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Hi I have a bunch of Dark Angels to work on and I've got a full can of Caliban Green spray. I remember there used to be discussion about whether you could use these sprays without having to undercoat them first. Does anyone have any experience with this? Does it make any difference whether we are talking about infantry or larger flat vehicles like rhinos and land raiders?

Cheers

You can get away with spraying GW sprays directly onto plastic, sure, although with metal or resin you really should spray with an actual primer first.

They work as good basecoats, but they are not actual primers. As said, it’s ok on plastic, but you really want a primer for metal.

I thought that some of them, like Wraithbone and Grey Seer, were actually primers?

It's one of the odd things I've never quite figured out with GW.

I've yet to see a video or guide that doesn't prime, but does show how they prime things, just starting with pre-primed miniatures.

The 40K Conquest series, which I had expected to possibly cover it, just base coats everything with a Base paint, and skips priming entirely.

Broadly the difference between paint and primer is whilst paint generally sticks to a surface primer will actually bond/melt (sure someone more sciencey can use the correct term) meaning it wont chip off like paint might, suspect plastic will be fine but any metal really should be primed

I've used GW color sprays (including their black and white "primers" as an undercoat for other colors without problems for over 20 years. I usually test the spray on a spare piece of sprue, because they can be finicky.

I've also used sprays from Army Painter, Armoury, Battlefront/FOW, and Vallejo airbrush primers. Not had much of an issue if the model is clean and the conditions are good for spraying (i.e. not too humid).

Just be sure to let them dry completely before painting.

Fictional wrote:
It's one of the odd things I've never quite figured out with GW.

I've yet to see a video or guide that doesn't prime, but does show how they prime things, just starting with pre-primed miniatures.

Warhammer TV has a few videos on undercoating so there's no need to repeat it for each and every tutorial.

Fictional wrote:
The 40K Conquest series, which I had expected to possibly cover it, just base coats everything with a Base paint, and skips priming entirely.

As a partworks everything comes through the subscription, which would preclude spray cans due to costs, mail regulations, etc.

Arcanis161 wrote:
I thought that some of them, like Wraithbone and Grey Seer, were actually primers?

Nope. I painted some metal models and foolishly didn’t prime them before spraying them with Wraithbone and it was painfully obvious I had erred as paint would rub off while I was working on them.

Wether or not you believe you need a primer is one thing, but GW sprays are most definitely not primers.

 AduroT wrote:

Arcanis161 wrote:
I thought that some of them, like Wraithbone and Grey Seer, were actually primers?

Nope. I painted some metal models and foolishly didn’t prime them before spraying them with Wraithbone and it was painfully obvious I had erred as paint would rub off while I was working on them.

Wether or not you believe you need a primer is one thing, but GW sprays are most definitely not primers.

On the other hand, I have been spraying all of my plastic Drukhari with Wraithbone, and it definitely has been as robust as any traditional primer. It seems to fit with other anecdotal observations that Wraithbone and Grey Seer are great to use as primers on plastic, but possibly not so much on metal stuff.

GW's sprays all state: "Makes undercoating and basing your models simple"
GW's webstore does not list any of their products as a 'primer'
They also do not show Caliban Green spray.

I have used a few of their sprays as primers, on plastic, and have had no problems with any of them yet.
I recently used Corax White spray on an old metal Eldar model, and I am just about to start painting it. I'll see how that goes.

IIRC on streams when they've been asked this, the answer has been that the sprays they sell currently are primers.
How good they are at that... this thread suggests it's fine on plastic but not other materials.
FWIW I don't use GW sprays, and I prime with vallejo primer.

OK thanks. Seems like there isn't really a consensus. I know that Corax White, Chaos Black, and the contrast sprays are primers but my understanding was that the others are not. ISTR Saint Duncan suggesting that you could go straight onto the Base colour spray without needing a separate undercoat but also that this was not what the GW guidance at the time said. I guess maybe I'll experiment a bit.

I have tried a few

I tried Averland Sunset and Mephiston Red sprays as primers and had mixed results. They don't go on particularly well in my oppinion. I therefore use Mechanicus Standard Grey as primer and add the coloured sprays on top. This approach works fine IMO.

I can't recommend Corax White nor the Matallic Spray. The first is rather grainy... Wraithbone is off coloured white but goes on much better and smoother.

With Leadbelcher I have quite some trouble to get a first real colour applied afterwards... the time advantage was severly undercut afterwards...

Best spray is Mechanicus Standard Grey which is my go to nowadays.

Honestly, for primer, there is no reason to use GW . They are just rebranded sprays from other companies with a 300% markup. They used to be Krylon, but not sure who they switched to. I still like Krylon and Tamiya , but mostly use Stynlrez in my airbrush now.

Ashaar wrote:
IIRC on streams when they've been asked this, the answer has been that the sprays they sell currently are primers.
How good they are at that... this thread suggests it's fine on plastic but not other materials.
FWIW I don't use GW sprays, and I prime with vallejo primer.

How is the Vallejo primer? I've been getting more and more mixed results with the Krylon primers: lots of beading.

Same acrylic polyurethane just in fancier bottle.