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Is it possible to exchange GW Primer at their shops? A friend in their good intentions bought me a can of the stuff buy from prior experience I know it is not the best stuff, I prefer other primer brands. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm assuming I can't since it is not in any plastic and they would not be able to tell if I've used it at all.

Can;t hurt to try. You might get a better response if you start by letting them know you plan to buy something more expensive than the primer.
More money coming in generally makes people more willing to return things.

Generally speaking GW has a pretty good return policy but I've never heard of anyone returning primer, i'd suggest giving the store a call and asking rather then just showing up and hoping for the best

I don't know about the GW primers but some spray cans you can tell if they have been opened (there is a little tab thing you have to jam a screwdriver through). If it is clearly still sealed I don't think they would have a problem with it.

GW will usually accept anything back that is unused and they can still sell. I've seen primers exchanged before in a GW no problem.

If it's not been used (pretty easy to tell with a spray can) then GW usually give you store credit without a receipt.

Also one reason why GW sprays aren't the best primer is that they are paint not primer. Not sure why people always make this mistake?

 notprop wrote:
Also one reason why GW sprays aren't the best primer is that they are paint not primer. Not sure why people always make this mistake?

I've found the white gives a primer-like finish. The black doesn't, but the white does.

I've exchanged an unused can before and they had no qualms about it. I've always found the spray cans from there to be suitable for my needs but I'm very much a tabletop standard kind of guy.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 notprop wrote:
Also one reason why GW sprays aren't the best primer is that they are paint not primer. Not sure why people always make this mistake?

I've found the white gives a primer-like finish. The black doesn't, but the white does.

So the black isn't a good primer and white isn't a good paint - what a range!

Actually the gw primer is recognised as one of the best on the market, it is even used by more mainstream model makers on non gw products. I think the stuff is pretty good tbh

Not sure where you got that idea Lovepug. GW primer has been rife with quality control issues for years, ever since they switched manufacturers away from Krylon. Krylon Primers are the best in the business in my book. Inexpensive, and very reliable. Many folks also use the Tamiya primers, but they are a bit spendy for my tastes.

GW primer is one of the best? What.

I've had more success with cheap automotive primers.

I remember reading an independent review by a modelling magazine, also a couple of serious model guys I used to work with used it and said it was great........it was going back a few years so things may have changed.....maybe lol

Sandinistato wrote:
Is it possible to exchange GW Primer at their shops? A friend in their good intentions bought me a can of the stuff buy from prior experience I know it is not the best stuff, I prefer other primer brands. Does anyone have experience with this? I'm assuming I can't since it is not in any plastic and they would not be able to tell if I've used it at all.

Should be able to exchange it - if they give you any guff about not knowing if it was used and they can't tell by looking at the nozzle (hard to avoid getting a bit of paint on the nozzle) tell them to get out their postage scale. Weigh your can and a can off the shelf. If you used it - your can will be lighter.

 notprop wrote:
Also one reason why GW sprays aren't the best primer is that they are paint not primer. Not sure why people always make this mistake?

For years (almost decades) GW had referred to their black and white paints as primers in their various books, web and White Dwarf articles...not so much in calling them black primer, rather by saying "Prime the model with Chaos Black" or similar language.

Lovepug13 wrote:
Actually the gw primer is recognised as one of the best on the market, it is even used by more mainstream model makers on non gw products. I think the stuff is pretty good tbh

As others have mentioned - I don't recall ever seeing that claim...not even by GW (and they like to use superlatives a lot). One of the biggest issues that companies like GW have when it comes to primer and other aerosol paints is that the vast majority of them don't actually formulate the paint themselves. They order a crap ton at a time from whoever gives them the best deal at the time and when they sell that off - they quite often go with a different supplier. Most the time they don't even let their customers know that they have changed suppliers, and as long as the major aspects of the paint are the same...the labels won't even change. This leads to significant variability between cans of paint. Even more fun is that you will often have several dozen batches of paint on the market at any given time. Dusty cans on low turnover retail shelves, cases buried in the back of a wholesale warehouse, new cans fresh from the manufacturer direct from the reseller (GW in this particular case). You also may have two or three different manufacturers of the paint at any given time - things like aerosol paints are often easier to deal with by having a manufacturer in the major market countries due to the hazardous materials issues relating to shipping and importing cans on a bulk scale.

This is less of a problem with companies like Testors, Tamiya, Gunze Sangyo, Krylon, Rustoleum, Duplicolor... They do their own paints in house, and paints are either their entire business or a large portion of their business. When the question gets asked of award winning modelers and painters what they feel the best primer is...Tamiya is probably the most common of the model primers that I hear mentioned. After that it will normally be something like Krylon or Duplicolor for the general primers with the two of them being mentioned about equally. The only ones I have ever heard claim GW was the best were people who haven't really had much exposure to other brands. Even when they were being made by Krylon, it was the same paint you could get in the Krylon rattle cans...at 3 times the price.

Lovepug13 wrote:
Actually the gw primer is recognised as one of the best on the market, it is even used by more mainstream model makers on non gw products. I think the stuff is pretty good tbh

What, No you got it back word, there so called primer fails the finger nail test.

Lovepug13 wrote:
I remember reading an independent review by a modelling magazine, also a couple of serious model guys I used to work with used it and said it was great........it was going back a few years so things may have changed.....maybe lol

Depending on how many years, they've changed paint suppliers maybe twice. Each time they've changed, their paint formulas have changed.

Now? Their primers are basically just spray paint. Which is fine if all you want is a sprayed surface over the bare plastic/metal to get to work on, but then, there's plenty of cheaper alternatives for simple black or white spray paint. It's just not a primer anymore.

 -Loki- wrote:
Now? Their primers are basically just spray paint. Which is fine if all you want is a sprayed surface over the bare plastic/metal to get to work on, but then, there's plenty of cheaper alternatives for simple black or white spray paint. It's just not a primer anymore.

You sure? I last bought a can of Skull White, I dunno, maybe 8 months ago, and it still had a primer-like finish. I haven't seen a GW black that was a primer for many years.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 -Loki- wrote:
Now? Their primers are basically just spray paint. Which is fine if all you want is a sprayed surface over the bare plastic/metal to get to work on, but then, there's plenty of cheaper alternatives for simple black or white spray paint. It's just not a primer anymore.

You sure? I last bought a can of Skull White, I dunno, maybe 8 months ago, and it still had a primer-like finish. I haven't seen a GW black that was a primer for many years.

Krylon's Ultra Flat paints have a paint finish that is very primer like - though it is not a primer. Sometimes, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck...it is actually a loon.

Yes you can exchange it. If you have the receipt you can get the money for it, if not you can exchange it for other items of the same value.

Not sure about GW being the best spray though. Halfords for me. Double the paint for 3/4 of the price. Yeah!

As far as I understand, the GW Spray Paints aren't primer. They aren't even advertised as such anymore. They're simply fine spray paint.