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AllSeeingSkink wrote:

morfydd wrote:
I have gone to cheap rattle cans of Walmart color place ..Black grey or white for primer ..it works every time with a couple of very light passes ...

Yeah, maybe I'm just too ignorant, but what's wrong with just using rattle cans for priming? I figured the airbrush was best used when you actually needed some precision to your work rather than just when priming.

As long as its rattle cans of PRIMER.

Paint is not primer, and primer is not paint.
(no, this is not funny marketing here). They are formulated differently - primer is designed to bond with a surface, and then present a more compatible bonding layer for paint to be on top of it - paint is not engineered that way - it is more designd to have a harder surface and hold color better - thats why they are two different things.

Here is a more technical excerpt on paints and primer:
[spoiler]Primer is a paint product that allows finishing paint to adhere much better than if it were used alone. For this purpose, primer is designed to adhere to surfaces and to form a binding layer that is better prepared to receive the paint. Because primers do not need to be engineered to have durable, finished surfaces, they can instead be engineered to have improved filling and binding properties with the material underneath. Sometimes, this is achieved with specific chemistry, as in the case of aluminum primer, but more often, this is achieved through controlling the primer's physical properties such as porosity, tackiness, and hygroscopy.

The advantage to priming with an airbrush is speed and precision. You can get all those nooks and crannies on the first go and in no time at all, rather than coming back and putting the models at all sorts of odd angles so a spray can can hit them. Also, less mess, less affected by climate/humidity, and little to no wasted paint.

 firepower wrote:

With MrSurfacer, I have read around and am a bit confused. Most model sites where I've seen it mentioned talk about sanding and such. Does it go on so rough that it has to be sanded? Does this affect details? And do water based acrylics work with it, i.e. can I paint over it with vallejo and GW paints without problems?

The Vallejo non-water based primers...where? I can't find any such thing in my searches.

MrSurfacer is sand-ABLE, you don't HAVE TO sand it. Very cool, as you can prime pewter models with the first go, smooth down the surface and the second primer pass with result in a surface as smooth as resin or plastic.
You can of course just prime once, as usual. It does not drown details unless you put it on too thick, but that goes for all primers. The scale model guys sand down surfaces for other reasons.
If you ever tried to sand paint or non sand-able gap fillers (soft greenstuff, white glue,..), you will realize the advantage here.
I recommend the 1000 grit version, also note that MrThinner is the weapon of choice for thinning the stuff.


As for the second question:
You are right, I made a mistake with their fine arts line, sorry my bad, 'was originally referring to http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/en_US/fine-arts/auxiliary-products/1

There are of a few guys who are satisfied with car primer from a rattle can. That stuff is also sand-able in most cases, but you need the guts to use it, as it is definitely not removable from a plastic mini and the nozzle is made for something car-sized.