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I am sure this is too cautious but wanted to double check on the right primer for my models. They have been cleaned (too much apparently), sanded and ready and bought DupliColor Sandable Primer.

My question is will this brand of car primer melt my plastic and resin models? I have read car primer is best for Forgeworld models but don't want to destroy my very expensive models. Thank you for the time.

I only ever use Vallejo primer. But I imagine it should be OK as long as its not Acid Etch primer.

I was advised by s few of the sculptors from FW to use purity seal on the model before the undercoat.
It keys to the surface better apparently.

I have used duplicolor flat black (not glossy or semi-glossy) primer many times, but never the "sandable" primer. I can't comment on it's effectiveness. Sorry.

Musselman wrote:
I am sure this is too cautious but wanted to double check on the right primer for my models. They have been cleaned (too much apparently), sanded and ready and bought DupliColor Sandable Primer.

My question is will this brand of car primer melt my plastic and resin models? I have read car primer is best for Forgeworld models but don't want to destroy my very expensive models. Thank you for the time.

If you already have that primer, try it on a piece of junk sprue and see what the primers effects are.

always test an area that means nothing before spray painting.

Thumbs up for Duplicolor sandable primer on plastic GW figures. That stuff is excellent and like 5 bucks a can.

I have not used it on any resin figures. I expect it would be fine but you should test an underside of a model first.

I was under the impression that car primers were of a thicker sort and therefore totally unsuitable for the task of priming mini's.

A lesson I learned when I used a $5 can of primer on my first batch of finely detailed orks and wound up with an unidentifiable black mass.

Then again, I wasn't using this brand.

Not all car primers should be thicker. Being sandable is just a feature of good primers, try sanding acrylic paint... it just gums up and peels, you can expect this to be different, much harder setting and not rubbery.
They use a product known by many names including but not limited to; high build primer, spray filler, filler primer...
that stuff is supposed to fill in details like scratches in a car panel and be sanded out nice and smooth and then primed with a 'normal' primer or paint base layer (as many car colours are not as simple as spray one colour and you're done.)

They also have just plain old primer with no filing agents to use when the panel is fine, maybe a brand new panel. <--- thats what you want

Also they have plastic primers for doing the plastic bits of cars, this primer has a different chemical as the thinning agent which adheres to the plastic nicely without melting it away like some of the others can do when applied too heavily. <--- this is probably as good if not better for plastic mini's

They have 'etch' primer for bare metals,which would go down before the high build or regular primers, some primers are 'self etching' which basically have this element in the mix.

Its a fairly varied area of the spray trade, priming any particular surface correctly is key to a great paintjob.

Another note; black primer is not something that is generally used, I think they would spray grey primer, then black paint, then whatever it was that needed black base coating. Real primer mostly comes in white, grey or beige. The black and other assorted colours are great and mostly come from the hobbyist and artist industries wherever they may be needed.
The idea of black priming mini's from GW I personally feel is because when you paint a model by brush, which has been white undercoated, any areas you cannot reach or miss by accident are white, very noticeable and wrong looking. If they're black they're going to look like natrual(ish) shadows anyway, and this the newcomers get a more satisfactory effect even when they're not working the brush right into all the needed areas. Its part of the attracting newcomers strategy from GW. And it can be used to good effect once you realise whats going on
Very few colours actually look best over black bases when applied in professional ways.

I've used that very primer on a few FW pieces (okay -- one, after it was glued -- a pair of arms holding a storm bolter) and it worked just fine. It's also worked on Finecast and Hitech Miniatures resin without problem. I REALLY like Duplicolor Sandable Primer.

Thank you all for the replies, especially for HairySticks advise. I should have just tried it on a test piece like DeathReaper suggested, which I will do tomorrow and let everyone know the outcome. Fingers crossed.

I have used grey duplicolor self etching (it may have been sandable actually, it was a while ago) primer no problem on FW models.

Although I have never primed resin with it, I use artist acrylic gesso. I personally don't thin it and find it to more cost effective, safe, and family friendly. I am sure automobile primer would work, but I personally think gesso is the way to go.

Gesso is nice, incredibly toothy priming material. And if one can be bothered to apply it by brush thats fine
Spray gesso would be better, and is available if you look around, although its not usualy cheap.
Thats where automotive primers come in, they are cheap compared to artist grade materials.
The tooth level of most auto primers isnt as good as gesso right out of the can because your supposed to sand them upto 1500 grit or so before spraying the paint. (we cant sand models... its nigh on impossible to hit everywhere evenly)
Gesso is not sandable, it dries to a softer more plasticy finish than auto primers which dry rather hard and tough - think about what a cars paintwork goes through on a regular basis compared to your models and youl see why they need a tougher material.

Spray beats brush application in all respects when considering even-ness of coating and minimising material wastage. Fact is with the brush you cant help but apply a much thicker coat than is required, while with the spray you can choose to apply much less than is required really easily, really evenly, really quickly too.
Applying very thin coats means dry times are vastly reduced, and the multiple thin layers thing you hear about gets so much easier. Spray beating brush is pretty obvious when you look at industrial painting and how no one uses brushes anymore. Most dont even paint they prefer to colour the plastics being used with dyes where possible.
The humble brush still holds a valued place for artists and amateur painters, but even in the art world they can appreciate that the airbrush does things the hairy stick cannot and will never accomplish, and vice versa, both are tools for different tasks, laying down an even coat of primer is one that spray will always win hands down.

Well it has been bad weather here and haven't tested out the primer yet. Now I am chickening out and seeing if I can just use regular primer(GW or similar) on all my bits. I want to be lazy but don't want to have minis with no detail.

Hehe, dont chicken out, just test it out on either sprue (where the writing is to judge detail filling) or on a spare model, or bit of a model... This way you can gauge wether or not its a suitable spray, without wrecking a model.

Well I finally was able to use the primer and I am happy with the results. It didn't gunk up on the models, dried well and quickly, and also kept the detail on the models. Would recomend for use on forgeworld models, but the finish is a matte flat, a darker than what is listed on the can, I bought grey and it is so dark it could be black. Still I am very pleased the product, and thanks to everyone for your advice.