DropTop by DrTabletop — Dropper Bottle Solution for GW Paints

[turbocoolerParticipant 4103xp 3]

Just posting to make other people aware of a Dropper Bottle solution for GW paints.

This is a KS that just kicked off on New Years Day

This replaces the GW Paints Tops with a Dropper Bottle Top.  This works with old and new style pots.  No more spills, no more dried out paints, no more worry if the top was closed correctly.

[deaddaveParticipant 15122xp 1]

Very tempted to back ?

[collins 16358xp 0]

love the old school SIMs music in the background

[limburger 21704xp 1]

the idea is good and it looks like it works.

However a small team (two people) with zero experience in manufacturing and shipping world wide ?
*eep*
Will this product still close properly after a year ?
How easy is it to fit to GW bottles ?
I don’t see it working for their textured paints, so you would still be stuck with those bottles.

There’s also the question how GW will respond in legal terms.
I kind of hope they’ve made contact and asked for permission.
Such things might not be needed, but GW could easily frustrate their product by changing tolerances of their bottle design.

Too many pitfalls to risk it at this time.
And you’ve got to wonder why GW still uses this design despite all of its flaws.

[collins 16358xp 0]

@limburger speaks sense.

[turbocoolerParticipant 4103xp 1]

@limburger

> There’s also the question how GW will respond in legal terms.

GW makes more money selling paint than sending attack dogs at small companies.  This may actually help them sell more paints.  A smarter decision would be to help them be successful.  They both can make some money.  I am not a lawyer but unless GW has a patent on the bottle design and specifically states on the bottle that no modifications can be made to the bottle, there is not much they can do.  Again, this would help them sell more paint.  Why has not GW done this before?  Many have asked for years without any answer.

[enginseer 6977xp 1]

The design of the drop top looks interesting, but snapping that new top on the bottle is just the beginning. I have reservations about how hard it is to squeeze the bottles. If it _is_ the tip that you squeeze then that will work pretty well for a while, until the bottle gets down around half full.

Also the tip creates more air space inside the bottle allowing the paint to dry inside the bottle more quickly.

I think I’ll watch and wait on this one to see how it goes after delivery.

[ced1106Participant 6224xp 1]

Search on “decant gw to eye droppers”. Less risk, no waiting, no $2 droppers.

One tutorial I saw used cones from paper, rather than funnels, so no washing of funnels, either.

Hope the creator’s product finds a company to partner with to drive costs down and bring to retail.

[limburger 21704xp 0]

@turbocooler the current system works for GW.
They sell a ton of paint, teach everyone to use their paint. And with contrast paints they’ve taken the next step.
They don’t need to sell ‘more’, especially if that means handing part of the potential profit to a 3rd party.

Newbies won’t understand why they would need a 2$ fix (or a 25% mark-up) just to paint their models.
The kickstarter movie is making a mountain out of a tiny molehill.
The low stance of the GW bottles already prevents a lot of accidents as they aren’t as easy to knock over as they suggest.
Plus they rarely are filled to the top … which is another part of a design solution that is easy to pass off as ‘greed’, but also has a practical function.

Even without a legal copyright on those bottles they don’t need to do much to invalidate that design.
As they state on their kickstarter the tolerances for fitting that topper are minimal.
All GW needs to do is change the top a tiny bit and it will fail. *poof*
No lawyer needed and GW can pass it off as a simple design improvement.

These guys could do a lot to stop GW sending in the lawyers, by simply talking to them.
If they don’t do that (or worse : if they refuse) all they really are doing is giving their enemy even more ammo in a potential legal battle.
They are expected to make an effort (and provide proof). And you can be sure as heck that a GW lawyer will make use of that little omission.

Keep in mind that a modification to a product is a whole different ballgame when you’re doing it for profit.
They might not mind hobbyists doing such things on a small scale (with the help of a 3D printer for example).
Companies like GW have better things to do with their lawyers … until they don’t because something catches their interest.

I do hope this kickstarter gets funded and that it results in a nice (niche) product that can improve our hobby.

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 2]

@limburger come on man, I rarely moan about GW but their paint pots are utterly shite and have been for years. The short stubby pots can still be knocked over but that’s not why they’re crap.  The lids tend to clog with paint, no matter how much you try to keep them clear.  This prevents them closing properly and leads to paint drying too quickly.  I am yet to use a pot to empty, they invariably dry out due to the poor lid design.

As a secondary issue the lids do not stay open, or at least there is no consistency as to whether they will or won’t stay open – some do, some don’t it’s a bit of a lottery.

Finally the newer wash and contrast pots that are a lot taller are VERY easy to knock over and also empty very quickly when they are because of the fluidity.

While I am not sure that it was definitely designed obsolescence, I certainly believe that GW know about these issues and, for whatever reason, they have chosen not to address them.

Will this kickstarter resolve any of these problems?  I don’t know.  However what I do know is that citadel paint pots have been garbage for a long time and GW have done nothing about it

[collins 16358xp 1]

you’re right @onlyonepinman the GW paint pots are naff. I prefer the GW paint to other providers for a number of reasons but its certainly not down to their paint pot design

[limburger 21704xp 1]

@onlyonepinman GW seems to think they’re good enough despite the complaints …
So either they (still) think that a redesign is too expensive or they consider things like the built-in lip that collects paint to be a feature that is worth the negatives.

Heck, it might be as simple as having a patent on the bottle design and a switch to a generic dropper bottle (which is even easier to knock over … ) is not an option for them.

We can only guess at their reasons for using such a flawed design.

Only GW itself knows why.
For all we know they are experimenting with alternate designs and haven’t found one that fits their philosophy.

[guillotine 16039xp 0]

If these were available at a hobby store or online from stock, I would buy a set immediately. I hope they succeed and this will happen one day.  Unfortunately backing a KS where a small team has significant amount of product to manufacture and ship… nope, not going there again.

 

[phaidknott 7023xp 1]

Well I do wish they’d go back to the old paint pots (now the Cote de Arms paint pots), as those where the ones I cut my teeth on. Not only did they have that little “lip” on the rear of the lid that was handy for getting a little paint on your brush for the fine paintwork bits, but they also kept paints FOR YEARS (in fact I think I’ve still got some metallics somewhere that are 30ish years old. Another “longevity” paint pot were the Humbrol acrylic paint pots (although those were a paint to get open) and they kept paint in a reasonable state for years.

But at the end of the day GW need to move with the times and just DO dropper bottles (without re-inventing the wheel in usual GW fashion to secure some weird IP). Just a plain dropper bottle would do wonders for all 🙂

 

[turbocoolerParticipant 4103xp 0]

These will be at retail.  See KS for details

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