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I live in Canada, and in an apartment block without an interior garage. Winter is pretty much here most of the year, meaning there is under 15 Celsius temperature in a regular basis meaning priming minis is out of the question 8 months out of 12.
I looked a little on airbrushes, don't think they are as hazardous as the spray cans, but I'm uncertain about spending cash on a system that might not even be of use to me.

So has Dakka figured out any means of priming minis in cold weather or have some sort of method I can do indoors without too much hassle? I do not want to spend the next 7 months waiting for over 15 Celcius to prime minis (and go about with an unpainted mass in my army)

I've never let cold weather stop me from priming. I take my minis outside, spray them and let them sit for 15-20 minutes before bringing them in and it seems to work just fine as long as it's not extremely cold (and yes, I'm in Canada as well).

Not a tutorial. moving to general P&M...

the main concern is to keep your paints at room temperature or better. I left a can of spray paint out in the cold for about a week, then tried using it. Thank God I didn't ruin my models with the sludge that came out, and 4 thin(ish) coats later, I had primed models.

You could use brush-on primer.

I try to get a backlog of stuff primed before winter sets in, so I have a full workbench to last me till spring.

Other options would be to ask around if you have any friends who could let you use their garage. Or if someone would prime them for you.

Or brush-on.

I often prime my models outside in temperatures around 10 degrees C and a little bit colder (though I'm Australian, it never gets much colder than that even in the middle of winter, so YMMV).

I found in the cold it was important to do multiple very thin coats with a bit of time between to allow them to dry.

Regardless of temperature it's important to just spray something you don't care about first, so you can get an idea of how the paint is flowing and adjust your spraying distance/thickness/coats/drying time between coats appropriately.

The only weather that bothers me in Oz is the really hot weather, where the paint feels like it's curing before it's properly flowed over the model, so in the summer I only prime in the mornings and late evening when it's a bit cooler.

Well, I'll try priming outside in the cold, it's a few notches under 0, so it should not be too problematic.

1: Open door.
2: Hold model outside door, with spray going away from house.
3: Prime and let dry inside.
4: ...
5: Profit.


Works in Oregon, where we get cold and rain at the same time. Now varnish is another matter entirely.

Yeah I live in an arctic area too... just leave them outside for a bit. Nothing forges minis better than the coldest depths of hell.

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
the main concern is to keep your paints at room temperature or better.

This. I've primed in winter before without issue - not Canadian winter, mind you, but below freezing, nonetheless. Before you go to spray, alternate running the can under hot (not scalding - don't want the thing exploding or your hands blistering) water and shaking it (more thorough mixing is never bad and it helps distribute the heat throughout the contents). So long as the can is warm, it'll behave more or less as normal in all but the most ridiculously frigid conditions. A bit of test spray to make sure things are running smoothly is still recommended, of course.

If you'd prefer to keep things indoors, there are always brush-on primers and gesso. I've never used them, but I've seen a number of favorable reviews. The airbrush is another option, as you know, but it's a bit of an investment for just priming. Consider how much you have to spend and how likely you are to use it for other tasks, as well. If you think you want to try out other, in-progress painting tasks (basecoating, blends, zenithal lighting, OSL, etc.), then it's definitely worth it, when you add the ability to prime and varnish indoors. For those last two tasks alone, it's debatable.

It was about 35 degrees Fahrenheit here in Wisconsin last night, and I primed 3 infinity models outside, I used thin coats and gave them about 2-3 minutes outside before moving them back in and allowing them to finish drying inside... this is what I've done for the last couple years during winter, and it has never caused me any problems. The biggest thing to me is making sure that the paint is at room temperature. All of my paint is kept inside so this is not really an issue. One thing that you can do, and this is actually recommended even for normal Spray priming/painting, is to let the can sit in a little bit of warm water for a few minutes.

priming with an airbrush works pretty good... but because those primers have less chemicals in them that create the bond with the model they are a little bit more fragile with out the right technique...
but you will be able to prime way more models with an airbrush as you are able to do with a spray can.....

if you got the cash to spend it on an airbrush and compressor + accessories i would recommend doing that... the airbrush will prove itself useful in a whole lot more area's

 oadie wrote:

 SoloFalcon1138 wrote:
the main concern is to keep your paints at room temperature or better.

This. I've primed in winter before without issue - not Canadian winter, mind you, but below freezing, nonetheless. Before you go to spray, alternate running the can under hot (not scalding - don't want the thing exploding or your hands blistering) water and shaking it (more thorough mixing is never bad and it helps distribute the heat throughout the contents). So long as the can is warm, it'll behave more or less as normal in all but the most ridiculously frigid conditions. A bit of test spray to make sure things are running smoothly is still recommended, of course.
.

Seconded. I also use a container of warm, not hot water to keep the can warmed while outside in the cold. Course, its a Texas winter I'm talking about, so it could start off at 32 F or lower and during the prime heat up to 80 F outside