Old Modelling Supplies

[Weaver]

Sequoiaranger mentioned on his airbrushing thread that he had some 20-year old Humbrol tinlets. I've got a fine selection of them too (apart from the ones that have rusted through!), so that got me thinking: what's the oldest paint/glue/other-none-model-bit you've got?

Here's a couple of blasts from the past that I found when I dug my stuff out again:



The Beatties' glue still works, but I havn't tried the Britfix (not likely to either!). These must both be at least 20 years old....

[The Rat]

Got some paints in various brands, Humbrol, Testors, Ploy S, Floquil, that are well over 30 years old and still usable.

[philp]

I probably have some Pactra and Testors that are in the 20+ category.
The guy whose collection I am selling (see other thread  ) gave me his old paint.  Most of the Pactra and Testors are still fluid so after stirring, should work.  But in the box are three boxes of the Pactra Authentic International Colors (anyone remember those) still in their shrink wrap.  There is the Japanese Air Force, Aeronautica Militare Italiana and Russian Air Force.  Each comes with six colors and a jar of thinner and the price tags read $1.08 for each set.  Thought about putting them up for sale with the kits but have no idea what condition the actual paint is in and besides, I don't have any Japanese, Italian or Russian colors in my current paint box so might just keep them.

[NARSES2]

Has to be the Humbrol Authentics Military colours - Ancient, Napoleonic and Modern. Still usable and still used, especially the wood, leather and wool/line colours.

I wish someone would bring these out again, although I note Lifecolour are doing "themed" paint sets

[Weaver]

Has to be the Humbrol Authentics Military colours - Ancient, Napoleonic and Modern. Still usable and still used, especially the wood, leather and wool/line colours.

I wish someone would bring these out again, although I note Lifecolour are doing "themed" paint sets

Yeah I've got a load of those. IIRC, I bought a tin of "Dragoon Green" in Games Workshop because I misread it and thought it was "Dragon Green"....     Turned out to be a good colour for dragons anyway. mind.....

[Mossie]

Until about a year or two ago I still had some Airfix paints which were passed on from my Grandad some years before & probably older than me.  They were pretty rusted & the paint was unuseable, so they went in the bin unfortunately.

I don't think I've got anything now that's much older than two years, except maybe a bottle of Humbrol Matt Cote that settled & went hard on me.  It resisted stirring at first, but after warming it up near the fire & stirring it a bit more it was fine.

[Joe C-P]

I have a few Testor's bottles of uncertain age. Until recently I had one with 35cents (can't type that symbol anymore!) on the cap.
I also have a couple really old models that included a small tube of glue.

I have a box of X-acto modeling tools I bought in the 1980s. New blades, of course, but the handles are still good, and I have the mitre box, a sanding block, tweezers, and some other pieces.

Non-modeling specific, I have a draftsman kit from many, many years ago that my grandparents gave me. The compass is the most used part of the set, which can has a lead (graphic really) tip and a scribing tip.

JoeP

[puddingwrestler]

Considering I'm 25, the oldest I have is 12 year old Citadel Paints (part of the first citadel paint set I bought!) which are still in great condition and used fairly often (just not in large quanities). The impressive thing is that I have very few of the black screw-top pots in working condition anymore, and these pre-date the black-screw tops! Another blow in the coffin of those awful screw-top pots!

My brother (DaFrog) quite posibly has some old Humbrol paints still from about 20 years ago however...

And I just found a bottle of coke under one of the buildings I teach in (students making a horror film under it...) which had to be about 20 years old. It was a glass bottle, and straight sides, not curved. It looked like it'd never been opened and there was what appeared to be coke in it...

[Mossie]

If they're anything like our students don't go within fifty yards of that bottle!!!

[The Rat]

Until recently I had one with 35cents (can't type that symbol anymore!) ...

Hold down the Alt key and using the numeric keyboard on the right side hit 0162, and you get ¢!

[Aircav]

And I just found a bottle of coke under one of the buildings I teach in (students making a horror film under it...) which had to be about 20 years old. It was a glass bottle, and straight sides, not curved. It looked like it'd never been opened and there was what appeared to be coke in it...

Put it on Ebay, someone would buy it

[sequoiaranger]

I started building models in the very early 1950's, using acetone for "glue". "Highway Pioneers", Gowland and Gowland models (pre-Revell), Perri the Squirrel with real "fuzz" you could sprinkle on after you slathered the thing with glue.

But, alas, MOST of the modeling materials have dried up, used up, and discarded.

I do have an old tube of Revell cement (pic) that was purchased JUST after they dropped the "type S" label (probably c. 1960). I have some Pactra 'Namel paints that say "15¢" on them that still work. I do have a lot of Humbrol tins collected over the years, with some from a seminal trip to London in the summer of 1962 (my suitcase was stuffed with bagged Airfix stuff and anything else I could stash in there) when I was 13 years old.

My Binks "A" airbrush is a relic, perhaps, but it works for me the same as it did twenty years ago.

I have a Mattel Vac-U-Form "toy" still in its original box, though the machine has been quite heavily used over the years.

Probably the oldest thing I have is a file, a very fine mill file flat on one side and rounded on the other. I have used it on EVERY model I have ever built. I have never seen a file like it in any shop, though I suppose there must be one out there that I could special-order. It's pretty indispensable, IMHO.

Kinda like the "gun" saying, "You can have my file when you pry my cold, dead, fingers off it"!

[ysi_maniac]

I still have, and are usable, Pactra enamel bottles that came in sets of 6 colors each: German, British and US from WWII. More than 30 years old

This weekend I will try to take some pics

[sequoiaranger]

For me, "Pactra" was the "gold standard" of paints.

Here below is an old mixing guide (many pages--too many to print here) (notice the prices of paints), then a scan of three of my oldest paint bottles. Notice the two outside bottles have labels that pre-date even the mixing-guide label formats. The paint bottle on the right, one of the 15 cent-ers, is actually labeled "Flat orange-yellow".

Enjoy.

[Weaver]

I've got some of the square ribbed Pactra bottles, but I can't say how old they are 'cos they were old when they were given to me. I think they're pretty much dead, in truth, but I'll have a look some time.