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So I dug out the unpainted tyranid army I bought some ten years ago and decided I'd try my hand at painting them up in a variation of the kraken paint theme.

However I keep getting stuck night after night on as simple a thing as just getting the first basecoat actually looking -white- as opposed to a goopy, streaky, graining mess and I'm at a loss as to what I'm doing wrong.

The Army painter white primer can I used kept making grainy results no matter how much I shook it between attempts and I had to do so many layers of ceramite white foundation to actually get the gaunts looking -white- instead of only white in the recesses with the bare plastic showing through on the raised edges.

I'm at a loss for what I'm doing wrong here, exactly. Does dakkadakka have advice or tips? All I want is an even white primer/basecoat for washes and detailwork afterwards.

I took some photos of the most recent batch of failures before I dunked them in my stripping jar for reference.

Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3

Yeah I know exactly what you mean, and this is the top reason I stopped using army painter primer. It's overpriced as well.

I switched to automotive primer as a result, usually grey. It's also half the price of army painter.

Krylon white primer.

No runs, no drips, no errors.

And it's only ~$4

Iv had this same problem, but only with the army painter white spray. The alien purple i used on my hawk lords came out fine.

Your problem with Army Painter primer is you are probably holding it too far. Army Painter spray cans behave differently and if you read the instructions, it tells you to hold it no FURTHER than 20 cm, or 7.8 inches. Most spraypaints must be held no CLOSER than 20 cm.

For best results, warm the can with your hands and spray in short misting bursts passing over the miniature. You'll need 4-8 puffs at various angles to get full coverage. The paint will become rougher and grainier when you near the end of the can, but you can get smooth coats as thick or thin as you like with this method and a full can.

Army Painter primer dries extremely quick, within seconds, so you need to make sure your can is held close so the paint reaches the model before it dries mid air and lands as solid granules. You also need to be careful that when you hold the can too close you don't hose the model down with overspray, which is why I suggest misting and pressing down the nozzle in puffs.

Really? No -further- than 20cm? Well, that could explain part of the problem yeah, as I was holding the can at about an arms length away from my priming stick.

I'll give the army painter primer one more go and get back with results. And make sure I read the label properly this time.

Oh...yeah...at that kind of distance, it's like throwing snowballs at your model!

Get closer....

I think the best results can always achieved if first tested on a piece of sprue.

I always do it even when I have used the same primer before.

This can happen with ANY spray primer, depending upon humidity, temperature of the environment, and the temp of the can....and of course, the distance from the model.

Do a search here, this comes up a lot, with various primers.

What is happening, is the tiny globules of paint are partially drying in mid air, and hitting the model - making it more of a "dust" or "grainy" covering.

So either;
Keep the can closer to room temp.
Spray closer.

Do a test on something that is not one of your models until you are happy with the results.

Best of luck, and I hope it works out!

Well, there we go. Distance about 10-15cm, slightly longer bursts, careful to not overdo it on the first layer and... the result is actually rather good. Only had to touch up on the basecoat with ceramite white on a few places like between an arm and a ribcage.

Lesson learned: read the label even if you believe you already know how to use spraycan primers.

Awesome!

Glad it worked out, hope you are able to salvage the previous models.

happy painting!