I have a few jars of Tamiya acrylic paint that's some years old. You can see inside the jar that the paint has resided at the bottom and the solvent(I guess) is on top. Does that mean this paint in not usable anymore? And what is the best way to prolong the paint's shelf life?

your paints should be fine,

just stirr them well and they be good as new!

im not sure about acrylics, but enamels last years. ive got humbrols over 10 years old that are still fine

cheers

joe

yep... just stir them a bit.... then shake..... should be good

Ive noticed the MM enamels tend to dry up on me if over a year old...But the MM acrylics seem to be ok. Tamiya Acrylics seem to last as well. Shake-Shake-Shake-em

Ciao Hisham,
Funny you ask, but I just threw out a bottle of Tamiya yellow that was over 13 years old. I tried to revive it, but it didn't work. I have had a bottle of PollyS that is close to 10 years old. Oh, these were all acrylics. Most of my paint last for around five years without any problems (other than the separation you spoke of.)
Ciao for now
Rob

My Acrylics are first to go.....

I stirred on of them well and it looked like it got mixed well, so I painted some of it on a scrap piece of plastic. But after 2 hours, it's still wet.. and the small spots that are drying out, are drying out gloss!! I guess that's the end of that.

If it's not drying, and has a glossy look it's gone my friend

A couple of those paints did that gloss drying routine on me and I figured they were gonners. I tried another couple of jars, though, and I noticed they dried right away and dried out matt. Does that mean these ones are ok then? Cause I'm about to buy a new air-brush and I'm afraid if I use bad paint in it then I'll ruin it or something. Any thoughts??