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Anyone else have an issue with their white citadel primer applying unevenly and looking very grainy and dusty? Im pretty pissed now that I didnt test it out on one small piece first, instead of basically ruining a bunch of models.

Does anyone have some way to minimize that unwanted affect? Maybe sanding it or rubbing it or something like that? Paint thinner?

Suggestions would be great!

Thanks everyone

Yeap, same for me a while ago. Its the heat me thinks. Worked fine the last time I used it and the only difference is summer vs spring.

I had a bad can with a different brand. One thing is to be sure to shake the can well, don’t prime on hot, humid, and/or dry days. Hold it the right distance away as well.

I soaked my bad batch of minis in simple green and scrubbed them with a toothbrush. Got most of the stuff off, but not all. Took the wind out of my Eldar project…

The quality control from whoever makes GW's new white spray paint is really dodgy. I highly recommend switching to Krylon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The quality control from whoever makes GW's new white spray paint is really dodgy. I highly recommend switching to Krylon.

Not worth trying to sand or buff the texture out. Just strip them and try again. Note that white sprays are universally more troublesome than most other colors. Next time, try spraying closer to the model. You'll need to move quickly, to avoid excessive buildup, but it gives the paint less time between the nozzle and the model, meaning less time for things to go wrong. The vast majority of the time, that's all it takes to solve issues with chalky finishes from aerosols, regardless of what exactly caused the initial issue (temperature, humidity, etc.).

Odds are, this has NOTHING to do with your spray paint. I don't believe in "bad cans" although I've certainly had my experiences with grainy undercoating.

My guess? You just sprayed on a bad day. Try to avoid priming your models on days where humidity is above 70%.

The first imperial fists I painted, the white primer looked like crap. I was still determine dto figure out how I was going to get the yellow to look a certain way, so i painted the model anyway.

Once I got my system down for yellow, I stripped the models and primed them again using the SAME can of spray paint.

No issues. Its easy during the summer to have high humidity, so just be mindful of it. Google your city's relative humidity for the day just to be sure.

What others have said - this is common.

It is known as "grainy primer" and if you want, do a search on it, you will literally see dozens and dozens of posts about it.

Basically, the combo of temp and dryness of the air caused the primer droplets to start drying in mid air - thus they did not all hit your model as wet paint...but as tiny granules of paint.

By spraying closer to the model, it has less "Hang time" and thus reduces the chance to this happening.

I'll be trying out white primer soon... you guys are making me really nervous about it! I was told black is better for a beginner, by im going to be painting my models bright, shiny colours and didn't want it too dark. I'll try and use the tips from here!

The grainy effect can happen with ANY PAINT, you just notice it more with white, so don't fear it.

Do a test on a piece of plastic that is not one of your models, to see how it works out.

Hold the can closer to the model, but use quick bursts or sweeping motions so you don't get the paint too thick.

With a little bit of testing and practice, you will get the hang of it.

best of luck!

Also, if you have a protected area and good ventilation, you can try spraying inside where the air conditioning will have removed a lot of moisture from the air.

You have to be very careful with this, as both the spray and the fumes can cause problems. You need an area where the stray spray won't be a problem (either a booth or maybe a work-room) and a way to get rid of the fumes that are created. It's a lot easier for a couple of models than for a bunch. If you can safely spray a few models inside, you can open the doors and windows and get rid of the fumes (which will also increase the humidity back up, so you can't spray more). The fumes from the models themselves can be alleviated by allowing them to dry outside. Once on the model, the paint doesn't react to the humidity the same way.

Not (by any means) the best solution, but a workable one if you just need to spray 1 or 2 troopers.

I had this exact same problem. In the end, GW was very helpful the entire time, and made sure the situation was fixed. So, despite the poor product, their customer service guys were great.

My Citadel white spray primer came out like a mix of powdered dust and silly string, and most of a box of Wolf Guard Terminators were ruined. To make sure it was the paint and not me/ambient conditions, I got out a can of Citadel Fang, and Krylon white spray primer, both worked fine in the exact same conditions!

Since I verified I didn't screw something up, I called up GW. They went through the whole spiel with me, trying to make sure I wasn't an idiot who was doing it wrong. "Did you shake the can? Was it too hot/humid? Did you spray from about 12" away?" I even emailed the support team pictures of my parts coated in gunked up white paint to show them just how awful it was. Eventually I was told that the white spray primer is unforgiving and takes a lot of work to get a proper finish. My response to that is this:

If your product takes that much work, and is so finicky, it's a bad product. You need to re-engineer it, because if Krylon can do the job with a $4 can, your $14 can damn well better.

I was given another can of Fang in exchange for the white primer, but I won't buy the Skull White ever again. In fact, for white and black primer, there's no reason to buy the GW brand when you can get 3 to 4 cans of Krylon/Rustoleum at the same price. I only buy codex color sprays from GW now, because of the colormatching to their regular paint line. Otherwise, hardware store for primers!


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WhiteDwarf wrote:
Anyone else have an issue with their white citadel primer applying unevenly and looking very grainy and dusty? Im pretty pissed now that I didnt test it out on one small piece first, instead of basically ruining a bunch of models.

Does anyone have some way to minimize that unwanted affect? Maybe sanding it or rubbing it or something like that? Paint thinner?

My paintjob was pretty stuck on there, so I used a two step process:

1) Quick soak (few hours) in nail polish remover, scrub gently with toothbrush.
FYI, WARNING: Nail polish remover will soften the plastic too, so be careful not to soak too long!

2) Long soak in Simple Green (2 days), scrub like hell with toothbrush!

3) Stick in ultrasonic cleaner with warm Simple Green solution to get last bits loose. I had access to one, so I used it for a final clean. It's not strictly necessary.

Some small bits were done for, because you can't scrub wolfclaws without breaking them.