Old paints and miniatures

Probably like many others out there I have, over the years, managed to accumulate quite a bit of hobby paints. I have tried most major brands, and have paints from Ral Partha, (bought in the 80's and still usable) Tamiya, Testors, (some of the enamels are from the 70's and still perfect), Humbrol, Vallejo (my go to), and a bunch of others. I made the switch from enamels to acrylics more than 30 years ago, and for the most part I prefer them. The one thing, however, that has bugged me is the tendency for these paints to "dry out." The GW paints, of which I have a good selection of as well, seem especially susceptible to this. Recently while looking for something else I came across a bunch of GW paints in which the water had evaporated, but the pigment and binder were still tacky. I did some experiments and was pleased to have brought back two of them: Ice Blue, and Dwarf Flesh. This is great news as there are several other colours that I really want to use, as they will look wonderful on my Blagovian troops. I hope that I can recover a bunch more in the next few days.

How was I able to do this? Well, it really was surprisingly simple. I took two different approaches. For the Blue I used some Windex with Ammonia, and for the Flesh colour I used Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner and some distilled water. In both cases, I also added a small stainless steel ball that had been removed from a bearing to aid in the agitation of the paint, after the clumped paint had been broken up and stirred with a small pocket screw driver. I found with the Windex that the paint really foamed up but came back much quicker. It is however a bit too thin, my fault as I added a little too much, too quickly. The Airbrush cleaner and water took a heck of a lot longer, but the paint is thicker and more reminiscent of what it looked like when new. This pot is a lot older that the blue  and it has been sitting around for years, so the extra work probably shouldn't be too surprising. The science behind all this quite straight forward, but essentially what you are doing with the ammonia and ether (a component of the cleaner) is reactivating the acrylic polymers. The water is what is thinning the viscosity of the paint and giving it its flow.    

Going forward I think that will probably just go with the Airbrush cleaner  and water in the future, as I feel that the ammonia might be a little bit more potent than I like, and I really didn't care for the excessive foaming.

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I recently ordered some Hungarian SYW Infantry from RSM95 with which I plan to form the core of my Blagovian forces. I especially like the Hungarian uniform as it has a real Balkan cut to it, and when the painted battalion is put on the table it really seams to stand out. I still haven't decided to go with a stock/authentic uniform, or fabricate a new one. Once I have the figures in hand I'll have a better idea. I hope that they will scale well with my Eureka Saxon Hussars...
I haven't decided what I will be using for my Leutonian units. I may go with some RSM95 Prussians, which will will give me the flexibility to do some historical battles if I so choose. The Forces of  Tôtûn-Bey will, of course, be the RSM95 Ottomans

These all will have to wait until I finish my Blagovian troops as I don't want to have a large pile of unpainted lead sitting around waiting for the paint bench. This has been a failing of mine in the past, and has inevitably lead to frustration and abandonment due to the uncompleted masses of figures. This year I will only buy another unit when I finish one, including bases and flags.