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I was just about to make my customary bulk order from GW, to avoid shipping rates, when I noticed that they've put up the prices on all their paints! Now for a 400ml can of GW's Chaos Black Primer, I'd have to pay £9.80 (That's $15 for those of you in the US), something i'm not willing to do.

So i'd like to ask all the UK painters - whats the cheapest, but still as effective as GW's, black primer I can get in the UK without paying out £10 a pop? I'm kind of desperate now.... :(

Armypainter make the best. you can find them online. they also make pot versions for touch ups.

Halfords matte black spray (is actually just paint, rather than primer) is about as good as gw's chaos black in a larger can for a couple of quid less.
I believe they also do a plastic primer, but my local store never seem to have it. :(
I've had good results with some £6.50 cans of 'Tetrosyl Trade Spray' from a local car panel replacement shop, its their generic can of primer, but only comes in grey, white or beige.
Probably very similar product (if not better than) Halfords brand grey primer (or white). As long as you test on sprue first, and go in light passes youl probably have zero problems.

Thanks people, It's just that I'm sick of being ripped off by GW's Spray. Don't get me wrong, I know they're a business, so I don't begrudge tem the price of their models or paints, but £9.80 for a can of spray primer that only does a few models is an absolute rip. Welcome to rip-off Britain. :(

I was thinking of going with army painter, but even they are only £2 less than GW. I'll check out the Halfords stuff as people often rave about that.

Thanks again.

Another vote for Army Painter, i swear by them. Their potted paint matches exactly with them as well.

Ive used one i bought from Wilkinsons, its a matt black plastic primer its about £5 a can,
i cant remember the name and i am in work but i will post later with name, pretty sure it begins with a K

probably Krylon.
I use halfords myself.

Another vote for army painter.

@ bubber, yeah thats the one, i thought it was pretty good.

Looking at the wilkinsons website, they dont stock any aerosol paints :( Dunno if they just don't stock them anymore, or if they cant deliver them perhaps.
I'm rather hoping they will have them instore next time I get chance to go to town.

One of the guys in my local club has been using halfords grey plastic primer for years, his stuff looks fantastic. I just tried they're yellow primer, but soon realised that filler primer and primer are not the same thing. After that fail I tried army painters Deamonic Yellow for my imperial fists, while being thicker than expected (thank god for test models) it went on fantastically, although a bit bright for my tastes. Highly recommended though for it's coverage!

Hmmmm, so an all round vote for Army Painter it seems, although I'm intrigued to see if Wilkinsons stock Krylon, because the American modellers seem to swear by it. I'm dubious of Halfords, because I gather it's car primer (thus it's used to fill up gaps/blemishes - not good for detail). Thanks all - any more suggestions are welcome

Halfords do many primers; One is a 'high build' or spray filler, that you speak of, they also do plastic primers (adheres to plastics) regular primer (comes in grey/white), And if you just have to have black they do matt black paint, which adheres to plastics quite well, but can chip off metals with no clear coat protections (its honestly about as good as citadel chaos black, which has been speculated to be just black paint)

Im also keen to find if Wilko's do the Krylon sprays as they seem to be the cheapest well known product.

I've used army painter, theyre good, better than citadels, but the price is up there (worth it for the colours, not really worth it for black, white or grey)

If wilko's have no Krylon for me, I'm probably sticking to my 'Tetrosyl Trade Spray' (which I'm sure the shop in question fill up with their own paints anyway so is probably some industrial brand of car paints)

@HairySticks - keep me posted if you do find Krylon in Wilko's Bit of a random question here, so feel free to ignore it , but you sound as if you're from the UK, but your flag indicates the USA. Is that just your internet provider, because my flag used indicate USA because of my provider.

Oh and yeah - Army Painter is only £2 cheaper than GW so not worth it I guess :(

 Warpig1815 wrote:
Oh and yeah - Army Painter is only £2 cheaper than GW so not worth it I guess :(

I feel you get much more for your money, it is an actual primer which bites into the plastic/resin much better than chaos black which is just the standard black in a tin. It is also properly black instead of the grey/black that chaos black is, you will see a major difference. I was amazed at how much of an improvement it is.

Be warned though, it is requires a technique to get the best results, do short sharp sweeps over the model, if you are slowly applying it, detail can be lost. Hold the can around 30cm from the models.

I use Autotek matt black primer which is about £5 from a local car parts shop, I've used Halfords in the past but found this one was cheaper and worked just as ell for me.

Brush-on vallejio all the way for me, bulk-bought in the big tubs.

 Warpig1815 wrote:
@HairySticks - keep me posted if you do find Krylon in Wilko's Bit of a random question here, so feel free to ignore it , but you sound as if you're from the UK, but your flag indicates the USA. Is that just your internet provider, because my flag used indicate USA because of my provider.

Oh and yeah - Army Painter is only £2 cheaper than GW so not worth it I guess :(

That it is It used to be correct on my old adsl line, we swapped to a fibre line and now Im from USA Any moderators that see this feel free to correct my flag; it should be from UK hehe, I've just not been too fussed to get it fixed lol!

Il be shopping for primer fairly soon, as I'm stipping down a load of orks to repaint at the moment. Will be some ordering of bitz... maybe pirate heads and then spraying again. Have been tempted by the valllejo airbrush primers, as I do have an airbrush, but the convinience of a rattle can still has me using them to prime with even after owning an airbrush for 24+ months. I simply cant be bothered to clean the airbrush out sometimes, and the aerosol can wins. Paticularly good primers are a pain to clean up (or thats what i found with hvlp spray guns and car paints)

I'm sure theres a small decorating shop near me that carry acrylic spray paints.. they might have something for me too if wilko's fail me.

If you're after cheap then http://www.eurocarparts.com/primers is roughly £4 for a 500ml Simoniz can and I think it's free delivery. They currently don't have any black in stock but they have Red Oxide, which is good for me as I do a lot of Red Planet Scenery. They also do grey and white, although the white isn't much good, which is odd compared to how good the black and red ones are. Alternatively they also stock Hycote but only 400ml cans and I've used those with success in the past. The do occasionally restock so black may be back on the site in a few months.

Thanks for all the replies people. I'm just going to put up a small list that I've gathered from your comments, because I know how infuriating it is for me to find decent, UK available, primers and if this helps others - all the better!

The options are (Prices from eBay, including P+P):

GW Chaos Black - £9.80 for 400ml
The Army Painter - £7.90 - 400ml
Halfords Primer (Non Filling Grey+White) - £7.49 - 500ml
Krylon (Range of Colours) - £5.00-ish - 400ml
Simonez Matt Black Spray - £4.85 - 500ml
Autotek Grey Spray Primer - £4.75 - 400ml
Hycote (Range of Colours) - £4.60 - 400ml

Anyone used these?
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_800819_langId_-1_categoryId_165495
There listed as cammo colours, come in black, brown, khaki and green.
Says suitable for bare metals, plastics or wood. And 'ultra matt' finish.
I kind of wish there was a grey one as I've taken to grey priming, might have a look at the khaki one for my new ork project.
Edit; even lists military models in its description hehe.

Nope, but if it lists military models I intend to get a can and find out Pity they don't do white as I'm thinking of switching to white so my Salamanders are a bit brighter :(

Should I add it to the list?

£50 ebay Airbrush setup. (they are actually damn good for the money)

And you will save alot of money in the long run. the large bottles of Vallejo primer are £2 each. and last twice as long as the GW or army painter cans. It will pay for itself within 6 months.

Dunno if anyone's said it, but the Valleyo stuff can be bought through wayland games, and it only takes a couple of days to deliver.

Could add them to the list, the price point isnt great on them though, £7.99 for a 300ml can, its only really got convinience factor for me as I could just order army painter in a wider range of colours. I just spotted them while browing the halfords site and they included 'tough finish' and 'ultra matt' in the description which made me think its suitable. Also said it was okay on bare metal, making me think that these are paint and primer in one. The colour range is forgivable to me as theyre listed as camouflage colours, and the 4 colours available make up the standard British army camo pattern.

Hmm, I think i'll omit them then - on the grounds that they're equal in price to Army Painter and have fewer colours.

Still think you should include halfords 'grey primer' at £7.49 per 500ml can, or £6.50 for 300ml can. Also do white, but I've not tryed that.
And a 'plastic primer' in grey or red for £6.49 for 300ml.

The 500ml grey primer from them has done me just fine in the past, they do sell a 'filler primer' which is the one to avoid, as it is supposed to fill detail in. Should be refered to as 'high build' or 'filler spray'.. something along that line is used for repair jobs with scratched, chipped or scuffed up panels. This is not the same as regular primers which you'd use on a flawless panel.

I have both Army Painter and Halfords, I prefer Halfords, as ive had some blockage off the Army Painter can on the very odd occasion (though could be this can as I didnt on previous ones), as far as results between the two you wont tell any difference.

@Hairy Sticks - Perhaps we should suggest to the mods or admins that a sticky thread be made to be updated with alternative spray primers, split into UK, USA and AU - those being, I assume, the countries in which GW products sell the most. Bad idea?

@All posters - Many thanks for all the input, any alternative spray primers to those already listed are more than welcome.

I think I'l likely grab a can of the halford cammo khaki colour at the weekend,will post results as it seems no ones tryed it. Will check Wilkinsons for any sprays they carry, altho I'm almost sure they dont have any spray paints in my local one, Will drop in the decorating shop I mentioned and see what they carry, might be another brand knocking about (Think I've had plastikote products from there before)
Failing wilko's and this other small shop, It'le be halfords grey most likely.