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I primed my Carnifex using GW white base coat. It's good to work with - when it lasts. I haven't finished him yet, but I already had to repair splinters. White stays on the model, but base colour, washes, layers, all chips away and I don't even know how, when or why. I gave one head to my friend, who used to earn painting miniatures, and today - chips. And I wasn't even touching it in the meantime.

Said friend tells me it's an often encountered flaw in white primer. I can believe him, but now I have over 100 miniatures primed with it ("Tyranid Swarm" box, plus one older box of gaunts), most of them already painted. Gaunts look pretty OK, but maybe it's just because there is many of them so I don't pay so much attention. I already re-primed unpainted one with fresh new can, and hope they will be good, but I wasn't able to switch to black, for the sake of consistency.

I can mix matching paints to fix issues, but what should I do to prevent them in future? Primer failed, that's how it is. I'm afraid GW Purity Seal will be another failure. So what can I do to keep paint on my models, without repainting them, of course? Oh, and there is a grass on painted gaunts' bases already, wouldn't like to ruin it. But if that's what it takes, so be it.

Did you clean your mini's before priming them and what paints are you using for painting your mini's ?
It could be a reaction with leftover stuff un the plastic/metal that is reacting with your paints.
To save the paintjob and ones you worked on you could try and seal them with varnish and hope that creates a coat that protects your paintjob from splintering/chipping.
Try out on a test mini first before you go wild on all of them and screw it up
Hopefully this could save your work

Good luck
Mark

Sometimes I have a similar situation, especially bigger models and tanks.

GW Purity Seal is good though, and in my experience hasn't failed. As long as you shake thoroughly, make sure it's warm-ish, don't spray to much, and spray from about arm's width away, it'll work like a charm.

[quote=Mołot 603046 6983686 null I haven't finished him yet, but I already had to repair splinters. White stays on the model, but base colour, washes, layers, all chips away and I don't even know how, when or why.

ayoku wrote:
Did you clean your mini's before priming them

Yes. And primer sticks to plastic all right. Where it chips, I see white, not plastic-gray

ayoku wrote:
and what paints are you using for painting your mini's ?

Citadel, exclusively.

ayoku wrote:
It could be a reaction with leftover stuff un the plastic/metal that is reacting with your paints.

I hope it's not probable, but it looks like that. Sadly, nothing I can really do about it now.

ayoku wrote:
To save the paintjob and ones you worked on you could try and seal them with varnish and hope that creates a coat that protects your paintjob from splintering/chipping.
Try out on a test mini first before you go wild on all of them and screw it up
Hopefully this could save your work

Good luck
Mark

Will try. Thanks, I will really need some luck now.

I use Krylon primers, black, sometimes gray. If it's overly humid outside I'll move the car out of the garage and prime in there.
I wash all models, plastic and metals with dish soap and I use an old toothbrush to scrub them, hot water rinse.
I wash my hands loads while painting, I attempt not to touch the models much, figures less by using a wine cork and blue tack.
I use GW paints, I layer the paint.

I don't have peeling or flaking issues, ever. I have had issues with GW primers over the past decade.

You may need to think about changing your painting style. Which means no GW white primer for one. What type of paint do you use?

Good luck.

Fingers crossed!
I had the same issue with Vallejo paints after some good cleaning i lost the chipping problem.
I hope you sole this issue and you can go on painting your nids properly and without the fuzz
regards
mark

Thanks guys. Will care better for clean environment next time. And true, it's rainy here these days, so it might be it.

Primer stays strong on figures yet unpainted. Should I wash them now, before painting them? Or it will not give any real benefits now?

For figure holding, I grab them by the base. pieces with magnets in them stay on metal cans or drills. Not that I never touch them, but I do my best to minimize it.

You could also consider varnishing during the painting process to help protect areas you're in contact with from rubbing or wearing paint away. They constantly varnish in the Imperial Armour Masterclass books while painting their models.

Good suggestion. Luckily, for now I can keep it simple, as Carnifex is magnetized, and I have couple of metal sticks, so all that is touched, is magnet - and I don't need to pain it, as it goes inside. And gaunts i paint holding them by the base, or by that plastic that goes into the base, keeping them on paper towels in the meantime.

Edit:

I spray-varnished one of the heads. It was supposed to be matt, it looks satin-glossy, but I don't really mind. Most important: no chips so far. I need to put it on legs and torso ASAP, and then retouch and seal my gaunts. I sure hope new can of primer will perform better.