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Hey guys, I was wondering what primer/undercoat does and where i could get some. I'm a noob :

Thanks,

- Liam

Answered many times! Your search-fu is weak!

This said - a primer and an undercoat are really two different things, but we usually use one product to do both jobs.

A primer's job is to give subsequent coats of paint something to adhere to - bare plastic or metal doesn't provide enough 'hooks' for the paint to stick to. You could use automotive primers, available from car accessory shops for example. I know a few people who swear by these.

A primer can sometimes be combined with a surfacer, which will provide some coverage of scratches from sanding, and usually will be graded to give an indication of the roughness of the surface (higher numbers give a smoother result). An example of this is the MrColor MrSurfacer range - available in 500 and 1000 varieties at least to my knowlege. The 500 is very rough but works very well if you're looking for a pitted, cast-iron look. These are generally only ever used with airbrush top coats (to preserve the surface finish).

You can get combined primer and basecoat (your first or main colour) sprays (such as Citadel's spray cans, which are usually great). I use matt black acrylic spray from halfords (a car shop), having cleaned up my models with mildly soapy water to remove mould release agent etc. Army Painter do a range of coloured primers which I've also heard good things about. I'll be switching back to citadel as soon as my current stocks run out, as I prefer the way they spray - it's much finer and easier to avoid runs and over-coverage.

Some people skip the use of a primer altogether, but I wouldn't recommend this in general. It is always important to clean up the minis though - sometimes there will be release agent on them (ESPECIALLY on resin) that will screw up your paintwork.

Top tip: Always have a practice spray on something unimportant, like a piece of card to make sure the paint is thoroughly mixed and is behaving as you expect it to, before spraying a mini.

Thanks!

I'll agree with winterdyne, but it is kind of useless using search. it works, just not that well. sometimesyou don't find things, and you've gotta wing it.

So, by all means, ask, search first, but then you should thread it.

It's probably best you start with a house paint like you can get at Downunder home and hardware. (Guessing your aussie.) which gives nice coverage.

depends really on the model you're doing. if it's a very intricately detailed model (like a metal space marine chaplain or such) then you're best off drybushing some Chaos Black on (or any black paint that isn't TOO thick).

For larger or less detailed models I'd recommend spraying them black or white first.


As a rule I always spray white because black makes it hard to spot details when painting but that's just me

LGC1337 wrote:Hey guys, I was wondering what primer/undercoat does and where i could get some. I'm a noob :

Thanks,

- Liam

I like the Reaper Black Primer. I've heard mixed reviews on their paints but I just bought their primer and it went on smooth, didn't crack and worked probably the best of any primer i've yet to try.

On another subject I really need to get a camera.