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Hey guys

Well, after deciding to get back into 40k after about a 2 year break, i find that all the propellant has escaped the 4 unopened cans of Floquil that i had, and nothing comes out.

Well, i went online to try and buy more only to find out that Testors discontinued that line of product about 4 months after i stopped playing.

Damn and blast.

Now i need to find a new primer to use. Money is no object and i hate priming with my airbrush. What's my best option?

Spray can: Tamiya Surface Primer

Airbrush: Alcald II Primer/Microfiller

I use Armory, GW, and Army Painter primers depending on availability. I have occasionally used Krylon because it is readily available and very cheap. I recommend Armory for good miniatures and Krylon for everything else, especially for terrain pieces.

Duplicolor Flat Sandable Auto Primer for $5.

Auto-primers (ie. paints intended for cars). Seriously, acrylic auto-primers are the bees knees.

I have used Krylon and Army Painter black and grey primers, but I much, much prefer their Hycote equivalents (a particular brand of auto-primer, don't know if it's sold outside the UK). In my experience the finish is smoother , the cans require less shaking and they seem to last longer. Cheaper than the gaming/modelling brands too, which, given that they are both just acrylic spray primers, helps make the decision.

I've heard a lot of people say very positive things about Halford's auto-primers, too. Again, that's a UK brand, don't think they're international, but I imagine there are equivalents in the US.

Im sure someone will cringe, but i just use cheap 1$ black cans from walmart


I used to use GW chaos black, but 15$ a can is insane, i just save the GW spray for when i need it (like models with low detail, or models i have had to strip and re paint because i bought them on ebay)
I have never had an issue witch cheap spray paint, so long as i test it out. (I tend to use old or broken models and give them a quick spray to see how i like the look.)
I have found really bad spray paints that clump, or build up and make the model lose detail, but in most cases the more expensive cans you buy will give you this problem ( I once saw a guy who based his army with rustolium spray paint )

I came to this conclusion shortly after trying out other spray paint, and i will say hands down the GW paint is great, but expensive.
I also started this search because the can of GW paint i bought for 15$ was defective and it melted my model in a weird way leaving a strange grain texture on it, and that was the day i swore off only buying expensive GW cans.
I love the cheap paint because if i ever get a bad can (rarely) or if i dont use it for a long time you can just chuck that one out (only down 1$)
As opposed to the GW cans that you will shake and rattle to get ever bit out.

If you’re a skeptic, or think im full of bologna, just do the simple test i did to compare paints.
Take identical models, write on the base of them what one is based in whichever and then get your friends or family to vote on the one they think is best before revealing what one is what.

I used blood letters back in the day, all relatively the same looking model, and then i just based each one with a different can i wanted to try out.
It’s fun to explore options!

I used blood letters back in the day, all relitivly the same looking model, and then i just based each one with a differnt can i wanted to try out.
Its fun to explore options!

I am with Graywar. The $.99 stuff from Home Depot or Walmart works fine for 99% of my uses. The brand is Quikcolor.

I also use Krylon Ultra Flat Black and I find that holds up slightly better on metal models. For plastics, it doesn't really matter much.

Tamiya primer is ok, but if you are on a budged you can use any kind car spray. For example my first priming attempts were with Very Well! car spray for 2.5 dollars that is import from Hungary. I'm sure that there are even better and cheaper sprays in USA. However I decided to switch to "real" primer, since I never managed to understand the difference between car paint spray can and primer can for mini.

I use this stuff:



I know there are others that work well, perhaps even better, perhaps for less, but I have never had problems with it in Missouri humidity, so I stick with it.

The nice thing about Tamiya primer is that it's lacquer based. That means it sticks to plastic extremely well and it's also sandable.

That's why people who do model cars and planes love it, it goes on very smooth and strong but can also be sanded to a damned near perfect finish (which is necessary when for your final coat you want a perfect car-like gloss finish which can't be achieved unless the underlying primer was very smooth, or on aircraft where you have fine panel and rivet detail that you want to pop out more so you make sure the panels themselves are super smooth).

On 28mm infantry I don't care quite as much and will just use whatever sticks well. I'm currently using Vallejo PU primer through an airbrush, but frankly I don't like it. It clogs way too much, takes too long to cure and has frequently given me a less than desirable surface finish.

For plastics I think you can get away with a light coat of damned near any matte spray paint and it'll act like a primer, ideally stick with acrylic sprays though and avoid things like primer putties (which are designed for filling small scratches when priming something like a car).

I work for Autozone, and I use Black touch 'n tone primer, it's 3$ a can, and I get my discount on that so it's very effective for a horde army. The key to any spray can you use is to hold the model at least 6inches away, and be sure to do light controlled sweeping bursts from the can, it prevents overapplication of the primer which can ruin detail on the model. However this is the same issue you'd find with using armypainter, or GW's aerosol cans that to much is bad for detail.

Nemesor Blackwing

Do a search - this comes up A LOT.

I have tried MANY MANY different primers, and have found overall my most used primer is the rustoleum 2x cover stuff from the hardware store.

Sure, I have vallejo surface primer that I airbrush on for some specific projects (where I want the control of an airbrush) but oveall, the hardware stuff is great.

Again, do a search - this is a VERY COMMON topic, and you will find hundreds of posts on it.

Please delete this post. Needles comment.