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This ever happen to anyone else?


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I've noticed the Testors and the M.M. paints seem to have kind of high pressure. I was trying to paint an effect where you mist lightly. It was nearly impossible without moving the can far enough away to cause pebbling. I really like their colors. I may start decanting them.

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I am going to have to agree with Harry P.

While I have not seen this with spray paint cans, I have seen it happen with soda cans that just sit in a controlled environment and no agitation.

Over the years it has been the can companies goal to reduce the material used with no adverse affect on performance. About 30 years ago, there was a soda company in Massachusetts that had tons on cans releasing their contents with nobody doing anything to cause it. The problem seemed to go away as I never saw or heard about again. But, the cans are not as robust as they were 40-50 years ago, and probably less now.

It wouldn't hurt contacting the paint company and telling them what happened. Maybe they have fixed the problem already if some have complained. I am sure they don't want it to continue.

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Oh, ok... that would explain it. I bought some tubing that was very soft and very thin... must be the "bendable" type that I bought instead of the rigid kind. My mistake.

I've seen that too, in my experience, it seems that the 3' thin wall bulk tubing seems to be the most maliable, while the 1' tubes in the red cardboard packs is a harder thin wall tube that doesn't like to bend, then they have a thick wall 7071 alloy tube that you can cut threads into!

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boy with their paint being so carpy and their nozzles being pure junk, it just doesn't pay to buy this testors model master junk anymore. I am NOT a supporter of Testors, seems everything they put out is pretty much junk, compared to Tamiya and other high line paint suppliers (from the orient). and to hear some rep say its well past the time they would "guarantee" their paints (while they are still on the shelf being sold) is a joke. why not put expiration dates on them and pay the retailers to send them back after they have "expired"? I will tell you why: they would rather stick the consumer for them than deal with the problem. as it is there is no way to tell how long the paint you are buying has sat on the shelf, and therefore how good it is even when first purchased. there is NO REASON a can should leak no matter how long it has been around. I had high hopes for their lacquer (its much better than their enamel) but with this happening consistently I don't think I will ever buy any more of their paint, not if its going to go bad on my shelf after an unreasonable time (I think paint should last at least 10 years in a sealed can...don't you?)

jb

 

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This topic is very timely.I moved some paint in my rack and what do I find but a can of dupli color paint leaking.It was an old can I got years ago.When I managed a parts store,

we did a brand change on our paints and I got to cherry pick any colors I liked because they just chuck it in the dumpster anyways.This is the only one I have found in the

touch up cans.Looks like I need to go through the rest of the boxes.

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to hear some rep say its well past the time they would "guarantee" their paints (while they are still on the shelf being sold) is a joke. why not put expiration dates on them and pay the retailers to send them back after they have "expired"? I will tell you why: they would rather stick the consumer for them than deal with the problem. as it is there is no way to tell how long the paint you are buying has sat on the shelf, and therefore how good it is even when first purchased. there is NO REASON a can should leak no matter how long it has been around.

jb

If this is referring to my comment,your statement is incorrect.  Testors did replace them, although he did say that three year old paint was past it's recommended life.  They were new fresh cans when I bought them.

 I do agree that paint and glue should be dated but like many have testified here, many do out last their recommended like. Did you know acetone free nail polish remover does have an expiration date? It is real hard to find on the bottle but worth looking for. It doe not work well after it's expired but I find it in stores all the time. 

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I think dating paint would be a great idea. Not so much as a guarantee of how long the paint will last once you own it, but as a "sell by" date where retailers would pull the stuff from their shelves after said date. Like food.

Like jb said, you go to some small, dusty mom and pop LHS and who knows how long that can of paint has been sitting on the shelf?

And in the interest of fairness and not simply bashing Testors, I just bought a can of Krylon Chrome at HL. It as the kind of nozzle where you press down on the top "flap" only, it drives a metal pin down to open up the paint flow (like some auto touchup paints). Well, every time you press the nozzle to spray, paint comes leaking out of the nozzle and all over your finger. What I should have done is return the can to HL and get a different one... but with no way to test it until I got home, I just figured "screw it," and I use a paper towel under my finger to soak up the leaking paint when I use the can.

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Have had that happen with a few cans, Testors and dupl-color as I recall. Leaks have always occured around the seam at the base of the can or the top. I always store my paint indoors. but I've always assumed that to expect all cans will meet some strength specification  is not going to happen. My favorite rattle can paint is Tamiya and I've never had it happen to one of these.

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I have 40+ year old tins of Humbrol and 35+ year old tins of Revell Color enamels. With the exception of exactly three tins between the two brands, all of them are still good to go. The same with older cans (some are almost 35 years old) of Testors spray paints. They still spray like new. These spray cans appear to be constructed from a heavier gauge of steel when compared to recent offerings. This might have something to do with leakage from the newer cans. The seam on the thinner walled cans doesn't crimp tight enough to prevent the pressurized contents from leaching out.

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so basically they are selling you a ticking time bomb that may spew paint all over the place at some point. there has got to be something wrong with that. I have cans of paint 30 years old and if you put a decent nozzle in them they still spray like the day they were bought. automotive paint as well as old model master cans, though I remember having a can leak like this, I think it was MM gloss clear so I couldn't tell if it was paint leaking or not, and that was many years ago. maybe its not a new problem. on the other hand I have never had one explode or anything like that on its own.

I do know that the few MM colors I have wanted to keep using, like their Chrome silver and various blacks and clears, have seemed to become more problematic in the past 5 years or so. a lot more nozzles that just spattered from the word "go" and a lot of them that send paint out around the part going into the can, and all over yourself and the walls. the last can of chrome I bought it seemed like it was supercharged as mentioned above, it really had a lot of pressure in it and while that's often a good thing, in this case it just comes spewing out of the nozzle in way too heavy amounts, never used to be like that. now if this can is any indication, I can cross that off my buy list.

jb

 

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Timely topic for me as, over the last few days I was wondering whether to discuss this on the forums or contact Testors. I have many cans of paint: Duplicolor, Testors enamels and auto lacquers, Tamiya, Pactra etc. Many are decades old. I even have 2 sealed cans of old AMT spray paint . None have leaked although some probably may no longer spray. A year ago I moved from Edmonton back to Winnipeg so before leaving I stocked up on Testors one coat lacquer (hard to come by in Wpg.).I opened up the moving box on Friday and found all the cans containing light colored Testors one coat lacquers had leaked the clear sticky substance around the base. No pigment though.  These included the clear, white lightning, diamond dust, Inca gold, lime ice, fiery orange  and icy blue.The cans containing dark colours are fine. The problem involved multiple cans of the same colour, 20 in all. I guess I learned a lesson, don't hoard this paint. I probably paid an average of $8.00 to $10.00 per can. One other thing, when fresh, this gum that comes out of the can smells and feels the same as the styrene base product made at a  major chemical plant where I worked. The smell of that stuff still made me sick after I opened my suitcase containing my work clothes one year later. That substance is also a clear sticky substance but MUCH more aromatic. Oh yeah, while I'm at it, does anybody in Winnipeg know of a Hobby Shop that stocks a good supply of Testors Lacquers, esp the automotive colours?

 

 

DNP

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Thanks jb 

. !'ll be giving them a call alright, esp.with all these other people having problems. I don't expect much help from Testors though. I don't understand why no coloured pigment comes out, just the clear (cloudy) substance. You would think the coloured pigment would sit near the bottom and some would leak out with the solvents, binders or whatever they put in a can besides gaseous propellant and pigment. The clear substance must be heavier than the pigment and those huge metal flakes they put in that line of paint but that doesn't make sense. Google is not much help with what is in the can, as this is probably a  propriety substance. The funny thing is there is not a hint of colour leaking out with the clear substance, None. Not one can. I may try spraying one of the cans that has some propellant left to see if there was actually any colour in them. Some have leaked  the gunk but have some pressure, others are completely empty. This stuff just seems to ooze out, sometimes saving some pressure. Never heard any propellant leaking and they just glued the cans to the bottom of box. 

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Testors is a great company and I'm betting they will take care of you.  

I'm not sure this applies to the paint but i thought it to be quite interesting.  A few years ago we packed the truck with our usual box of snacks and a cooler in the back seat for a trip to the Iowa summer farm show.  A few hours out of Phoenix we are high up in the White mountains in north east Arizona went we started hearing a snapping sound in the back of the truck.   After several miles of this snapping sound every ten minutes or so we pulled into a parking lot to investigate.  Pulling stuff from our snack box we found our bag of potato chips was just about a perfect round ball, looked like a basket ball. Obviously the sealed air in the bag was greater than the high altitude air. 

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Testors is a great company and I'm betting they will take care of you.  

I'm not sure this applies to the paint but i thought it to be quite interesting.  A few years ago we packed the truck with our usual box of snacks and a cooler in the back seat for a trip to the Iowa summer farm show.  A few hours out of Phoenix we are high up in the White mountains in north east Arizona went we started hearing a snapping sound in the back of the truck.   After several miles of this snapping sound every ten minutes or so we pulled into a parking lot to investigate.  Pulling stuff from our snack box we found our bag of potato chips was just about a perfect round ball, looked like a basket ball. Obviously the sealed air in the bag was greater than the high altitude air. 

     I wouldn't apply to Paint Ton, as it's already Pressurized. But Bags of Chips and such at Altitude do make for interesting experiences. Try grabbing it on each side of the seal and pull quickly! Just be sure to point it a direction you'd feed ok pointing a loaded gun because sometime the result is ........ interesting.

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