PRIMING!!!!

[Orionjp]

Ok, I know its silly, everyone knows how to prime right? I've been painting for over 15 years now, so I should know how to prime. That being said, I still can't get that almost perfectly smooth finish I have seen with primed stuff in the many pics I've seen. That being said, what is the best technique for this? I've heard/read people say "use this paint, use that paint". As far as I have seen they pretty much all have the same qualities. So I just go with the el cheapo Wal Mart flat spray paint. In fact I found it sticks to the figs better than Krylon primer. Now sometimes, especially close to the bottom of the can, I find my figs are covered in tiny beads. What is the best way to avoid that? I live in Florida, so humidity and heat ARE an issue I know. Also I'm a GW gaming fan, so I have tons of plastic minis. I have found that ALL spray paints have a tendency to "melt" or cause a "ripple" effect in the minis. I've heard different things people do to the figs to prevent it, but non of them really work. What should I do to avoid this in my minis so I don't have armies of wrinkled Space Marines?

[Don Rodolfo Graziani]

I've found that by just doing a quick pass around the minis you can

"iron out" the wrinkles. Sorry, couldn't pass that up.

Seriously, just give the minis a quick light pass, being sure to spray

past the figures and not stop on top of one. It will avoid the wrinkling

effect that occurs with too much spray. And if the coverage is too

thin, that's alright. You can give it another go once the first coat

dries! Good luck.

 

DRG

[Zinzig]

My take on what I've used to prime with...Krylon seems to work well for coverage and little detail loss, but sometimes leaves some rough areas, not as smooth as I'd like it. Testors grey primer was very shiny for primer, tough as nails as far a durability and was very smooth. It seemed to cover and fill small details and stayed "tacky" for a long time...was used once. Brush on reaper msp primer, smooth finish, need multiple coats for complete coverage, seems to rub off easily.

 

Currently I've been doing two light sprays with krylon then doing a touch-up brush on with reaper. Better coverate and less tedious that brush alone. I'd still like to get my hands on some of the tamiya fine primer, but nobody around here stocks it.

 

-Z

[kanli]

I would second Don's advice; try very quick passes and don't stop or start on the figure. Start to spray before you pass over the figure and use a few VERY thin coats, with a few seconds-minutes drying time between (depending on your tempeture, paint etc).

 

My second piece of advice would be to shake the can for AT LEAST 2-3 minutes until you can clearly hear the agitator roll around on the bottom.

 

My first 6 months of mini painting I thought a full opaque coat of paint was necessary to have a good base to start from but LESS is more. Some of the mini's color should show through slightly at hard-to-hit areas. Also, a little bit of "tooth" in the paint helps the base colors stick. I have tried Vallejo primer and it created a very smooth almost plasticy surface that caused the paint to bead unless with was applied very thick.

 

@Zinzig - Not sure about Tamiya, but Testors figure primer is great. I have used it in light grey (I'm a white/light color primer, but that's a topic for another thread.) Just be sure to let it dry all the way. It has a much slower drying time than GW, Krylon etc.

[Serenity]

I agree with kanli. If you fully cover the figure, you'll likely put too much on, so go with thin coats and stop when most of the figure looks good. If there are some areas that still need coverage, you can use brush-on to get those later.

 

I've used Tamiya fine white surface primer and it can get very smooth if you put too much on. When that happens, I've used a little Reaper MSP brush-on primer to add tooth.

 

Another primer that gets praised here is Duplicolor, which I want to try when I've gotten through more of my Tamiya, and I have some Testor's light grey I want to try out, too.

 

I combat humidity problems by staying out of it. If I have to spray something when it is humid, I usually spray in the basement. If I had lots of spraying to do, that wouldn't work, but I only do a couple figures at a time usually. I've read that some people use a heat lamp on their figures after spraying outside. It is supposed to keep sealer from clouding up, but it might help with primer, too.

[Orionjp]

These are all very good points and rather helpful. The problem I had with quick passes was it was too rough, not quite smooth enough. I understand you want something for your paint to stick to, but you don't want it to look rough. Maybe I just used the wrong kind of paint. I don't have a basement, I live in Florida, if you have a basement your underwater, hehe. I do have a garage however, and I have a fan going to the air isn't stale. I've noticed if the air is moving it seems to coat better than if the air is still, but I could be wrong, what do you guys think?

[Darkstar]

I stopped having primer woes when I switched to airbrushing it. 100% consistency, 100% control every time. Couldn't ask for anything other than that realistically.

 

For specific information on that I use a cheap airbrush (until I broke it, then replaced it with an even better, even cheaper one) and Vallejo White Primer. I paint a great deal of minis and terrain yearly and I prime each one in the same fashion and never have a single issue with the process. One of the best things I've done for myself as a mini painter is to buy a cheap airbrush and compressor for doing my priming. That being said, I've been airbrushing off and on for many years before picking up mini painting so I was already very familiar with the operation and maintenance of the setup and how to control the paint etc...so if you aren't and look into purchasing a brush compressor setup you will have a learning curve. These days with the internet and especially youtube though it shouldn't be that hard to get a grip on it.

 

To give a breakdown on pricing for that setup, my current new brush cost about 22 dollars after tax and my compressor which requires no maintenance and has been running solid for 7 years now without as much as a hiccup cost about 80 bucks. Consider that a current pricecheck for a single can of Citadel White Primer is $15.75 (yes that's not a typo) and the setup pays for itself after a couple of years if you're looking for a reason to fit one into your hobby budget.

[Akiosama]

Also, don't knock using acrylic gesso if you're open to brushing your primer. It's pretty forgiving, you can mostly slop it on without losing detail - the only thing you have to watch out for are the occasional air bubble while putting on the dry gesso or a pinhole-size gap in the gesso itself (from the gesso shrinking back slightly when drying - and they really are tiny, tiny holes). It's cheap, easy, and the results are pretty good, from what I'm seeing.

 

It's gotten some mixed reviews online, but mostly positive. It comes in black or white, and takes ink pretty well if you want it to be a different color.

 

Give it a shot. I'm trying Liquitex Acrylic Gesso (white) cut with 25% Matte Medium and 25% water and it does decently in one pass, and very well in two. It's a bit rougher than GW's Skull White on the surface, and paint sticks better to it, I think. It's given me the smoothest overall basecoat I've made so far.

 

And it's not really humidity-sensitive like spray painting can be.

 

Good luck!

 

My 2 yen,

 

Akiosama

[Orionjp]

I've used airbrushing before and I really liked it, but it comes off pretty easily, but I never tried useing "primer" I just used regular paint. Maybe I'll look into getting some Reaper white primer, do they make black primer too, or just white?

[joshuaslater]

Heat and humidity on the East Coast is AWFUL for priming.

 

I wait for cooler days, and I switched to the Army Painter primers. You can get them for cheaper online, and though expensive, I've had no issues with their product going on lumpy or having to soak a squad of models in Simple Green 'cause the primer went on wrong.

 

I know the cheap stuff works great for most projects, but I'm superstitious and a deeply superficial person.

[pae]

I've used airbrushing before and I really liked it, but it comes off pretty easily, but I never tried useing "primer" I just used regular paint. Maybe I'll look into getting some Reaper white primer, do they make black primer too, or just white?

 

If you're using paint for a primer, don't expect it to act as a primer, because it isn't.

 

Reaper makes brush-on white and brush-on black primers.

 

I've airbrushed both on the same figures sometimes. Black for the first coats, and then a couple of light laters of white from above (no white primer on stuff that's naturally going to be in shadow).

[Orionjp]

Thank you, I'll keep that in mind.

[Foxden Racing]

Heat and humidity on the East Coast is AWFUL for priming.

 

I wait for cooler days, and I switched to the Army Painter primers. You can get them for cheaper online, and though expensive, I've had no issues with their product going on lumpy or having to soak a squad of models in Simple Green 'cause the primer went on wrong.

 

I know the cheap stuff works great for most projects, but I'm superstitious and a deeply superficial person.

 

You can say that a few more times...this summer especially!

 

I switched to Army Painter a few months ago...the only primer my FLGS had at the time, and a very salty $14/can...but haven't had a single complaint yet. I'll use that for my base prime, making at least 10 very fast passes [button held for less than a second], let it dry enough I won't leave fingerprints if it topples and I need to pick it up, get a fresh angle, and repeat. I haven't had any problems with it yet, even with the very, very fine chainmail of the one fig with a chainmail bikini. Recently I've started going in with a brush-on after it's dry, to touch up anything the spray couldn't hit with ease and the spots kept bare due to breeze, etc. I'm still getting the hang of working with a brush-on primer, but I'll get there.

 

I'm also liking the Army Painter clear; when a figure is wet it looks thick and gloppy like I just threw the thing into a vat of Karo syrup, but when it dries it's the toughest clear I've ever used [i've never used polyurethane dip, though]...the first model I cleared with it was toppled over on a solid oak table all night and didn't get so much as a scratch, even on spots like the edge of a blade or the tip of the same. I'd recommend either one for tabletop use; I've got no experience as a paint-and-display guy, so can't in good conscience give a thumbs up or thumbs down there.