22 replies to this topic

[vypurr59]

you can also find these steel balls at your local hobby shop that sell R/C cars, they are called "diff balls" and go form 5/32" to 1/8 inch sizes.

[southernboy]

Hobby Lobby had a glass bead sale this weekend. 50% off all of a particular brand. I picked up a tube. Put two into each paint bottle. Seems to do the job quite well.

[Art Anderson]

The only thing I would add is look for stainless steel small diameter ball bearings instead... more expensive but no rust worries either

Also, be careful with BB shot, as most of that is at least copper coated. Some types of paint will actually corrode copper or brass, which will infuse a blue-green "stain" into light colored paint (such as white or yellow). That is a hard lesson I learned perhaps 40 years ago with decanted AMT lacquers, which were VERY similar to our modern Tamiya and Modelmaster non-penetrating lacquers. A small nickel-plated nut or short bolt will do the job.

Another caution: The use of too heavy a metal piece as an agitator can increase the likelihood of breaking even a small glass paint bottle, so be careful when shaking that bottle!

Art