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Hi, I just got around to prime some space marines, thought I'd start out with one, which proved to be a good idea.

I gave the spray a good shaking before starting, but it hardly covers anything, and it is extremely thin and runs all over. I tried various distances, but the further away the less it covers. I havent used white primers before, so I dont know if its supposed to just cover very poorly, so I have to give it 3-4 coats before its good?

Or maybe I didnt shake it enough?

Also, does the temperature in which I prime in, have any effect on this, or only on the drying process?

It should cover your mini's around first try... Sometimes you need to shake them for several minutes though... The more you shake them, the better they cover the mini's. The less you shake, the thicker it seems to be...

Oh, and don't hold it too close to the mini's... You don't wanna fill all the small gaps, and ruin the details!

Guess I'll just try and shake it like theres no tomorrow. Thanks.

What? Shake it!? I just play catch with my friends, and then spray my miniatures. Works every time

Shaking is good, also it is good to 'whirl' it so the ball in the can moves i a circle around the bottom where the pigment tends to gather.

If it doesnt cover, it is usually not shaken enough, I usually take 2 coats to cover. Be sure to start sparying off the model and then to move across the model before releasing the nozzle. You almost never want to shoot right at what you are spraying with spray paint, it prevents you from getting an even coat.

Also, save yourself some money next time and don't bother with the GW primer. It's just overpriced versions of common white or black spray primer you can get literally at any store that sells paint.

Skarboy wrote:Also, save yourself some money next time and don't bother with the GW primer. It's just overpriced versions of common white or black spray primer you can get literally at any store that sells paint.

White is easy enough to come by, but I have had trouble finding a decent black primer (that isn't the rather steep GW primer). What brand are you using?

And OP, I agree with the others, it sounds like it wasn't shaken enough. You should shake the can for 1-2 minutes before use.

I was actually going to buy a cheap brand of white primer at a local shop, but came across the GW for half price, and figured I might as well get that. I'll try shaking it some more and spraying it again tomorrow.

I generally shake it for at least a minute or so, and spray on two to three coats for good coverage. You should spray it at around 12 inches/30cms away from the model (the same length as a standard school ruler) so the paint doesnt pool.

Skarboy wrote:Also, save yourself some money next time and don't bother with the GW primer. It's just overpriced versions of common white or black spray primer you can get literally at any store that sells paint.

FALSE!

Big Tim wrote:

Skarboy wrote:Also, save yourself some money next time and don't bother with the GW primer. It's just overpriced versions of common white or black spray primer you can get literally at any store that sells paint.

White is easy enough to come by, but I have had trouble finding a decent black primer (that isn't the rather steep GW primer). What brand are you using?

And OP, I agree with the others, it sounds like it wasn't shaken enough. You should shake the can for 1-2 minutes before use.

My game store here in the US carries Armory brand spray primers. The black is very good and it's priced midway between GW stuff and Walmart Rustoleum.

I recently bought a GW skull white primer for the first time in years, and when I tried to use it, it came out as 90% POWDER and 10% primer paint. What the hell??? Had to throw it out.

I use the Board To Pieces brand black spray. Works just fine.

army painter spray primers from neal over at the warstore (uk shops have em too) are the awesome. here is the red and white in action. this the result of one coat of each colour over their black primer:




and a close up with some dudes who happened to be out and about.






their website has an excellent gallery of all colours in use.

http://www.thearmypainter.com/gallery.php

ChankTheLank wrote:I recently bought a GW skull white primer for the first time in years, and when I tried to use it, it came out as 90% POWDER and 10% primer paint. What the hell??? Had to throw it out.

I use the Board To Pieces brand black spray. Works just fine.

I got some Board To Pieces black primer for my store, and that stuff was absolute garbage. It was uneven and splotchy, and after one model I just threw it away. Better to get Walmart paint.

Also, I've never had a single problem with GW paint. Maybe you got a can that had been sitting in the store for years. Maybe you didn't shake it enough. Seems strange. Also, with the white, I find that sometimes the first coat looks really runny and bad, and if you just let it dry and coat it again, it looks perfect.

Army Painter primer comes out very gritty, probably something to do with the fact that you're supposed to dip the models. It's still a great coat, and it actually looked pretty cool on some of Warmachine models, so much so that I just left the white parts primed, and didn't even paint over them.

I found my white GW primer works best if heated for a bit.
What I do is get a bucket (big enough to hold enough water to immerse at least 60% of the can)
I fill the bucket enough with hot tap water and then let the can soak. It usually takes 30 minutes or so and during that time I’m prepping the mini’s for primer & double checking my work.
After I’m happy with the can temperature I proceed to shake the b-jesus out of the can….. usually a minute or so with it right side up and upside down…. Get everything good an mixed up…
Paint comes out real good and usually one light coat and if I’m using lighter colors another coat of primer doesn’t hurt.

I had a similar problem. Shaking should help, but bad batches do happen.

As for Armory - I found it to be garbage primer. Army painter is hit-or-miss, too. Seen it do some awful stuff, but I admit I haven't used it myself.

The one thing I like about GW Primer is the new nozzle, which is superior to any others I have run across. Nice and even flow every time.

hemlighest wrote:Also, does the temperature in which I prime in, have any effect on this, or only on the drying process?

Temperature AND Humidity BOTH have a role in the performance (or lack thereof) of spray paints.

Too hot and dry, the paint will dry before it hits the model, leading to a sandpaper effect.
Too hot and humid, the paint will collect moisture droplets, condense around them and then hit the model. See above.
Too cold I'm not sure about as it never snows where I am.

Skarboy wrote:Also, save yourself some money next time and don't bother with the GW primer. It's just overpriced versions of common white or black spray primer you can get literally at any store that sells paint.

I beg to differ. I've used Armory primers, Lowe's primers, and GW primer....the GW spray gives the finest "mist" and lowest incidence of overspray. I'll use crap primers on tanks and war machines, but for actual mini's I stick with what I know.

Thats like saying "Any pair of wire cutters is the same as the GW clips".....its not.

if you still have problems after shaking, you can also try turning on your sink faucet and running real hot water, then hold the can under the water for a few minutes. Make sure not to get any water around the nozzle, just heating up the base of the can will do....then will make the paint flow much better. Best of luck!

Shaking. 2 minutes on 'aaaaaaarrrrrgh' does it every time.

It could be the temperature. I normally spray black undercoat but here in Scotland at the moment it is very cold, and the last time I tried to spray outside when it was cold, the paint blistered. It still covered but looked bumpy. I used to use white and remember that it sometimes took 2 coats just to cover.

I've stopped using GW white spray due to it's powdery effect on more than one occasion.

It was so bad it was almost like christmas snow for your windows.

Never had a problem with it's black one though.

The problem, my friends, is that Skull White and Chaos Black are NOT primers, they are satin paint. GW stopped making true primers years ago.

Rustoleum and Krylon both make black primer. Krylon is harder to find but it does exist. Rustoleum is 4.35 at Walmart vs 16 for Skull White paint.

As far as weather I've never had issues with either of those primers. Just today I primed some dark eldar with Rustoleum black primer and it came out beautifully, it was 15 degrees outside and snowing.

Fateweaver wrote:The problem, my friends, is that Skull White and Chaos Black are NOT primers, they are satin paint. GW stopped making true primers years ago.

Really???? that's good to know then because it's hard to justify $15 a can when you walk by a shelf at the autostore that says "primer" for $7.00 if you know what I mean....
This will require further investigation.
I've been using a self etching primer on my metal mini's and that's working very well for me.... I had issues with the GW primer, AKA Skull white/Chaos black on metal.... and haven't looked back since I switched to the actual primer....

Yup, kinda weird that primer is indeed not primer

I've heard that cheap cans from walmart can be good substitutes although never tried it myself

I've never had a problem with GW but bought some army Painter Black Primer the last time I popped in to Wayland.

The paint was okay but you couldn't spray for long before it clogged, mostly because the nozzle was crap. I had to keep popping it out and cleaning the fether with a needle.

I thnk fateweaver called it well that if you can get a proper primer for a quarter of GW it make so much more sense.

Not sure we can get Spray primer so cheeply in the UK compared to GW stuff. I think its £6-7, the car auto/hardware store stuff isnt much cheaper unless anyone knows differantly?

$7 for a can of primer? Where the hell at? Wallyworld has Rustoleum and Krylon for around $4.50 per can.

I'd never use GW spray for anything; not even painting the latrine. For $15 I can get 3 cans of Rustoleum satin paint and it's loads better.