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What spray primers does everyone use? I've always typically used GW stuff, but it's so ridiculously expensive. I see that the Privateer Press Formula P3 Primer is about half the cost. I'd imagine it works just as well. I'm also seeing "Armory" brand spray primer and "Army Painter" brand spray primer.

Any suggestions?

The Army Painter Primer $9 - http://www.thewarstore.com/product39106.html
Armory Primer $5.25 - http://miniaturemarket.com/inc/sdetail/182145
Formula P3 Primer $8 - http://www.thewarstore.com/product47731.html

I'm leaning towards P3 as I trust Privateer Press and I know nothing about the other 2. I used some generic non-miniature specific stuff from Home Depot and it was a little bit too thick I think (it obscured a little bit of detail), so I'm hesitant to buy stuff without knowing that it works well.

Using Skull White for my elves, it's got a nice consistancy. Otherwise normal hardware store spray works fine for darker stuff.

I go down to Napa Auto Parts, an auto parts store duh, and buy the appropriate vehicle primer there. The primer is very fine, extremely smooth, glossy or non-glossy as you prefer, non-watery and anywhere from $3 to $6.

Im rather fond of the Krylon brand spray paints. Works great under most conditions and is priced fair - about $3 a can at the store near me.

GW thinks they are gods gift to paint....even a tiny bottle of paint is $4???? get real! And dont even get me started on the ridiculous inflated price of their precious WD mags. Anyway, unfortunately, I only have access to GW primer in my area, so I continue to buy it and use it.

gw primer does ok by me, bit pricey though (which is to be expected from them), ive had bad experience with auto primer, the best ive used is humbrol

bagley wrote:gw primer does ok by me, bit pricey though (which is to be expected from them), ive had bad experience with auto primer, the best ive used is humbrol

Yeah, GW stuff isn't bad... but at $16/bottle it's just not worth it imo. I'm leaning towards trying out the P3 stuff. I've heard good things about the P3 paints and I do like Privateer Press... and it's half the cost of the GW stuff.

Dupli-color sandable primer - http://www.duplicolor.com/products/sandablePrimer/ $5 from the local auto parts store.

Works just fine on metal and plastic. Smooth, dries quickly, and takes paint well.

+1 Dupli-color automotive Primer for figs/models.

For terrain .99 flat black from HomeDepot.

Never buy primer from a game company...

Ah yes, Krylon! That's the stuff I was talking about. I really like their white. All the white primers I used from model companies were watery and just bad.

Svenn wrote:

bagley wrote:gw primer does ok by me, bit pricey though (which is to be expected from them), ive had bad experience with auto primer, the best ive used is humbrol

Yeah, GW stuff isn't bad... but at $16/bottle it's just not worth it imo. I'm leaning towards trying out the P3 stuff. I've heard good things about the P3 paints and I do like Privateer Press... and it's half the cost of the GW stuff.

When did the price hike happen on this? Last time I bought it I remember it only being like $8.00.

Beer_&_Bolters wrote:Im rather fond of the Krylon brand spray paints. Works great under most conditions and is priced fair - about $3 a can at the store near me.

Krylon has always been good to me in flat black, Valspar has okay glossy stuff its about the same price mabey 3 buck a can at lowes. non gw stuff will get yoou the same results for primer at 1/3 the cost in msot cases.

oni wrote:

Svenn wrote:

bagley wrote:gw primer does ok by me, bit pricey though (which is to be expected from them), ive had bad experience with auto primer, the best ive used is humbrol

Yeah, GW stuff isn't bad... but at $16/bottle it's just not worth it imo. I'm leaning towards trying out the P3 stuff. I've heard good things about the P3 paints and I do like Privateer Press... and it's half the cost of the GW stuff.

When did the price hike happen on this? Last time I bought it I remember it only being like $8.00.

A while ago... I guess it's technically $15 from GW.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1200064&rootCatGameStyle=

The GW stuff and the Army Painter are the only primers I have used which are worth a damn. I'd highly recommend one of those two.

That just infuriates me. I normally don't complain much about their price hikes, but $15 for a can of primer is absurd.

To answer the OP's question, I use GW primer because it's arguably the best primer out there.

Although I'm not sure I can bring myself to now pay $15 a can. :(

Medium grey primer from the Plasti-cote range for me.

I sometimes use white on small models.

Krylon white primer is great. There's a bit of a learning curve though. I've found that if you get 3-4 inches away from the model and make very quick passes, it does wonderfully.

The P3 stuff is pretty good, but I really prefer the Duplicolor. It's one of three primers that the Privateer studio is allowed to use, along with their own and... something I can't remember. :/ Anyway, good stuff the Duplicolor Sandable Automotive. Extremely fine, goes on smooth, doesn't obscure detail, and doesn't chip too much. Also, a steal at $5 or less at your local O'Reilly's.

always had great success with army painter's various sprays. they have recently released a series of acrylics and they are attempting to correct their colours so they match the sprays. they are the only makers of sprays I know of who's pots and sprays match (or will soon, rather).

For painting marines, the army painter is golden. Especially if you need to paint yellow or red.

Depends on the model. Prefer Grey primer overall, but will use any colour dependent on the mini.

Really important to do the "hold upside down and spray" to clean the nozzle after priming. Even so I find that primers vary can to can and can go bad without warning, with some brands being worse than others. I suspect it is dependant on maker and the mixture of primer particles/adhesive/ propellant. It seems a random occurrence when the primer goes bad. After that it is only fit for terrain and larger low-detail items

GW's primers are random quality, and overpriced. The Results are good enough, but for 15 bux a can I demand to be able to use the whole can and never to have a can start bad. [had a can of black primer start bad and ruined an epic plastic titian]

Old armory primer was ok for me, i have only heard bad things about random quality in the last few years.

Had 2 cans of plastikote black, both started bad

Brite Touch is good in my book It goes on super thin [that good], their black is a real black [not dark grey] and their “brown oxide is a SUPER red, perfect for any dragons you may be painting.

Rusty-olium primers seem sub par. Their brown is very brown, but it goes on thick, cap leaks and can goes bad when half empty[store clerk said it happens often.

I hear good things for krylon

Cheap primers Big lots, ace, etc seem to work fine for me

I prime with the colour that will work best for the mini. Dark minis and full plate wearers get black. White primer for minis i will want bright. Grey for in between the two extreams [i use grey the most] Red primer for red dragons and firey critters. Brown for earthy and boney figures. Fuzzy black primer followed by dusty white primer for a mini that will be a statue.[why waste bad cans?] I swear by none, but good blacks and brown seem the rarest for me.

Duplicolor sandable auto primer.

From the local auto store (around the corner) it's seriously not worth going into town to the GW store for spray paint.

Cheaper, is an ACTUAL primer - not gussied up spray paint - that does the job properly and hasn't given me issues yet.

Here's what Army Painter did to a vindicator I'm doing for a commission:


Armory black primer does the same thing. Three cans in a row did that. Armory white is actually really good though. I use Krylon for everything now though; it works best in my experience.

Just got to your LOCAL HARDWARE store. Find some primer.

Make sure you shake the hell out of it. Even warm it in some warm water. Then shake it some more.

GW stuff works but you're silly or rich if you buy it. Some people are too lazy to shop around so GW takes advantage of that (which is fair enough, but still, a little wrong).

Brother SRM wrote:Here's what Army Painter did to a vindicator I'm doing for a commission:
Armory black primer does the same thing. Three cans in a row did that. Armory white is actually really good though. I use Krylon for everything now though; it works best in my experience.

Looks like a humidity or distance issue.

I have found that the army painter dries REALLY fast and if you hold it a normal distance away you get a dusty or sandy grain to the finish. Hold it at about 1/2 the distance you would normally and you are golden. I saw that you were in CT so I doubt it is a humidity issue.

I've been using Tamiya's grey primer, comes in a few shades of grey, which is handy, but it goes on really smooth. Sometimes appears to build up a bit, but seems to shrink on and looks great.

It's a bit pricey though, I think I paid about £5 for a small can that'll probably base my SM Battleforce and not much else.