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I've been managing okay in the summer months. Now it's cold out and wondering
if there's any difference (I used to spray inside the building).

Hm....

If you have a Garage, I'd suggest heating it for a little while (enough to get it above freezing cold) and spraying whatever you need to in there, then opening the door to let the fumes out.

That's what I've had to do. Never had any problems with it.

Or if you're really out of options, you can buy paint-on primer without the accelerator in it. But that's gonna take forever.

EDIT: Note that I always use paint-on varnish, and it's mainly because I've had a very bad experience with it in winter. So there's no way I would recommend spray varnish in winter (It completely destroyed about half of my first fully painted army).

just wait until its warm enough

I've never had a problem with priming or spray-coating in temperatures around or below 0F. Just keep the can and model inside, step out, spray for a minute or two, then come back in. I'll usually leave the model outside to dry.

The big thing to lookout for is moisture. On cold days, if its forcasted to rain the next day do not paint. I have had to redo one model 4 times the past month because of the moisture in the air. It causes the paint to clump and flake. But if its sunny and no rain tommorow you should be fine.

Step out, shoot the mini's, and I bring them in after about 5 minutes to let the stink go away.

Chrysaor686 wrote:
If you have a Garage, I'd suggest heating it for a little while (enough to get it above freezing cold) and spraying whatever you need to in there, then opening the door to let the fumes out.

That's what I've had to do. Never had any problems with it.

Just did that yesterday. It's the way to go in the cold months. I've also grabbed a dehumidifier and primed in my closed garage when it was raining.

Except my garage is now a bedroom...lol. I feel the op's pain.

Get a bucket, fill it with scaling hot tap water.
Leave the spray can in the water to bring the paint up to temp.
Spray the mini outside, let it dry under a box or out of the wind.
before giving it a second coat bring the mini inside to bring it up to room temp
heat up paint... repeat those steps until finished
it takes a while to get things done, but I haven't had problems with fuzzing or flaking or cracking
and I live in upstate NY

The only problem with spraying outside in cold temperatures (below freezing) is that sometimes some of the accelerator in the paint will dry in midair, making for some super grainy miniatures. It doesn't always happen, but enough to make it a problem.

No garage here. Hrm...

Chrysaor686:
The only problem with spraying outside in cold temperatures (below freezing) is that sometimes some of the accelerator in the paint will dry in midair, making for some super grainy miniatures. It doesn't always happen, but enough to make it a problem.

      Yep, that's why you need to heat the paint can with water (it should be HOT to the touch).
      Though, I wouldn't use this method for sealing the miniature, since sealant is much more... finicky.

oh, and the standard 'don't do something dumb' clause:
Use hot tap water, never boil the can or submerge the can in boiling water or heat the can with a flame
mostly likely not necessary, but you never know who's lurking in forums.

I DO know people with garages, but seeing as they're not people who work on
stuff in their garages, they don't have any means to heat them.

I've had some problems with cold weather spraying.I live in Wisconsin. So in the winter I head to my parents house and fire up their fire place in the basement.

One of the local stores has a spray booth--is that available to you?

Otherwise, I'd go for black gesso.

They were spraying recently and it stank up the place. Not really interested in
going that route.

Black Gesso I've been using for my AT-43 stuff. I also need to spray varnish so I might
as well get some primer on while I'm at it.

The store in question had an actual spray booth with venting.

Ooh! Do the chem labs at your school have a ventilation hood? That would work...

burb1996 wrote:The big thing to lookout for is moisture. On cold days, if its forcasted to rain the next day do not paint. I have had to redo one model 4 times the past month because of the moisture in the air. It causes the paint to clump and flake. But if its sunny and no rain tommorow you should be fine.

Step out, shoot the mini's, and I bring them in after about 5 minutes to let the stink go away.

gwa ha haaaa. I was totally with you until i read "on cold days if its forcasted to rain" then i realized your in OK. cold days to you are easily swimming days up here

seriously tho as long as the minis and the paint are at least room temperature they will be fine to paint outside. I just recently did the black basecoat on my orks and it was 12F when i did it. the windchill was a whopping 3F and they dried just fine

syr8766 wrote:The store in question had an actual spray booth with venting.

Ooh! Do the chem labs at your school have a ventilation hood? That would work...

I don't think they work.

Yeah, I know. But it's not like they ever do real labs that take longer than a single period of class.

I've never had a problem with priming or spray-coating in temperatures around or below 0F. Just keep the can and model inside, step out, spray for a minute or two, then come back in. I'll usually leave the model outside to dry.

I second that, except that I bring my minis back in and set them somewhere I can't smell them.

If you keep you spray can indoors, there's no need to worry about heating it up. it'll work best at room temp.

The trick is to get everything ready inside...
Set your models up on a flat surface (not INSIDE a box lid, but one turned right side UP would work) and shake the heck out of your spray can.

Once everything's done, take it all outside at the same time.

Spray the minis, then bring 'em inside immediately. Yeah. there will be some smell to deal with, but it'll only last a bit.

Also, hold your can slightly closer to the models than normal (about 8 to 9 inches).

If you spray from a "face forward" position on the models, and not downward at them, your coverage should be good enough to only need one coat.

Repeat as necessary.

It's how I spray my models in the winter, and I've never had a problem (Missouri tends to have cold, humid winters).

Eric

or you could go this rout find a box fan find box same size as fan get 2 furness filters some cardboard to fill window and you have a spray booth make shure fan is pointing out

That'll do.

Was going to try it today, but realized I was out of spray. So I varnished my
finished minis instead.

sonofruss wrote:or you could go this rout find a box fan find box same size as fan get 2 furness filters some cardboard to fill window and you have a spray booth make shure fan is pointing out

Oh this reminds me of something awesome!

Someone on dakka posted a picture of it awhile back. It was a wooden/carboard box thing that went over the stove, extending out in front of it a little as well as having walls on the side. The front and top are open though. It fits onto your stove and you just turn on the little vent thing above the stove and prime away no problems! Does anyone have a pick of that?

Typeline wrote:

sonofruss wrote:or you could go this rout find a box fan find box same size as fan get 2 furness filters some cardboard to fill window and you have a spray booth make shure fan is pointing out

Oh this reminds me of something awesome!

Someone on dakka posted a picture of it awhile back. It was a wooden/carboard box thing that went over the stove, extending out in front of it a little as well as having walls on the side. The front and top are open though. It fits onto your stove and you just turn on the little vent thing above the stove and prime away no problems! Does anyone have a pick of that?

And where exactly does the overspray go to? I'm guess up the very expensive stove vent....

Advice for cold OR warm weather priming:

Don't spray it across your sister's/mom's/wife's eyes to make her look like Pris from Blade Runner.



Ghidorah

blade runner is such a badass movie mad props to you sir

BigToof wrote:

Typeline wrote:

sonofruss wrote:or you could go this rout find a box fan find box same size as fan get 2 furness filters some cardboard to fill window and you have a spray booth make shure fan is pointing out

Oh this reminds me of something awesome!

Someone on dakka posted a picture of it awhile back. It was a wooden/carboard box thing that went over the stove, extending out in front of it a little as well as having walls on the side. The front and top are open though. It fits onto your stove and you just turn on the little vent thing above the stove and prime away no problems! Does anyone have a pick of that?

And where exactly does the overspray go to? I'm guess up the very expensive stove vent....

Bingo!

Anyone who advocates using a stove vent has (a) never used a stove vent in this manner or (b) never looked at the UNDERSIDE of their stove vent after spraying.


Eric

Perhaps some sort of filter between the spray box and the hood then? Let the hood suck the air through, but have the filter get the paint before it hits the fan?

just don't

I just sprayed outside and its -40C. Used one of those mug warmers for the can (new gw primer, old you could never get away with this, see below) and did quick short bursts for front side, went back inside, let the pewter heat back up, same with can (and my fingers) then did the back side.

The new GW primer formula, while not as awesome coverage or consistency of color as the old GW cans, is superior in cold weather, as it shrink wraps onto the miniature after it dries.