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Small dilemma here, I scored a LRC and Predator on ebay, and it appears that the original owner did a great job with mould lines and assembly. They are both primed black.

Would you strip them and re prime and risk some loss of detail, or would you just try to layer on the yellow and hope it doesn't look horrific? I usually undercoat gray, which has worked well, but I'm afraid to waste time and paint on a land raider sized job if I'm gonna get x hours into it an strip anyways. Any opinions?

It all depends how thick the black coat currently might be.

I bought a bunch of black primed Tyranids when my main colour is bone and I base coat them white.

I just sprayed straight over the black with a white coat and it worked fine. If I were entering the models in to a painting competition I might have stripped them first, but unless you analyse them very closely I doubt you can tell there's a few extra layers of paint... if you're analysing them that closely you'll notice my poor "table top standard" painting before you notice any lost detail from the respray.

I just suggest doing a few light coats. Don't try and respray them grey or white in one hit, just do a light coat, wait 5 minutes, give them another light coat, wait 5 minutes, another light coat. You should be good to go.

If you really desperately want the models to look awesome and plan on spending long hours painting them, it might be worth stripping them.

Given they're vehicles though... I probably wouldn't bother unless there was some really obvious details being clogged up. I have a rhino I've resprayed 10 times (I use it as a test model for new schemes) and it was probably only the 4th or 5th repaint where it was noticeably different to my other rhinos.

Usually when you want to strip models is when people have actually gotten their brushes on to them (opposed to just spraying), because that's when the streaky and uneven finish becomes apparent and isn't as easily hidden.

Thank you. that makes sense. Maybe I should do a couple light coats of light gray and then light coats of yellow? I have yellow spray, but i doubt it would look good sprayed on black.

You can try priming over black primer them with an Army Painter colored primer -- maybe simulate it on something you don't care as a test.

The Army Painter stuff covers pretty much anything, but be forewarned, it's a little thicker than other primers, so you don't need to put it on heavy. Make sure to watch their how-to video if you go this route.

Also, there is not going to be any harm spraying over the primer, because in the very worst case, you'll just have to strip the model, which was your Plan B anyhow

I must say, doing it the old fashioned way of painting yellow onto black with a brush is a real pain, and it's a seemingly endless task with an airbrush.

I'd just reprime it grey or white before trying to lay down the yellow. I can't speak for the army painter primers but I think it's probably easier just to lay down a few coats of grey first.

You can even use the grey primer as a zenithal preshade if you want to try that. Spray the grey from the top of the tank at a slight angle so that the upper areas become brighter, the vertical surfaces are a bit darker but still grey and the hidden areas are darker. Then when you spray the yellow over that, it'll act like shading.

Though if you have other vehicles that you haven't used that technique, it might look a bit odd.

I always prime black. If I need to paint a bright colour (example is red on grey knights), I just use a grey base on said area then begin painting the lighter colour. Primer helps paint stick and affects colour, but if you use a strong enough pigment base in an even layer; it doesnt make much difference, in my experience anyway.

For yellow, try a khaki spray over the black.

Khaki or brown. I use Rustoleum brown primer when I want nice warm yellows and reds.

I use the Rustoleum Camo range. Both Khaki and Brown work nicely. They will give you shading but are more complementary to reds and yellows.

ice ideas guys thank you will let you know what i end up with.