Messy Paint Jar Lids

Hey guys:

I have a many jars of Polly Scale paint. Lots of the jars are so messed up with dried paint around the top that I either can't get the lid off or can't get it on tightly enough to really seal the jar. Is there a way to prevent the mess. I waste way too much paint.

Thanks,
George in Linwood, NJ

 

I have much the same problem as well, and so far I haven't managed to find a solution either. Guess it's just one of those Murphy's Law things.....

Chris

 

I use to use the toilet paper, I have a few rolls in my basement at different places.
Take a piece and clean the thread or at least the top of the jar.
BTW I use the paper also to wipe excess glue and cleaning the airbrush.

Wolfgang

 

I feel your pain. I think that I got this tip from Model Railroader but I am not sure, so try ths out. This will obviously work best with newly-opened paint bottles. However, if you can clean off the accumulated old paint, maybe you can salvage your crudded-up ones.

1. Get ahold of a plastic grocery bag. Nowadays we have bajillions of these buggers sitting around doing nothing.
2. Cut small squares from the bag that are large enough to overlap the bottle neck and threads. Probably 1.5" square at most. No need to be super-scientific or micrometer-accurate here. Just scissor away
3. When you are finished with the bottle and ready to cap it, wipe off the bottle's threads and its top surface with a damp rag (one would use the recommended thinner in the case of solvent-based paints).
4. Wipe the cap threads if you see any accumulated paint on them.
5. Put a piece of the shopping bag over the bottle top and make sure it overlaps the threads. This part of the procedure will probably not work on solvent paints, because I suspect the solvent will dissolve the bag. I'd probably experiment with aluminum foil or something.
6. Screw the cleaned cap down onto the bottle, trapping the plastic.

This procedure should keep your bottles and caps clean and ensure you always get a good seal.

When I worked in a paint store as a teen, my boss always suggested storing re-covered paint cans upside down. Works pretty well with house paints. I have not tried this with my model paints. I wonder if anyone out there has tried this?

Hope this procedure helps you out. Good luck.

 

One question - do you shake your paint to mix it? When you use a paintbrush, do you dip the brush into the paint bottle? If so, read on.... I had the same problem with messy paint lids, dried paint on the threads and cap, etc. Maybe a year ago I read somewhere that shaking the paint bottle (which was my mixing technique for, oh, about 50 years) was not a good idea.

With the next bottle of paint I made a paint stirrer from a piece of 12 guage copper wire about 5 inches long. I straightened it as best I could and made a loop about 1/4" in diameter at one end. I hold the straight end, use the loop to scrape down the sides and bottom of the paint jar, then twirl the stirrer between my thumb and forefinger. With a new jar of paint or one that has been on the shelf a long time this takes about 2 to 4 minutes to make sure the paint is completely mixed. Wipe down the stirrer on a paper towel and rinse it quick to clean it off. No more paint splashed on the lid. If you are not a cheap sun-uva-bee like me you can buy electric stirrers from the modeling tool supply houses.

I do both airbrushing and paint brushing. For paint brushing, the other thing I have started to do is take paint from the bottle with a pipette and drop it on something to use as a pallette, like a scrap of styrene or metal. OK, if we're talking touch-up where you need one little dab of paint I'll put the brush in the bottle one time only and will not wipe the excess paint on the bottle. I'll wipe it on that piece of styrene or metal.

Those are my two hints worth. Hope it helps.

George V.

 

For mixing paint in bottles, I put 2 BBs in each new bottle before I do anything. BBs make it a Rattle Can for efficient mixing, and 2 BBs are even better because they work against each other. (thanks to my LHS for this suggestion)

I have been cleaning my bottles the same way as Wolgang, but I like the concept of plastic grocery bags and will give that a try the next time I paint.

 

For a long time I have used waxed paper between the cap and bottle after cleaning the threads. Also I don't care to store bottles upside down. The solids cling to the lids. The waxed paper does help with this.