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Hi everyone,

I bought a can of Citadel Leadbelcher spray paint that I've been using as a primer for my Necron infantry. I'm painting the infantry with a classic Sautek full metallic color scheme, so it thought it would save me a step (it didn't, really - I still had to put a base layer of Leadbelcher on them). However, now that I've gotten my hands on a few Necron vehicles, I'm considering buying another can of Chaos Black spray paint to prime the vehicles. I would like the vehicles to also be painted in the classic style, a dark green with light green highlights.

My question is: does the color of the primer matter? Whether I use Leadbelcher or Chaos Black, I'l still be using a crap load of Caliban Green as a base coat. What differences could I expect using one over the other?

Thanks!

Generally dark primer will give you darker base coats, lighter primer will give you brighter base coats. Grey will give you a neutral effect.

If you use enough layers to make your base colour completely opaqe then it makes no difference. If you want to make your work easier though choose a primer of the apropriate colour.

It matters more if you are preshading.

In my experience black is the most forgiving but also the most tedious as it requires multiple coats or very slow coverage of areas which risks thick paint. Also dependant on the miniature it can be the quickest as you can simply leave the black, for example inaccessible areas, the underside of vehicles or, well, black things. It is also forgiving in my opinion as it is very easy to get a 'feel' for your chosen scheme very early on.

White is the least forgiving as any poor coverage or mistakes are obvious and harder to fix, for example paints running where you don't want them, but it also allows for the best coverage with single coats.

Grey or any other neutral colour is as i'm sure you might guess is the middle ground, but like white you'll need to finish your base colours before you can get an overview of how the scheme is going to look. This all depends on whether you are simply picking grey or for example your armies primary colour mind you, although this can create it's own problems, yellow or red are going to need to be fully covered where you don't want them as white and metallics can be a pain to cover.

A secondary consideration is basing, white is the quickest by far as you simply need one coat of your choice for the rim and achieve great tabletop results on the top with a quick wash. Grey or Black actually require you to fully paint the base (unless you want grey 'urban' bases).

I would advise against using gloss or metallic paints for your primer as it won't 'take' the paint as well and create a 'blotchy' finish. Dedicated primers are always matte or 'satin' for this reason.

Note that Sautekh armour does not use Caliban Green as a base.

I prime everything except my Tyranids and terrain in WHITE.

It is way easier to darken something up from a white primer than it is to lighten it up from a black base.

And because you might ask, I prime my Tyranids in green and my terrain grey.

White primer works wonders with thin paints and washes. The white comes through the raised edges creating natural highlights, while the thin paints and washes naturally settle into the recesses creating shadows.

That said. With Necrons, if you prime black by spraying from the bottom towards the top, and then leadbelcher from the top towards the bottom it would likely give you a good start. Just be sure to go light on the coats!

You'll likely still need to give it a nuln oil wash, but it might help.

White gives you an easier time to get bright tones but any white showing through in the shadows is something to look out for.

Washes will take care of The shadows, no problems there.

its all about your painting style, ive used black grey and white primer, black is typically the easiest primer to work with, if you cant reach something with your bush it usually works out to be shadowed ect but a white will stand out but is better if you wet blend and for other Technics and with thin layers sometimes it looks best on grey primer.

so it depends on what colours your using, and how ur painting it

Black on an overall bright/light color scheme will make more work for you than a white primer. Conversely, white on a model with a darker scheme will make more work for you. If you are unsure, grey is always a nice middle ground. I’ve used them all, and grey is probably my all around favorite.

Thanks, everyone, that was very thorough.

 greatbigtree wrote:
Washes will take care of The shadows, no problems there.

But if you miss them you've got a problem.

Normally I go for black all the time (you know what they say... ) as it prevents the above issue. For beginners I've always suggested white as a lot of people will be used to painting on paper or a canvas and it is an easier transition to a 3d object with that colour.

It all depends on how you plan on painting.

also the old general line of though that blacks give you richer colors

while whites give you crisper brighter colors.

personally love white as iv gotten lazy and just glaze down letting the raised areas highlight it self.

Hoooray laziness.