your pots, rather than spaffing more money on wasteful dropper bottles.
@@magunra3k if you managed to get through the era of citadel screw lid hex pots without a dry paint then I salute you! Those were drying out in a friends shop before they were even sold.
But hey, if you’re happy pouring air paint from a pot to an airbrush you’re a better man than me! 🤣🤣
@@thestateofplay2023😂 Now THIS I can attest to. Many of those screw tops I bought were dried before I got them home!
After 42 years (seeing as we’re comparing) I’ve been through every $hiteration of citadel pots and no amount of “taking care of them” really works. Like I wanna spend my time scraping paint from around the rim when I can poke a pin into the top of a dropper.
I still have and use some citadel paints from the 80s but they were inks…. And they came in droppers. I’ve few flip tops that still work but you’re right, not one screw top has survived. You can revive them with matte medium but with all the new cheaper paints available today, it’s just not worth it.
This.
Thin the paint, mix, and pour. No funnels required.
I even started adding an agitator into the pot to help with the mixing, and just pouring that into the bottle with the rest of the paint.
I also don't even cut the lids off... I've always found them easy to just pop the whole ring off.
Yup, totally!!