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I'm about to prime my Tau white and airbrush them Mephiston Red. I use P3's black primer and love it. What do you think about their white primer? Or should I use something else? I'd rather not use GW's expensive primer and I'm not gonna airbrush the primer on. Thank you in advance.

If you have an airbrush, and want to paint them red... prime them red

Use Vallejo Game Air Red Surface Primer. Works like a charm. Will come out way way cheaper than P3 or GW primer rattle can primer, and look better afterwards, too.

i really liked the P3 white primer, the one time i couldn't get black...
went on smooth, and is very durable...
of course, i just painted black over it anyway, because i don't like painting over white, but i was impressed with the coverage nonetheless...
P3 black is my favorite spray primer

edit: @Talys- how would spraying a red primer look better than Mephiston Red over white???
is GA Red Surface Primer the same color as Mephiston???
i haven't tried it out, so i don't know exactly what shade the red primer is...

cheers
jah

My favourite white primer is probably Tamiya, tough as nails, though I don't know how well it goes under GW paint as it's a bit slicker than some other primers, I usually use it under enamels or Tamiya acrylics which have more bite than GW paint.

Someone local to the US can probably suggest a hardware store paint they'll work well.

I've also used Tamiya's coloured spray cans as a primer for some models and they came out good as well.

The advantage of priming white when painting red is that you can preshade it with a dark brown and it'll give the red a nice vibrant contrast right from the get go.

My favourite red for airbrushing is also Tamiya's acrylic red thinned with Mr Color self levelling thinner. Tamiya red and yellow just seem to have really good smooth coverage and good opacity out of an airbrush, it's just a shame they don't hairy brush very well otherwise I'd use them more.

P3 white primer it is. Thanks!

 jah-joshua wrote:

edit: @Talys- how would spraying a red primer look better than Mephiston Red over white???
is GA Red Surface Primer the same color as Mephiston???
i haven't tried it out, so i don't know exactly what shade the red primer is...

cheers
jah

Vallejo GA Red Surface Primer isn't quite the same color as Mephiston. It's a little less bright. However, 1 coat of GA Red Surface + 1 coat of Mephiston gets your model to be exactly the same color as the paint in the pot of Mephiston; I think it's a little richer and saturated than Mephiston over White, but that's just my preference..

Realistically, the advantage to using red primer is when you cover it with red paint, if you don't quite get paint in every nook and cranny, it's ok, because you probably won't notice in those areas The Mephiston acrylic paint can go on quite thin, and if you miss a couple of hidden spots, no biggie. Plus, if you miss any areas, it will be a tiny bit darker, which is ok, because they're areas you're going to probably somehow darken anyhow (with a wash, blending, etc.).

Another advantage of red primer over white, IMO is that it is less chalky and looks better when it's on thin. Again, just preference, though.

Before I used red primer, I usually used white. On the times when I had to prime black for the model, I'd put a layer of brown, then yellow before the red, and that would make the red nice and bright.

@Talts: good point about the parts one could miss with the red over white, but i suspect that if you could get those deep spots with the primer, you could get them just as easily with your red after...

i can see how red on red could make a richer color, especially since the paint is usually thinned a lot for the airbrush...
with the hairy stick, i put my base coats and layers on so thick, that i don't experience the translucent effects of acrylic until i get to a stage where i am tinting with washes and glazes...

hearing you and Skink talk about using brown, and you yellow, under red makes me sad
i like to base my reds with maroon, and shade with burgandy...
Sanguine Base, and a mix of Sanguine Base and Coal Black make a really rich base color and shade...
i couldn't image using browns and yellows with my reds ever again...
probably because i am in a stage where i have to use really interesting color combinations, and trying to think way outside the box...

cheers
jah

It just comes down to preference. They all give different effects and you can just pick the one you like the best. I don't base my reds brown, I just like using brown as the preshade colour. I keep layering my red until I get a level of shading I'm happy with (which for me is usually pretty subtle).

Usually if I intend to airbrush a red, I'll just airbrush a reasonably opaque red so that the primer colour doesn't really matter. That's why I like Tamiya red, you can get it quite opaque without making it too thick. Then I'll mix in some black, and shade it in an exaggerated fashion. Then I'll mix in some white and highlight it. Then I'll go back to the original Tamiya red, thin it down to be super thin and just lightly airbrush over it, toning down the contrast, doing passes until I'm happy with the effect.

Then I seal it with a gloss and use oils for additional shading.

That's what I personally do when I'm airbrushing something that I care how it comes out in the end. I can get a range of reds by mixing something in with my base and final coats of Tamiya red, usually I'm trying to dull it down a bit so it doesn't look cartoonish.

It really just depends what result you want and what techniques you're happy to use.

@Skink: yeah, i go the opposite way, because i am always trying to make my minis look more cartoonish, or "comic book" as i like to call it...
my main influences in style are traditional tattoos and comics like Robotech...

shading and highlighting with blues adds some spice to reds, in my opinion...
Coal Black and Exile Blue to shade, and Underbelly Blue to highlight, have been a lot of fun to experiment with...

i can see where a realistic look is great for historicals, and general "real world" stuff, but for Fantasy and Sci-Fi minis i'm firmly in the camp prefers a fantastical look for colors and painting style...

cheers
jah

You're right, shading with blues or greens can give a bit of depth to a red. I sometimes use purple as the shade colour.

As for realistic vs comic book style, it totally depends on the army to me. Eldar? Comic book. Orks or IG? Gritty and realistic. Spehss Mareenz? Depends on the chapter.

@Jah & Skink -

What I've started experimenting with, especially on the large models, is the technique demonstrated in the HH Masterclass book -- you base the model with silver, and shade with blues and greens, then cover it with thinned red (all with airbrush). The result is beautiful, especially on large parts like shoulders of a titan.

The shiny red Knight (the one that is not weathered) on Forge World is done that way -- one of my favorite FW paint jobs.

@Jah -

One other thing I just thought of (as I prime a model ) -- Vallejo Game Air Red Primer (and, really, most of the colored primers) absorbs differently into different materials. That is, if you prime plastic with VGA Red Primer, it will look darker than if you prime resin, or filler. It actually takes many, many layers of the red primer to reach uniform opacity, if you want to do it that way. On the other hand, if you prime it first, then hit it with Mephiston, it will come out perfectly.

It's particularly noticeable if you use Liquitex filler or Squadron Putty to fill gaps, or if you're building a model from FW that has plastic and resin parts.

Of course, you could take the opposite tack and say that's a good reason to prime it either white or black, too -- since that will give you uniformity to start But then you need at least a couple of layers of red to get a decently rich (vibrant) red.

Well, yeah, part of the purpose of a primer is to homogenise the surface your are painting over, if your red primer doesn't do a good job of that then you're most likely better off priming with something else first.

I'd like to try Tamiya red spray as a primer for red, as in general Tamiya paints have really good coverage for minimal thickness. I use Tamiya acrylics almost exclusively when painting markings on scale aircraft because I want to minimise the little ridge that forms when you pull off the mask and of the paints I've tried Tamiya seems to give the best coverage for the least thickness.

But I haven't tried their red spray to see how that works, it may be terrible for all I know. I don't actually paint all that many red models, other than the Space Hulk Terminators I'm slowly working through, but I already have a methodology for them which I don't intend to alter.