Humbrol acrylic paint dropper bottles

[AWFK10]

Just a word of warning. I've found these bottles prone to clog and when this happened again the other day I dug out the paint deposit blocking the nozzle with the tip of a craft knife, then squeezed the bottle onto a piece of paper. Then squeezed a bit harder, upon which the bottle (which wasn't full) exploded, splashing paint onto my shirt and into my face. The shirt was ruined. More importantly it was lucky that I wear reading glasses for modelling, because there was a paint splash on the lens which otherwise would have been in my eye.

 

I've used Vallejo paints in a similar style of bottle for years and never had anything like this happen. The plastic that the Humbrol bottles are made from seems to be a lot more brittle. Please take care when using them.

[Black Knight]

You do know that you can take the nozzle piece out for clearing don't you?

[Casey]

5 hours ago, Black Knight said:

You do know that you can take the nozzle piece out for clearing don't you?

I thought same, but reality verified it for me when I tried that. I have no clue who designed those but they are so hard to pull apart the best way I found was to stick a toothpick in and wiggle to unclog them.

 

I have experienced it because I usually add metal balls to my dropper bottles before using them and around fourth bottle of Humbrol I had more than enough of fiddling with them. Not to mention that the bottle nozzle Humbrol-unique shape makes ball bearings nicely 'get stuck' in it if you do manage that feat anyway and functions as a valve preventing you the of use of paint at all.

 

The dropper bottles of Humbrol are not the same as other companies and not in a good way.

[Black Knight]

I use brass nuts in my Vallejo and Humbrol dropper bottles. The nut shape very rarely gets stuck

I've never found the Humbrol nozzle hard to get off. Just about the same effort as the Vallejo or other similar bottles

[Casey]

What method and tools do you use to open them? I have around 100 of humbrol bottles and gave up around 20th or so.

[Black Knight]

I put a small piece of rag cloth over the nozzle so that the cloth hangs on the side of the nozzle.

I then grip this with a pair of standard pliers, in the curved part, the pipe grip. I grip it just tight enough to slightly twist the nozzle around to side to side and gently pull it from the bottle. The nozzle is out in seconds.

Then I drop an M4 or M3 brass nut into the bottle and push the nozzle back in place

I do this with every new bottle I get. I buy the brass nuts off an ebay seller, about £2.74 for 100 x M3 nuts. I mark the lid of each bottle so I know its been nutted

[Casey]

12 hours ago, Black Knight said:

I put a small piece of rag cloth over the nozzle so that the cloth hangs on the side of the nozzle.

I then grip this with a pair of standard pliers, in the curved part, the pipe grip. I grip it just tight enough to slightly twist the nozzle around to side to side and gently pull it from the bottle. The nozzle is out in seconds.

That's how I am doing it, and they put up quite a fight.  Also, the plastic of the bottles is not 'squishy', but rather 'hard brittle', I have couple of bottles that are permanently bent by furiously trying to squeeze the content out...

 

My biggest issue with them is that even after all that, the paint was not that much worth the effort.

 

Examples: H37 has a consistency of water, while H3 has a consistency of tar. Some H11's I have I would not even call a paint. Since I usually buy multiple bottles time-separated to get different batches for my measurements I ended up with bottles of different shades of  H24...

 

That last one made me think someone made a mistake like using Benzimidazolone Yellow Light pigment instead of Benzimidazolone Yellow Medium - read: less reddish undertone and much more transparent.

 

Mind that I was giving my Humbrol droppers at least a 10 minute workout on laboratory vortex mixers before even trying to do something with them.

 

I have a lot (read: hundreds) of dropper bottle paints and Humbrols are sadly on the bottom end of the 'usability' scale for me

Edited June 10, 2022 by Casey

[Alex Gordon]

I do find it very sad that Humbrol has been so badly treated by Hornby.When I was a kid the furthest I had to travel to buy paint was a couple of miles or so,nowadays it's a round trip of 34 miles or so to Lincoln.

 

For my sins I do a bit at one of my local schools teaching kids how to bash plastic,around 7 years ago I became the chief.One of my first decisions was to start using Humbrol acrylics,it's a British brand,if it's any good it should be available from any Humbrol enamel stockist,the paint is matched to BS 381,FS 595 and RLM colours at least and it should be easier for enthusiastic youth to handle.

 

I've just been looking at the Humbrol website,the stock level on there is dismal.The nearest anyone is going to get to a US SEA scheme is two of the upper surface colours,any post war RAF camouflage scheme is the Green,there's Ocean Grey for a WWII scheme but no underside colour for either of them.

I have a requirement to buy paint for next term,because it's for School I will try to reach any available free postage threshold.There isn't enough available to order on the website and the nearest stockist to me is at Market Rasen,a 50 mile round trip that isn't going to happen on the local bus service,so it looks like I'm going to have to ask Wonderland Models in Edinburgh again (thanks for last time Chums)who do have a full range available and sale prices on plastic that will absorb the postage cost.

 

The shift to dropper bottles is not good.Some of my paint stock stands for long enough for the pigment to drop out of suspension and require a good stir.This is difficult enough for me to achieve with a dropper bottle never mind my little herberts,some of whom struggle to unscrew the top of a normal pot. 

 

And no,I'm not going to bulk out an order from Hornby with Airfix items,either too expensive or overpriced is the kindest description I'm going to give.

[Troy Smith]

4 hours ago, Alex Gordon said:

the paint is matched to BS 381,FS 595 and RLM colours

RLM for a few....  not sure many match to BS 381....  as well as they still make blue green Humbrol 30 and recommend it for RAF Dark Green... I digress..

 

There is/was a UK seller making Humbrol matched acrylic paints

this one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154467526146

"Roots Acrylic Model paint is far thicker than Humbrol and will go a long long way think of it as 2 bottles for the price of one. !! 

It can be used direct from dropper reducing multi coating or diluted with Water or Acrylic thinners for more laying and airbrushing.

Give it a good shake before use. "

Though the postage rate seems a mickey take,  as it's a £1.89 then +65p each pot added.  

Which maybe of of use if you want a UK made paint,  though I did make some inquiries a few months ago about getting paint made, and there is a place in Manchester that makes a load of different model paint, eg for Citadel. 

Not tried it, just passing on some info.

 

HTH

T

 

 

[Casey]

34 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

There is/was a UK seller making Humbrol matched acrylic paints

Now that is an interesting thing! I knew the problems with Humbrol exist but to create that strong of a market niche???

 

And I thought me making private Humbrol equivalents was crazy

[janneman36]

49 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

RLM for a few....  not sure many match to BS 381....  as well as they still make blue green Humbrol 30 and recommend it for RAF Dark Green... I digress..

 

There is/was a UK seller making Humbrol matched acrylic paints

this one

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154467526146

"Roots Acrylic Model paint is far thicker than Humbrol and will go a long long way think of it as 2 bottles for the price of one. !! 

It can be used direct from dropper reducing multi coating or diluted with Water or Acrylic thinners for more laying and airbrushing.

Give it a good shake before use. "

Though the postage rate seems a mickey take,  as it's a £1.89 then +65p each pot added.  

Which maybe of of use if you want a UK made paint,  though I did make some inquiries a few months ago about getting paint made, and there is a place in Manchester that makes a load of different model paint, eg for Citadel. 

Not tried it, just passing on some info.

 

HTH

T

 

 

I have used these last year and they work but they strongly smell like wall paint….they are usable though but use a good primer to get adhesion

Not all paints and I had 32 off them were consistent in color nor the same match as Humbrol .

Contacted the producer and he told me that that was a thing he would work on..

 

cheers, Jan

[Troy Smith]

16 minutes ago, Casey said:

I knew the problems with Humbrol exist but to create that strong of a market niche

Roots also do 'matches' for Tamiya and Revell paints, on a few they are likely cheaper even with the sellers weird postage ideas...   

I did make inquiries about getting accurate paint batches made,   IIRC you are in Manchester @Casey ?  The company that makes a load of model paint is there.  If interested I can PM you some information?   

[Troy Smith]

2 minutes ago, janneman36 said:

strongly smell like wall paint

As in emulsion?   Can you describe the smell?  How does it react to different  solvents?  (emulsion I believe uses PVA as the the paint binder) 

 You can get tins of paint made up in DIY stores, they have paint scanners and can mix up a can.   I picked up a 500ml can that was being sold off cheap to see what it was like,  specifically one that was for interior wood, and, it is seems to be basically some kind of acrylic. Not as good as model paint, but useable, though I only experimented briefly.   The primer idea may help....  

Even the full price of this was a lot cheaper than getting specially matched model paint made, maybe 20%  of the price, but no idea how good the matches would be.....   this was because I was really really annoyed that  something as basic as standard RAF WW2 paint colour were not in the paint that I had....  which is another lengthy ramble discussed elsewhere....

[Space Ranger]

On 6/9/2022 at 8:41 AM, Black Knight said:

I use brass nuts in my Vallejo and Humbrol dropper bottles.

I’ve long maintained that it takes brass nuts to use any kind of acrylic paint.

[Casey]

37 minutes ago, Troy Smith said:

Roots also do 'matches' for Tamiya and Revell paints, on a few they are likely cheaper even with the sellers weird postage ideas...   

I did make inquiries about getting accurate paint batches made,   IIRC you are in Manchester @Casey ?  The company that makes a load of model paint is there.  If interested I can PM you some information?   

Sadly not even close... I wish there was some form of standard modeller colors like Pantone that vendors could simply match to...

[janneman36]

On 12/06/2022 at 02:50, Troy Smith said:

As in emulsion?   Can you describe the smell?  How does it react to different  solvents?  (emulsion I believe uses PVA as the the paint binder) 

 You can get tins of paint made up in DIY stores, they have paint scanners and can mix up a can.   I picked up a 500ml can that was being sold off cheap to see what it was like,  specifically one that was for interior wood, and, it is seems to be basically some kind of acrylic. Not as good as model paint, but useable, though I only experimented briefly.   The primer idea may help....  

Even the full price of this was a lot cheaper than getting specially matched model paint made, maybe 20%  of the price, but no idea how good the matches would be.....   this was because I was really really annoyed that  something as basic as standard RAF WW2 paint colour were not in the paint that I had....  which is another lengthy ramble discussed elsewhere....

Hard to say what it is but I can use water to dilute it ..other water based thinners work well but it is a course paint type..

 

cheers, Jan