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Hey all! I've got a lot of un-primed SM, and not a lot of spray primer left. Frankly, the GW liquid primer pots are crap. I've shaken them to kingdom come, and it still won't work. But, at the same time, I need a liquid primer for rainy days(quite common here in Washington). Any suggestions for which brand to get?
Thanks,
JATW

I dislike priming by hairy brush, I almost always aerosol or airbrush on my primer. But if I do have to hairy brush on a primer, I use Mr Surfacer 1200 thinned with Mr Color Self Levelling Thinner.

The downside is it does give off a bit of fumes while you're painting, so you still have to have good ventilation in your painting room, though once you've applied it the fumes dissipate quite quickly and the primer dries within a few minutes tough enough to paint over it or sand it.

Other options are gesso or Vallejo PU primer. I haven't really spent much time playing with gesso and Vallejo PU primer I find too delicate for my liking. Mr Surfacer dries nice and tough.

But mostly I just use spray cans or airbrush and try and pick the part of the day that has the most favourable humidity/temperature and spray big batches so if the weather is poor for a long time I still have plenty of stuff that I can keep painting while it's rainy or whatever.

I use Vallejo Black Surface Primer. It works really well; you don't even have to mix it with water or anything.

I hear that Badger airbrush primer can be used with hairbrush as well.

However, anything that is in spray can binds way better than anything you can hairbrush or airbrush. But as you said it - rainy days....

I will throw in a second for Vallejo Black Surface Primer. I've put it on with paintbrush and airbrush and it always comes out smooth and even. I will say in my experience it's best left for 24 hours or overnight to make sure it's completely cured, otherwise it can still feel gummy to the touch and possibly change how your paint sits on it. Also always make sure when buying vallejo primer that you are buying their Polyurethane surface primer. Some of their colors are labeled as primers but are in fact not actual surface primers, learned the hard way when buying some white and grey a year or so back.

Thanks all for your help and wonderful advice. You prove to me yet again that DakkaDakka is the greatest wargaming site on the net.
Now, i've taken all your suggestions into account and given a quick look at all of them. The Mr. Surfacer looks to be good, but in many cases, elusive. I can't seem to find it in many places online.
Badger primer is easier to obtain, I can pick a 3-pack up on Amazon. It's definitely a strong competitor, but i'm naturally skeptical about using spray primer on my hairbrush.
The belt holder here is the Vallejo primer. Everyone says good things about Vallejo and it's got plenty of supporters. Also, available on Amazon, but almost just as expensive as the Badger 3-pack. That makes the next question price, what here is best for their price...

My suggestion is to make a little bit more of research. If you plan to jump into Mister Surfacer, please consider that it comes in different grades and it is more of a micro filler than a primer. There is also mister finisghing surfacer, that has small to zero micro filler. Vallejo is love or hate primer. A lot of people swear by it, but I absolutely loathe this stuff (both the brush and rattle can). I am yet to try Badger thou, but once again I only overheard that it can be used with haibrush. So you have to check on that as well.