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Hi Everyone,

Recently I have really taken off in my collection of miniatures, mainly some basic space marines (probably going to make my own chapter) and Corvus Belli Infinity Miniatures. Anyway, for Christmas I was gifted with Infinity Operation Ice Storm and before painting them, I was going to get some practise in by painting the marines first, and some malifaux models that I have lying around. I have been using Vallejo primer, which according to its description is a "White Acrylic-Polyurethane Primer". It says it is both applicable to be brushed and airbrushed on. I don't have an airbrush and I paint entirely with a brush, however every time I paint the primer on for a solid good white coat, it does not cover well at all, its similar to a wash or ink that does not cover the grey of the miniature, and it often requires multiple coats for even decent coverage.

This is really annoying me because after I have finished the model I can almost see streaks across the mini where the primer seems to have pooled more successfully than anywhere else on the model, could anybody help me?

The Vallejo PU primers are self-leveling, to help ensure a smooth coat. This means, though, that they have low surface tension, like a wash. Apply it too thickly and it will pool.

Try thinnner coats. Apply a bit and really spread it out - just keep brushing until the paint no longer spreads. Thin coats like this will lay down flat and even. It will take multiple layers to build up complete opacity, but that isn't really the job of a primer - it's there to facilitate the adhesion of subsequent painting. If you want solid white, it will take multiple coats, whether using primer or paint.

Thanks for your reply,

would you say it is a good idea then to give a simple wash then with the primer and use a white paint (I use scale 75 paints, because I have a few sets of them)
to build up to that solid white, or just proceed to do as suggested and thin the coats down to build its opacity?

Thinking on that, I would need to thin the white paint anyway, but I'm still not sure what would be better.

Like Oadie said, Vallejo polyurethane primers are self-levelling but they pool -- meaning that on a flat surface, if you overload it, it will dry flat, but because it's quite runny, the pockets and valleys will be filled up, and you lose detail and crisp inner corners turn into rounded lumps. The white primer is also harder to work with than black primer anyhow (you need to do more thinner coats, while black primer is usually just 1-2 coats).

However, I don't believe Vallejo P/U primers are ideal for brush-on (whether white or black). Instead, if you want a brush-on solution, I suggest using acrylic Gesso (especially black). Unlike Polyurethane, Acrylic Gesso shrinks as it dries up, so amazingly so that if you put a 1/4 inch blob on a piece of cardboard or plastic, it will shrink down to a fraction of a millimeter when dry. With black gesso (use only 1 coat), you can just randomly paint the stuff onto your model with a big fat wide brush. As soon as the model is covered (once), you let it dry, and cure (the latter takes about 3 days, I think, the same as a polyurethane primer or a spray primer from a rattle can). Once it's cured, you'll be amazed at how none of the detail is obscured, and how there are no brush strokes.

There is also white gesso and clear gesso (the latter, you can either put on clear, or add a tint to make colored gesso). However, I don't find the white dries as brushstroke-free.

Finally, in my opinion, the best way to get a white prep coat is to use an airbrush; the second way is to use a white spray primer. White is always chalkier and never covers as well anyhow.

I absolutely HAAAAATE myself for suggesting this.
But I currently use two primers.
One being Vallejo PU primer.
The other being GW Imperial Primer.
I spray the PU.
The GW Imperial gets brushed or sprayed.

Not sure if available in your area but I use Krylon and or Rustoleum flat primers. White, black, and gray. They are four US dollars at a hardware store. Great coverage. Would love a yellow but haven't found one yet.