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Hello all.

I've recently started painting minis and have been using Chaos Black spray to prime my minis before painting. I'm about to tackle a predominantly white mini now and would rather not have to prime in black and then layer white over the top. I already have a can of Corax White spray but am unsure if it's an actual primer. Does anyone know the answer to this? I've tried to use the sum of humanity's knowledge (google) to find an answer but haven't found anything. Can anyone help me out with this?

Thank you.

No, GW themselves call it a base paint

So it's best to spray Chaos black and then spray a couple of thin coats of Corax White?

iso250 wrote:
So it's best to spray Chaos black and then spray a couple of thin coats of Corax White?

No - Chaos Black isn't a primer either.

The GW site calls it a basecoat... Which now makes me mad. I have not "primed" a single model in eight years. I've always used Chaos Black...

There was a mega thread here the other week, long story short it doesn't matter too much as it is a lot more durable than just paint even if it isn't a true primer

imperal primer is the primer

Just get some Army Painter and be done with it.

OgreChubbs wrote:
imperal primer is the primer

Not necessarily so. From the product description:

Imperial Primer is an undercoat paint which is perfect for when a spray undercoat might not be convenient.

Its simply an undercoat paint that happens to have 'primer' in its name.

I'm yet to see any reason to use anything but rustoleum.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Re imperial primer, it is definitely more of a primer than a paint - used it once for easter bunny prints through the house, massive pita to get off

kb_lock wrote:
Re imperial primer, it is definitely more of a primer than a paint - used it once for easter bunny prints through the house, massive pita to get off

Really? I've used Imperial Primer before and it strips easily off my models. Maybe it had too much water in it? Do you know what consistency it should be.

It was an anecdotal test, I was using it neat.

Where normal paints plasticize and can be peeled off, imperial primer had to be scratched off my floor. I was actually really impressed

kb_lock wrote:
There was a mega thread here the other week, long story short it doesn't matter too much as it is a lot more durable than just paint even if it isn't a true primer

Sorry, did you mean use the Chaos Black or the Corax White?

In regards to the minis I am giving them a very thorough clean and am finishing them with two coats of Crystal Clear, topped with dullcote to make them hardy. I know that some people would argue that that may be enough to warrant not needing a primer, but I'd rather go overboard than underboard.

Chaos black / corax white - neither are primers.

Your method sounds fine, just use krylon or rustoleum first next time

to be honest when I prime I use whatever paint will work for me, all a primer is, is to help the paint adhere to the model and any paint can essentially be used as a primer. me I usually use Liquitex paints for priming my models.

Call me crazy, but I recall that in the White Dwarf in which Corax White was introduced, it said something about it functioning as an undercoat. I could be wrong.

On the GW website, Corax White and Chaos Black don't say explicitly that they should be used over an undercoat, while all the other sprays say that they should be used on top of an undercoat. Maybe that means something? And then again, maybe not.

Personally, I have never used either one (though I've used the old skull white and whatever the old black primer was called), though I've seen a model primed with Corax White, and the color/coat was quite pleasing.

I'm going to try Corax White as a primer. I'll post my findings here. Wish me luck.

Duncan covered this about a year ago on their YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLpkAjDZKU4

It's an undercoat which is GW's term for primer.

I undercoat all my models with Corax White. Stop getting hung up on the differences between "undercoat" and "primer" and just spray your models. Corax White is a great undercoat for other paints to go on top of. I really recommend it.

 Bottle wrote:
I undercoat all my models with Corax White. Stop getting hung up on the differences between "undercoat" and "primer" and just spray your models. Corax White is a great undercoat for other paints to go on top of. I really recommend it.

I don't prime very many models white (I tend to prime in colors close to what I want to paint, and I don't paint many near-white models), but my buddy who plays Scars loves his Corax White as a primer/undercoat/first coat and I'm sure he would agree with your recommendation. I think that it is objectively, visibly superior than the vast majority of white rattle can primers (far better than P3 white or the old GW skull white), as well as white Vallejo airbrush primer, though I can't speak to its durability.

bbarrington2001 wrote:
Duncan covered this about a year ago on their YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLpkAjDZKU4

It's an undercoat which is GW's term for primer.

The words primer and undercoat can be used interchangeably. Well if you want to get pedantic, in specific contexts they may have specific meanings, but those meanings get blurred depending on the industry or the paint manufacturer you are talking to. So whether you're painting a car vs a wooden fence vs a metal fence vs an artist painting a canvas, the terms "primer" and "undercoat" will have subtly different meanings.

I think in general primers are *typically* the thing that is supposed to stick to the surface being painted, so it's the one that has better adhesion, while an undercoat is the one that gives you the surface finish you want for whatever top coat you are using, but it really depends who you talk to and in what industry.

In the context of miniature paints the differences really don't matter and I use them interchangeably. As long as the paint sticks to the model and further layers of paint subsequently stick to it, it serves the purpose of the primer and its name doesn't really matter. Sometimes you'll find something called a primer that doesn't stick as well to a model as something that's not called a primer, in that case I'd rather use the one not called a primer than the one that is