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ive been searching for awhile looking at different brands to find a nice light grey spray primer. GW only have white primer, and chaos black spray, P3 only has white/black as well. Does anyone have any good recommendations in the US? I dont know whether to take a look into Krylon, Rustoleum, or Army Painter, etc. I just want a nice, smooth base coat that wont ruin my models once i start painting them.

Walmart has a nice grey primer. It's their color place brand. It's about the color of the old fortress grey. Hope that helps!

Vallejo has a nice "Light Grey Primer" that you can buy in airbrushable or spray primer form.
The only problem is that right now it seems to be out of stock most places.

Keep an eye on Squadron Shop though, as they usually have it in stock before any of the game stores do.

color place seems to be hard to find. and ive heard good things of vallejo, but i thought it only came in airbrush and not spray. but ill keep an eye out for these two. any other companies/types of primer that you would recommend?

I like the Tamiya light grey primer.

 Arschbombe wrote:
I like the Tamiya light grey primer.

Seconded. Tamiya Fine Surface Spray is great stuff, whether it's white or grey.

These are all giving me difficulties in finding them to purchase. Maybe it's just me. But they all seem to be getting good reviews from what I'm reading. I'll continue to look around though.

 IndigoJack wrote:
Walmart has a nice grey primer. It's their color place brand. It's about the color of the old fortress grey. Hope that helps!

The WalMart Color Place primer is great for plastics, but I'm not sure if it is durable enough for metals and I would go with Krylon for resin for better solvent bite.

Tim

RickS1169 wrote:color place seems to be hard to find. and ive heard good things of vallejo, but i thought it only came in airbrush and not spray. but ill keep an eye out for these two. any other companies/types of primer that you would recommend?

It's the walmart brand spray paint. I like it because it's cheap.

timd wrote:

 IndigoJack wrote:
Walmart has a nice grey primer. It's their color place brand. It's about the color of the old fortress grey. Hope that helps!

The WalMart Color Place primer is great for plastics, but I'm not sure if it is durable enough for metals and I would go with Krylon for resin for better solvent bite.

Tim

Krylon is also good, but I don't think they have a light grey. I've used color place on both metal and resin (FW figs only, not vehicles), and haven't had any problems. I think the biggest advantage is that wal-marts are everywhere in the US, so it's pretty easy to get a hold of. All of these are really great brands though.

gohkm wrote:

 Arschbombe wrote:
I like the Tamiya light grey primer.

Seconded. Tamiya Fine Surface Spray is great stuff, whether it's white or grey.

The only thing I do not like about Tamiya's Fine Surface Spray is that it is a nightmare to strip off.

What's more it is commonly mislabeled as being acrylic, when it is in fact enamel.

Krylon has a gray primer that you can pick up at Walmart. If it's too dark of a gray you can always go over it with the color place gray. Color place is thin enough that you can layer it over primer without obscuring detail in my experience, you just have to give it quick passes, but that's true with most spray paints.

I've had color place rub off on metal minis during handling. If you use it as a primer it's even more important to get a good sealer on it to help it not rub off, especially on any metal models.

For light gray I prefer armory brand primer.

For a darker gray, I prefer krylon gray primer.

I have not tried the vallejo or taymia primers in gray,but love their other paints.

best of luck!

I'm a big fan of Vallejo's Acrylic Urethane Surface Primer. It should be easy to find. I've not used the grey, but it looks very light, just far enough from white to tell the difference. I've never seen it in a rattle can though. I'm lucky enough that one of the local hobby shops carries Vallejo's entire line of primer, which I was surprised to see is quite a range. They also stock the white and grey in the larger bottles which is very handy.

I've used Krylon primer and like it. It's quite toothy, but I can't comment as to a shade of grey.

Mr. Surfacer has many different options for primer, all look to be a very pale grey. It's prized in the scale model community as it ranges from thin surface primers to a filler/primer. I've only seen it in a jar for airbrushing or hand brushing, and I'm not sure how widely available it is. I can't find it locally, but I haven't really tried either.

As stated, Tamiya would be a great option. High quality, great distribution. It should be the easiest for you to find locally. Much of Tamiya's paints, even the acrylics, are solvent based which helps it bond to the plastic which is the reason it's so hard to strip. Tough stuff, but being designed for modeling, you don't have to worry about being too 'hot' like auto primers/paints which would be another option. Though you would want to test those out extensively before using them on your minis.

You should think about picking up an airbrush mate. That way you can have any primer you'd like. 20 dollars can get yourself a airbrush and you can use a spare tire vallejo primer.

I use Army Painter uniform grey, it's a little expensive but I have had nothing but good luck with the consistency and spray patterns out of Army Painter for priming.

ColorPlace for plastics (I have had adhesion issues with metal, even when properly cleaned and allowed a few days to cure), Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Gray Primer for metals. It may be a tad dark, for you, but it can be lightened with cheap and thin spray paint, as mentioned - either an overall coat of a light grey or a dusting of white from the top to give you a "quick and dirty" zenithal base, if you're into pre-shading.