I am trying to find a source of a very small quantity of luminous paint to put onto a torch which we have got for an elderly relative so that he can find it in true darkness. I am struggling to find anything smaller than about 100ml which is probably at least 95ml more than I need. .

I found "Revell Enamels 14ml Luminous Yellow Silk Paint" on Amazon, but I am not sure if it really is luminous or whether that is just their name for "bright yellow".

Any advice would be appreciated.

i found the powder best, just mixed it with some pvc glue.
i used it for a lamp switch, you can get the powder from ebay, i also have a tin of spray paint which i got from jtf warehouse for 99p, used it to spray the bin lid just for no reason.

the spray can was' rapide glow in the dark spray paint'

I think possibly that luminous nail polish would suit that type of small job .
You need to be sure it's actually luminous though and not just a luminous-bright colour . Best bet is to open a bottle in the shop and put a tiny drop on a nail (or similar surface), then toddle off somewhere dark to see if it has absorbed the bright shop lights .

B&Q sell spray lluminous paint. I'm sure I've seen small tins for brush-on too.

Maybe consider a tritium keyring as an alternative? They're not cheap and not that bright but they don't need charging.

Original true luminous paint contained Radium - you certainly can't buy that anymore!

Modern versions just contain chemicals which can absorb ambient light and then release it slowly. But, the trouble is, the time for which these will glow will be fairly limited.

The Radium-based paints would glow indefinitely, but they had the distinct disadvantage they would kill everyone who came into contact with them! Radium is radioactive and emits alpha particles, the most dangerous form of radiation there is.

Any legally bought luminous paint is likely to be completely ineffective. If you go to a good fishing tackle shop and ask for a beta light, you might get one for around six or seven pounds. Make sure you get the tritium gas tube type and not one of the ones that you snap to activate for about seven or eight hours.

This is the best answer if the elderly relative's torch is kept somewhere dark on a permanent basis. Luminous paint needs to be charged daily with UV light otherwise the crystals will fade after several hours.

The Nite GlowRing (Green) seems to be fairly acceptable and available from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nite-Tritiu...=Nite+GlowRing.

OK, thanks for the various thoughts on this. I can see now that this quest looks like a non-starter as anything which may work seems rather too complicated. Even the key ring idea would not work as the torch in question has nowhere to attach it. I guess he will just have to know where it is if he needs it at night.

You can always buy another torch to fit that keyring. Then you can you use that torch to find your original torch.

Gee thanks! I think I will pass on that one. One was difficult enough to sort out for him

I don't understand why you can't just buy the 100ml of paint you mention in the OP. It's a tiny amount and even if you're just going to use a fraction of it, it's surely not going to bankrupt you.

Well, yes I could. However, going by the comments above I am not sure that it would be effective anyway, so there wouldn't be much point especially as, knowing him, he will probably lose/break the thing in the first week.

It wasn't my idea in the first place and I was unsure about it anyway, so I think I will not bother about it any more. I just asked in case there was a simple way of doing it, but it seems not.

gaffa tape the keyring to the torch or selotape . the key rings are really brilliant. they don't nead charging and permanantly glow for years.
ive had mine over 10 and i can find things easy.

im sure you can find a place to tape the ring on or tie rap it.

Sounds good in theory, however I know him. It probably wouldn't stay attached for five minutes before something would happen to it, he is just that clumsy. Either he would break it off or he would somehow break the torch with it.

I suppose another obvious question is why he has to find it in complete darkness. If he has an illuminated clock next to his bedside it would enable him to place the torch next to it.

No, he has nothing like that, no bedside lamp, no clock, nothing. Not even a streetlight illuminating his room at all.

If I was nearer, I would try to set something up for him, but visiting is out of the question, so we are only in contact by landline phone and post, not even by email or anything else modern which most of us find second nature these days.

I'm not sure if it would kill the user. Alpha particles are easily stopped by matter so I'm not sure that they would get past the glass. The ones to really suffer were the women who painted the dials. IIRC, they used to lick the brushes to get a good point on them!

The half life of tritium is only about 12 years, so I wouldn't plan on leaving it to your grandchildren. Half as efficient after 12 years, quarter as efficient after 24 years, one thousandth as efficient after 120 years.

Yeah but if you read the OP it's for an elderly relative not a family heirloom!

Here's something to try maybe, glow in the dark torch. I found 3 on Amazon. Electromart £2.39 with cheaper versions having fewer reviews also on the page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electromart...NXCFG0HJ4BDJ7M, Am-tech S8002 £5.46: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-tech-S80...QRKF7EMZQMZF6V, Unicom £4.50: https://www.amazon.co.uk/GLOW-DARK-T.../dp/B00A3A78N4.

Instead of (or to find) a torch what about a baseball cap with LEDs at the front powered ny AAAs: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clar...th-led-lights/, a different one powered by CR2032 cells: https://www.amazon.co.uk/LED-BLACK-B.../dp/B004K7PV26, or a headlight torch: https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clar...ght-headlight/. Pages of them at Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...&rnid=79904031.