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Not quite a noob, but a very slow painter.

Recently I moved out of a bigger space to one much smaller. My nosy neighbor recently came and knocked on my door and asked "What the Hell am I doing? What's that sound?" As I was spray priming some minis in the hallway...

Now I have the top, front and back of these minis well primed, but there are some bits underneath that are very lightly primed with the plastic color still showing.

Is this good enough to start painting, or should I try and sneak a few more coats underneath?

That’s fine, prime too much you’ll see cracks or lost detail, I do recommend you do a watery color matching the primer or main tone by hand before starting to paint.

I don't recommend priming in a hallway. Especially in an apartment building.

Or inside at all, really.

Voss wrote:
I don't recommend priming in a hallway. Especially in an apartment building.

Or inside at all, really.

Unless you have an airbrush....

I usually prime in black, grey, or white, and then use a matching color paint and an old brush to coat the spots that I missed.

Seeing a few "expert" videos and from my lengthy if not expert experience, a "dusting" of the surface is sufficient primer (you can just see the base plastic but is mainly the paint) if it was done with a "solvent" based primer like in a rattlecan.

How good is enough depends also if you cleaned the model since there could be some residue from mold release or oil from your fingers from when you ate pizza.

If using airbrush non-smelly primers, it becomes highly important to clean and apply multiple thin coats for good coverage since the "grip" of the paint will not be as good.

Remember, very thin multiple coats is far better than one big thick coat.

I have a friend that does a 3 stage paint prime I am tempted to use as well (I am an all black prime guy):
1) Prime completely in grey.
2) Spray from underneath the model with black (lightly!).
3) Do a quick (and a little further away) Zenithal spray from above with white primer.

The model is then well covered, not too thick and has multiple coats, and your base shading is started.

Yeah, spraying in the hallway with all the dried paint dust could anger a few neighbors: I would try to think of somewhere else to do that.

"Light" priming is always recommended to avoid lost detail from over priming.
Once dry, you should then base cost the model. Either in the same color you primed, or something close tot he model's scheme.

For example, I am currently assisting my boys paint their own model, but to get them a good start, I lightly primed their Marines black.
When I get home today, they should be dry and I will completely cost the Ultramarines with 2 thin coats of dark blue and the Salamanders in 2 thin coats of dark green.

Then, my boys can drybrush the brighter colors and get to painting the details, but the base models will be a solid dark color of their respective schemes. So any missed detail should just look like shadow

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Definitely don't prime in a hallway. Or indoors at all.

 ph34r wrote:
Definitely don't prime in a hallway. Or indoors at all.

Yea man, for the health of yourself and everyone who uses that space, not cool at all.

As long as you give the surface of the model some "tooth" for paint to grab onto you should be fine.

Also, get an airbrush!

Priming outdoors is just not possible in winter and in New York city where I live. Hallway has a big window, and I usually prime in the late night hours. Sometimes I can use the (well ventilated) empty rec room, or basement in my job but that requires me to carry my little toys out into public.

Because of the annoyance of priming, I try to do as much as possible in one big batch, which also leads to spots not 100% covered.

I heard the GW liquid primer was discontinued... any other reccomendations?

 DV8 wrote:

 ph34r wrote:
Definitely don't prime in a hallway. Or indoors at all.

Yea man, for the health of yourself and everyone who uses that space, not cool at all.

Not to mention the paintwork in the hallway... spray cans throw a fine mist of paint an awful long way. Priming your minis in the hallway is a great way to very slowly repaint it. Not a cool idea unless you own the building.

 Nightlord1987 wrote:
... but that requires me to carry my little toys out into public.

Why is that a problem?

Vallejo brush on primer, I live in an apartment on the east coast myself.

As far as the original question i don't worry about it, I usually use a black or dark brown basecoat that'll cover any spots I miss when priming.

Ya. Vallejo brush on polyurethane is what I've pretty much exclusively used for several years now for that exact reason. I'm coming around to "not as good as actual spray primer" for grab, and you do have to not glop it on too too thick (moderate overpaint seems to come out okay, but near dripping with a big round like I sometimes do when I'm in a hurry tends to clog the really find details), but it does work reasonably well. I have had some possible issues with rub off while painting, but I also mostly paint metals, and its not every time, just when I end up handling them a lot without a cork or the like before more than a layer or two is on.

 DV8 wrote:

 ph34r wrote:
Definitely don't prime in a hallway. Or indoors at all.

Yea man, for the health of yourself and everyone who uses that space, not cool at all.

Also you get paint blown into the air and which later settles on surfaces like dust, but harder to remove. You shouldn’t be doing that indoors, especially a shared/rented property.

Vejut wrote:
Ya. Vallejo brush on polyurethane is what I've pretty much exclusively used for several years now for that exact reason. I'm coming around to "not as good as actual spray primer" for grab, and you do have to not glop it on too too thick (moderate overpaint seems to come out okay, but near dripping with a big round like I sometimes do when I'm in a hurry tends to clog the really find details), but it does work reasonably well. I have had some possible issues with rub off while painting, but I also mostly paint metals, and its not every time, just when I end up handling them a lot without a cork or the like before more than a layer or two is on.

I’ve used dark German gray pretty well but the white and tan colors end up with tons of bubbles without any grip at all. I tried yellow and red, they’re decent. Brushing on primer is really time consuming but the only thing I can do indoors in the northeast US.

 Nightlord1987 wrote:
Priming outdoors is just not possible in winter and in New York city where I live. *snip*
I heard the GW liquid primer was discontinued... any other reccomendations?

I live in Canada, so I feel your pain.

I switched to Vallejo Surface Primer (applied with an Airbrush) about a year back and haven't touched an aerosol can since. Controlled, zero issues, I can do it year round regardless of weather conditions, and infinitely better value for dollar compared to rattle cans.

A bunch of people have commented on detail loss from overpriming. Good primers shrink substantially making detail loss almost impossible. I would strongly recommend valspar/plastikote as it is excellent in this regard.

What the heck, GW primer smells lovely, just like plastic glue. Can never get enough of that smell

Yeah, the model does not have to be completely covered in primer for paint to adhere.