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I've had a can of Armoury Primer sitting around for a year or more. Yesterday I sprayed about 25 SM. Today, 24 hours later, while turning the minis around to put another coat on, the primer was rubbing off on my fingers. It's like the minis are covered in dust, for lack of a better term. As it stands, I don't know if I should even attempt to basecoat them for fear the primer will just rub off with each brush stroke.

Is this standard for Armoury Primers?

Should I brush it off and reprime with something else?

Any suggestions on other primers in the U.S.?

Any and all help is much appreciated.

Chaos Black is what I normally use.  I have used Citadel Primers mainly grey in the past and all perform rather well.  Chaos black is tacky, but it covers well.

As long as you shook that can up, it should not have been able to been rubbed off.  I would put it in some simple green and start over with a different primer.

You think you got it bad, I sprayed a 3ft long ship hull with the stuff and ended up with the same problem! The main issue is that whatever thinner it uses, it dries too fast, before it even hits the model. Gives a rough finish that I had to sand smooth after every coat, and like you saw it adheres terrible when that happens. You have to get close and hit the model pretty heavy, which starts filling in details. It's just crap to me now, not going to use it except when I'm doing major reshaping work and will be sanding it all off anyways.

You could probably use a stiff toothbrush and some lacquer thinner to get the loose stuff off.

I hate to say it, but the old Citadel primers were probably the best out there. Tamiya primer isn't bad either.

-Hans

I usually have problems with a can of primer if it hasnt been used. No matter how much i shake it, it still gives me the dust spray. This happens with both armoury and citadel, so no, it isnt just one or the other.

To fix that, I hit a box with the primer after fisrt opening it. I spray the thing for a few seconds and then shake the hell out of it again. Turn upside down and spray to get rid of anything that might be clogging it, and try testing it on the box again.

Humidity is also a culprit. If it is humid out, you will get dust as well.

Of course it wastes primer, but its better than killing a mini you just worked on forever.

Thanks for the replies gents. I spoke with a few people. To my surprise, once I told them the problem, they all said "You bought Armory white huh?" . Guess it's more the paint then the painter on this one. I'll give the boys a dunk in some Simple Green and then reprime.

On a side note, I've heard good things about Krylon primers. I'll be giving their White a try tonight. Again, thanks for the replies.

I like krylon primer. It's a lot less expensive and has a nice smooth coat. It tends to go on a little thicker, but I only use it for assembly line army painting, not individual masterpieces. Try putting the can in warm water before shaking and spraying and you will get a finer finish.

I've had the same thing happen to me with a can of Armoury primer when I tried to switch after GW reformulated theirs. I've since gone to using Dupicolor Sandable Primer which is available in Autozone and Advance Auto Parts stores. Some have found it at Wal-Mart though my local store does not carry it.

The best painter - IMHO, naturally - at my FLGS uses Krylon spray for everything he does. I've not tried Krylon for primer, but I do use their gloss varnish and like it.

As to Armory, I tried some of their black because it cost $4 less than GeeDub's black and because I had had a bad can of chaos black that fuzzed up models. Unfortunately, the Armory was consistently "not great," though I didn't have the same level of fuzz that you did - probably because it was a new can, or some similar factor. I recently bit the bullet and bought a new can of citadel black, and am VERY happy with it. Whatever they've done to reformulate in the last year+ they did a good job, because I haven't been so happy with a black base in a while. Smooth, good coverage, nice and shiny ... and smells nice too

That said I hear Testors is the best thing on the market, but I've never been able to find any. I'll probably stick with GeeDub's $$$ brand black spray until I get a bad can and start looking elsewhere again ...

- Salvage

I've been painting models for about 6 years, and while I'm happy with my brushes, paints, dull cote, modelling tools, stripping techniques and even lighting, I've yet to be fully satisfied with a primer. I'm currently simply using Krylon plastic primer, and it's simply good. It works, it's cheap, and it goes on smooth.