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It's cold here. It's been hovering around 0 C for a week at most. I couldn't find my primer and finally got tired of trying to look for it in the mountains of boxes, so I bought another can. Now the next dilemma...

Before, I've always sprayed primer outside, in summer. It's cold now. Can't really do that reliably here. What are my options?

Try brush on primer. That's all I can think of. I've primed stuff when it's kinda cold out, but never that cold.

So, yeah. Brush-on primer.

Open a window and shut the door to the room with a fan blowing the fumes out could work. Going to be damn cold when you back in there.

Brushing on primer isn't going to work so hot either. It takes forfriggingever, and if I'm brushing it on I may as well just paint on a layer of Chaos Black. Not quite my thing.

I might try doing it in the basement and using damned good ventilation ... Iunno though. At least here I have a filter mask I can use so I don't end up accidentally inhaling things and having my lungs get infected.

Clearly, I just need to move to Phoenix so if I get the urge to paint something new in the middle of the night I can just grab a cardboard box and head outside, no matter what time of year it is.

Actually, your best bet is if you have a spray booth--(or something similar) is blocking off the window with a piece of insulation, and a hole cut for the ventilation tube.

Then keep a floor heater in the room, turn it on when you prime and to let things dry.

Can't say I have anything fancy like that, I'm afraid. The cardboard is just something for the models to sit under so I don't spray everything underneath and behind them.

Then insulate the windows and wear a mask with a heater, and go nuts

If you're not too careful though, you can get an extreme high off the fumes and lose an entire work day thinking you're a mermaid and granting the wishes of imaginary fishermen.

And really, who wants to lose a work day to that?

Kanluwen wrote:If you're not too careful though, you can get an extreme high off the fumes and lose an entire work day thinking you're a mermaid and granting the wishes of imaginary fishermen.

And really, who wants to lose a work day to that?

That would be a problem if I had regular employment.

Lucky me, I just knit for a living, and right now I don't have any time-critical pieces.

As soon as I'm done fangirl-squeeing over the first short story in Ravenor, I'll give it a shot! (:

Also, place your primer can in warm water for about twenty minutes (refresh the warm water) before spraying as well as finding a way to gently warm your models as well.

Once you start you gotta get done quick though. Maybe one or two models at a time.

I have sprayed down minis in temperatures below 0 Celsius before, and as long as you're quick to get them sprayed, they can usually be left outside for 5 to 10 min. to blow the smell off them. Then I bring them inside and they've been fine for me. I've been doing this for years now (since '91)...

I think the coldest I've tried (successfully) is -15 C; the weather where I live goes down to the -20 C range usually sometime in December, and for a week or two in January... if I'm lucky. Otherwise, it's -30 C for a spell and I catch up on my "ghost" armies!

(but let's not think of that... brrr!)

-Vilegrimm

GoFenris wrote:Also, place your primer can in warm water for about twenty minutes before spaying

I'll do my best, but my cat may start having flashbacks.

Joking aside, that is an excellent idea. It's still a little chilly in the house (old, poor heating) so anything that'll help will make me a happy.

Yeah, the cat may not care for that! Sorry for the typo. At least it was worth a laugh.

@Fenris: When the snark strikes me, I just can't help myself. Specially when it's all 'I AM A MOD AND THEREFORE COOL'.

@Vilegrimm: Thanks for the advice. One nice thing about an international forum, I don't instantly get weird looks for using Metric. I'm like a Canadian, only not, eh?

I think a combination of spaying erimeanSPRAYING outside after warming up the can and being quick about it might be my best bet. I'm still slightly nervous of using the basement; cat-flashbacks and mermaids don't really appeal to me...

You can spray inside. Use the cardboard box as you would outside. Just get an old sheet and lay it over a table near a window. Put the box on the table. Open the window for proper ventilation. Spray the minis. Keep the window open long enough for the fumes to dissipate. Close window. Take the minis to the basement, while they dry. This last will help keep the fumes down also.

The main goals here are keeping the minis and the paint can at room temperature.

My $0.02

Ironhide wrote:You can spray inside. Use the cardboard box as you would outside. Just get an old sheet and lay it over a table near a window. Put the box on the table. Open the window for proper ventilation. Spray the minis. Keep the window open long enough for the fumes to dissipate. Close window. Take the minis to the basement, while they dry. This last will help keep the fumes down also.

The main goals here are keeping the minis and the paint can at room temperature.

My $0.02

QFT. And do remember to keep things properly ventilated - my very first models, I didn't realize that the fumes would stick around after I primed models, so I ended up nice and light-headed afterwards. Plus, my counter top (Which was thankfully already a very dark stone) got a nice thin layer of black primer from all the fumes and excess spray settling down on top of it.

Oh, and I would definitely use some kind of fan to get the fumes out. Even just a little hand fan will be useful while spraying to make sure you don't end up high as a kite afterwards.

I've primed plenty of models at -40 degrees celcius. All you gotta do is put the can in hot water for a few minutes, and then finish the job quickly.

I had a sheet of corrugated plastic they use to make signs (though I'm sure cardboard would work just as well) that I used to make a kind of reverse hood to put on my stove top. It's got a bottom, sides, and back that are tall enough and sized to fit around the hood over the stove. Turn the vent fan on high (assuming your fan vents outside), and go to town spraying whatever I want there. If I spray a ton of stuff I can get a light dusting in front of the stove, but it cleans right up easily. I use this to spray almost everything, as I generally dislike spraying outside in the wind.

I live in Michigan, and it gets pretty damn cold here. I can tell you from experience, the temp outside has nothing to do with it if you prepare first.

Make sure you spray is to its optimum temperature. (room temp at least) same with the minis. Get box or large piece of cardboard or something ready with the minis on it for painting. Take everything outside at the same time and paint as normal. Once done, bring them all back inside the house. I usually put them in the bathroom with the vent fan on to help with fumes, but if your a huffer, then more power to ya lol

Thats it basically. You should be paint fast enough that the paint and minis do not cool off that much. I usually soak the can in a bowl of semi hot water to help. But as always do a test spray or two before spraying the minis. Couple quick bursts in the air to make sure its not blobby or anything.
Done and done

I was outside priming at 0oC this morning. I fill a jug with hot water and stand the can of chaos black in there while I set up models. I then spray quickly and bung them back in the box lid then bring them in for drying. It seemed to work fine and I've had no fuzz.

You must live north of me, because I'm about to prime some models outside. Because it's 50 Fahrenheit out now. (I have no idea what that is in your wacky metric tomfoolery.)

Priming in cold weather (0C/32F) is no trouble - just keep the spray can at room temperature. Never had any trouble in the past 10 years priming during the winter.

If the spray can and models as warm, you shouldn't have problems spraying outside due to cold.

Humidity is your problem. Never spray on a rainy day. Post or Pre storm. Or any other day that is especially humid.

Candroth wrote:@Fenris: When the snark strikes me, I just can't help myself. Specially when it's all 'I AM A MOD AND THEREFORE COOL'.

I was cool way before I got this swanky Mod title!

Okay, not really but if you did think I was cool because of it, I'll take it!!!




Good luck with primering. Lots of good tips on here.

Hey if you have a garage with electricity plug in a small heter and do your spraying in there just not loads at a time maybe 4-5 models in each sitting, then open your garage door a little to let the fumes out then repeat the spraying open door etc.

@KingCracker: Ah, Michigan. I'm never living in that state again. It was fun while it lasted, but I am SO GLAD to be gone from there ... Now living it up in Big Sky Country and glad to be where there's some FETHING MOUNTAINS OH MY GOD.

@warpcrafter: that 'wacky tomfoolery' is the technical official system of measurement for the United States. It's not my fault you can't get with the times! (It's about 10 C. Google 'X degrees C in F' or 'F in C' and it'll spit out the result.)

@Fenris: I'll choose to believe you were. Morons don't easily get to be a mod, and less seldom is the chance they KEEP it... <3!

@Everyone: Tons of responses make me a happy kitty. The bonus is everyone is saying the same thing, which means it's probably sound advice. (Did you hear that? I think that was the sound of the Laws of Forum Probability rolling over and dying...)

Seriously folks, thanks so much for the help!

in the temperature scale of centigrade 0 is equal to 32 degrees the temprature at which water freezes and 100 is equa to the temprature that water takes to boil.. or 212 degrees.