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I've only bought Army Painter once but I'm pretty disappointed in it given it was £10. It's been less than a year but I don't have the receipt. I've been modelling about 20 years and have used all sorts of brands, I tend to use Halfords car primer, as while expensive it's always been reliable. I bought Army Painter as I thought it might be more suitable to miniature painting. But it seemed prone to splattering paint rather than getting good coverage and frequently clogged.

And then there's this.



The can looks defective, dangerous even. Typing 'aerosol can bulge' into google comes back with other pictures of Army Painter cans. The forum from which they came had people saying the guy must have heated it. Which he denies, and I also have not done. It's been stored normally indoors just as I would any other aerosol can. It doesn't seem responsible to throw it in the trash as it's still over half full and highly pressurised. Added to which I can't even release all the propellant as the top seemed to have clogged permanently, even cleaning the nozzle doesn't help.

Do you have a gun?

If so target practice.

If not, move to America...

...then target practice.


I have never bought there primer (though I am tempted for my space wolves) however their quick shade (dropper bottle) is pretty ace.

I used to use their spray primers and really liked the sliver.
I've never seen a primer can do that.

I do know that Army Painter customer service was really good the one time I had a problem (bad brush from the factory) and they sent me out a new one in a few days. Have you tried emailing their customer service folks yet?

I've not emailed them yet but will do before I go away this evening. I was wondering if many others had similar problems. As I've seen other photos like this online I'm put off buying their products now.

That's odd. I've gone few a few AP rattle cans and I've never seen that happen before.

Happened to me several times. After the last time it happened to me, with the nozzle blocking on a half used can, I emailed and complained. To be fair to them, they sent me some free stuff in compensation but I haven't used Army Painter spray since. I stick to Halford's primers.

Most if not companies who make miniature related products will immediately send you a replacement if you complain about their product being defective.

Have never heard, let alone encounter this product so I have no other ideas on what to do.

My first ever can of Army Painter was terrible and fuzzy, and I swore off the brand for years. I started using their stuff again in 2012 and it's been smooth sailing since. Contact customer support about that can.

I've been out all week on holiday but came back and needed some primer. There wasn't much choice locally so I took a punt on another can of army painter. I figured it was unlikely to have the same problem twice, right? Wrong.

I used it this morning and noticed the same problem occurring. This isn't a storage or usage issue my end. Unless these cans are unlike the masses of others I've been though in the last 20 years.

I've emailed them so will report what they say. But it looks like more than a one-off to me.

 Ma55ter_fett wrote:
Do you have a gun?

If so target practice.

If not, move to America...

...then target practice.


I have never bought there primer (though I am tempted for my space wolves) however their quick shade (dropper bottle) is pretty ace.

I wonder if it would be really messy if you put a bullet into a spray primer I've painted both the Stormclaw Space Wolves and Dark Vengeance Dark Angels using the spray primers, and the results were decent. It was DEFINITELY less work than either painting over black, or airbrushing a basecoat. The primer was very slightly thicker, but it didn't obscure any detail. Here's a sample --

I have used many colors in many cans.

its a bit thicker than a few other brands of colored primer, but I have never had any problems.

Good stuff.

Glad I spotted this thread.
My last 2 anti-varnish sprays have packed up.
1 was about 1/3rd of the contents left and 1 had about half left

Looking underneath had the same strange swellings. None of my other sprays have this underneath including a load of army painter basecoat sprays.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e40i9tvfvabzi6h/Dodgycans.jpg?dl=0

I've been told to throw the can out and I will be issued a replacement. I suggest you do the same as there's more than a one-off problem they should know about.