Humbrol enamel like melted chocolate

[steelpillow]

Bought a couple of tins of Humbrol enamel Matt 28 (US aircraft mushroom gray stuff) over the last year or so. Both have a super-thick consistency more like melted chocolate than model paint. Is this a regular new thing or a hangover from the quality problems of recent years?
I often mix pots of custom colours for my whiffs, but if this is going to go solid before I finish my whiff in a couple of months or so, I will be royally stuffed.

[kitnut617]

I've had some like that, I just thinned it out. One pot I went as far as 50%-50%

[Dizzyfugu]

I had this with several "new" Humbrol enamels (those with the new sticker on the bare metal lid), too, e. g. a 101 or a 127. I'd describe the consistency as pudding/jelly, as if the paint was lacking thinner altogether. Horrible to use/apply with a brush, and adding thinner did not help much, either. Real disappointment, since my only other local enamel alternative is Revell, and these are generally at the same goo level, at least after a few uses.  Seems as if this is a new after the sh!tty stuff that came from the Belgian plant in the form of the RLM tones (and other) two years or so ago. 

[TomZ]

Same for me. I try to avoid Humbrol nowadays.
I use Xtracolour and Revell enamels.

TomZ

[Doug K]

Yep, same problem for me, white was particularly awful

[Hobbes]

I've had good results adding thinner to goopy Humbrol, but it has to be the right stuff. I've used enamel thinner from HMG Paints with good results, while white spirit didn't work (IIRC, it's been a while).

[Old Wombat]

Last batch of Humbrol enamels I bought half of them were unusable because they'd gone solid in the tin - &, no, they weren't old stock, they were new.

[steelpillow]

Did you complain?
https://www.humbrol.com/uk-en/contact
and select Enquiry Type > Complaint

[Dizzyfugu]

Did you complain?
https://www.humbrol.com/uk-en/contact
and select Enquiry Type > Complaint

No, but good idea and thank you for the link. 

[Lord_Voyager]

It's not just Humbrol... but I have a solution.

Here is a link to making a very basic jigsaw paint shaker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQHQgnUIXw4

I modified mine by bolting it to my heavy workbench and putting foam around the base to make it quieter. after a few minutes, even the worst paints become usable. if your adding thinner, make sure the paint is resealed securely...

[Leading Observer]

if your adding thinner, make sure the paint is resealed securely...

That sounds like the voice of experience

[steelpillow]

I made one out of Meccano once. Standard shaking tends to loosen nuts and bolts, so I made a complicated whirling arm with a pot at each end that rotated at a different speed so centrifugal force did the shaking. It was not happy unless both pots contained roughly the same amount of paint, and even then the retention clip tended to work undone. ISTR that one day a pot flung off and lost its lid on meeting the rest of the furniture, signalling the end of the experiment.

[jcf]

"Enamels" don't just dry by solvent evaporation as lacquers
do, they cure in the presence of oxygen. The drying oils,
generally soybean for many years, in the base polymerize
forming the coating film which, again unlike lacquers, is not
dissolved by its solvent carrier, so if the container isn't fully
sealed the paint will thicken and then cure from the outside
in eventually becoming a solid lump of what is basically a
simple "plastic".

[steelpillow]

"Enamels" don't just dry by solvent evaporation as lacquers
do, they cure in the presence of oxygen. The drying oils,
generally soybean for many years, in the base polymerize
forming the coating film which, again unlike lacquers, is not
dissolved by its solvent carrier, so if the container isn't fully
sealed the paint will thicken and then cure from the outside
in eventually becoming a solid lump of what is basically a
simple "plastic".

Indeed. However the "custard" or "melted chocolate" syndrome is; a) quite distinct to any old dog who cares to give it a prod, and b) unreasonably common in fresh stock. I also have a tinlet of melted chocolate that is a couple of years old and it has not solidified significantly further, as always happens once the rim seal has proved leaky.

BTW, the word "lacquer" is a bit of a catch-all and there are many types. Some are solvent-drying, others polymerise.

I emailed Humbrol about it some days ago now and their promised response deadline has passed without a peep in reply. Looks like we are on our own with this one.

[NARSES2]

BTW, the word "lacquer" is a bit of a catch-all and there are many types. Some are solvent-drying, others polymerise.

Indeed and seems to be the current "fad". I'm not entirely sure what it means in terms of model paints nowadays. Once upon a time it was something your other half used on their hair