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I say something GW sucks a lot.

I just don't feel the need to say it all the time here, especially if it's already been said.

The only problem i have had with primers was that my skull white primer was way too runny and simply dripped off the model, but i think the can may have been too cold. i'll have to warm it up and try again.

Lepuke wrote:Are you guys using these cans when its too cold?

When used right, the cold shouldnt be a factor. I live in Michigan, and our winters get plenty damn cold, and Ive primed a boat load of minis in the winter with no problems. If you keep the can inside the house to egt to room temp and bring it back in when your done spraying you wont have a problem. GW and all spray cans really, but GW seem to have a much higher rate of failures, can have that happen.just wait for it to dry, strip it if its bad enough and start from scratch.

Cool avatar BTW

The gw primer is temperamental as hell.

If its too cold out it wont work properly if its too warm it wont work properly and if its too moist it wont either.

I said bah to that and bought the colored primer from The Army Painter and that stuff is great.

Love it you should try it and its cheaper than the gw stuff.

cowpow16 wrote:The gw primer is temperamental as hell.

If its too cold out it wont work properly if its too warm it wont work properly and if its too moist it wont either.

I said bah to that and bought the colored primer from The Army Painter and that stuff is great.

Love it you should try it and its cheaper than the gw stuff.

AP and GW are both $15 a can at my FLGS :( Still great stuff though.

Check out
http://www.miniaturemarket.com/

Its between 8 and 11 dollars depending on what color.

Wonderful stuff I have 2 cans sitting beside me atm

Whoa! Look at the amount of replies, thanks everyone!

Cold shouldn't be a factor this time, it's been about 25 degrees Celsius in Helsinki for the whole summer, plus all our apartment's windows are pointed south so we're getting direct sunlight from about 10 am to 9 pm, the apartment sure isn't too cold
Though I don't know how the spray cans are transported to Finland, could be that they're getting exposed to cold during transportation?

I'm going to take the can back to GW in about an hour, I'm pretty sure they'll give a new can when I explain what happened, good customer support and all...

It's just a tad frustrating, you know? I know I got unlucky with the spray, but this does seem to happen a bit too often for my liking.


On another note, luckily only 8 out of 20 got messed to the point that I have to strip 'em.

Aerosol cans can't be shipped via airmail, so likely they were brought over on a boat.

skycapt44 wrote:You cannot get decent spray primer for 2$

Correction good sir. Krylon. I have used this on my 1500 points of space marines and 1000 points of tau. I have never had a single incident with it. It is under $4 at my local Wal-mart. Go check it out

Slipstream wrote:
I've recently used army painter spray and have had mixed results with it. Models were left with a dimpled finish which kind of ruined the finished effect. Next time I used it the spray worked well, just a pity that the paint leaked over my hand just like the OP mentioned. UK dakkaites; what cheap alternative spray primers should I look out for in the UK?

I'm enjoying using Halfords sprays, I didnt even bother trying citadel based on the cost alone. Tried Army Painter, didnt get on with that.

Theyre not quite as cheap as our friends accross the pond like to brag their krylon is :( but its beating Games workshop on value hands down for a product I find does the job just fine (id like to say better, but havent bought a can of citadel spray since 1999)

From halfords I often use;

Grey Primer
White Primer
Red Primer
Matt Black Paint (works well enough as a primer)
Cammo khaki ultra matt paint (they do a range of four colours designed for spraying things in your average British army camouflage colours - the khaki one in particular I like)
Matt lacquer
Gloss Lacquer

I also find that a spray can primer coat is more hard wearing than vallejo airbrush primer. I do have an airbrush, and a bottle of vallejo grey, I dont use it, Prefer the rattle cans. I'm quite happy to airbrush a basecolour over the primer.
I suspect its to do with the paint inside the rattle cans being solvent based more than anything else.

All of the above I have zero problems with.

I find with any rattle cans, that heating the can up prior to spraying helps lots. I use the hot tap, run the water, hold the can under it and shake a little untill it is warm to the touch (as you shake it the heat dissipates very quick, keep warming it up untill it doesnt go instantly cold again) This helps the pressure inside the can, seems to do the trick for me, I get great spray results every time, any weather (I do stand inside the shed to avoid wind or rain, but any temp or humidity that I see locally, its all fine)

It's funny hearing people say GW primer sucks and X primer is awesome and if you google I'm sure you'll find other people telling you X primer sucks as well

I've used a bunch of GW primer over the years and it's always done well by me. I think I've had 1 bad can. I tried a few hardware store primers and they didn't work to my liking (though maybe I just didn't try the best ones).

I've mostly stopped using GW primer not because of the quality but because of the price. It's just so damned expensive, especially if you have an airbrush and can just spray your own primer.

In line with Skink's experience, I've heard more good than bad about the quality of GW sprays - it's the value that gets almost universally knocked. At $5/can, I don't think we'd nearly ever see complaints (at least, not any that didn't boil down to the same user errors that affect any aerosol spray). At its asking price... well, it'd have to be entirely foolproof and somehow grant benefits that can't be matched by products that are a mere fraction of the price. As it is, that's just not the case. Throw in the GW name and its association with massive price inflation and insistence on a false state of being the "one and only" and you've got a recipe for internet bile.

If you use enough rattle cans, you will encounter cans with problems, regardless of brand. It's just a fact of life.

Before you use a can, as well as afterwards, hold it upside down and spray it to clear the nozzle, and when you're done, make sure to wipe off any excess with a paper towel.

Before spraying it on the miniature, spray a small area of cardboard. Check for both the dispersion and consistency -- you want a nice mist, and the color to be solid. If it's coming out clear, you have a problem (probably, you didn't shake enough). Make sure you read the instructions and spray in the correct fashion for that can, because different brands have different optimal spraying distances and methods for miniatures, especially.

Also, if your priming job comes out flaky or bubbling, nine times out of 10, this is because of heat and/or humidity. It happens because part of the primer dries on the way from the can to the miniature.

Fortunately, if you have a botched priming job, use isopropyl alcohol (for plastic) or acetone (for metal) and a toothbrush. If it hasn't cured yet (within a couple of days), and especially if it came out flakey, the priming job will just come right off.

Finally, if you're in one of those areas where spraying is problematic and you don't have an airbrush, use black Gesso. The stuff is amazing.

 PraetorDave wrote:

skycapt44 wrote:You cannot get decent spray primer for 2$

Correction good sir. Krylon. I have used this on my 1500 points of space marines and 1000 points of tau. I have never had a single incident with it. It is under $4 at my local Wal-mart. Go check it out

+1 for Krylon

I got sick of paying $20 for primer at the end of 4th and made the switch to Krylon and haven't looked back.

I buy 4 cans now for the price of 1

Velejo Air primer. No more tears

I am continually amazed at both GWs primer prices and the continued sales of it.

The gak quality is in no way surprising.

 Josey4u wrote:
Velejo Air primer. No more tears

+1

There is nothing that comes remotely close to Vallejo airbrush polyurethane acrylic. Plus, you can get it in quite a few colors, though I wish they would add a few a brighter red, a real blue, and a goblin-ish green.

Not to mention that it's far and away the cheapest alternative. A few drops will prime a whole squad. Yet, for some reason, I bought the black in 200ml... I think I could prime a million point army with it LOL.

Talys wrote:
Not to mention that it's far and away the cheapest alternative.

Assuming you already have an airbrush, lol.

Vallejo PU primers don't have to be airbrushed. They give the nicest finish when sprayed and they go on much faster that way, but all of my tests applying it by brush were successful. Wouldn't recommend hand painting for priming up an army over any spray, airbrushed or aerosol, but it's perfectly possible. Granted, gesso would likely be even cheaper for bulk manual application, if that's the primary concern.

Yeah you COULD paint them by hand, but I wouldn't recommend that over spray can primer.

Was a 3 year thread necro really needed for this topic??

C'mon guys, look before you post.

LOL, didn't even notice. I blame HairySticks.

Seconded. All in favor? [raises hand] Opposed? No one? The motion carries. For shame, HairySticks.

 Snrub wrote:
Was a 3 year thread necro really needed for this topic??

C'mon guys, look before you post.

Unless any of the mentioned products has really changed in that time, the information in this thread is still as relevant now as it was then.

So it isn't really necromancy for stuff like this then?

 Snrub wrote:
So it isn't really necromancy for stuff like this then?

As a rule, we don't have a problem with threadnomancy in the P&M sections at all.

People do needed to keep in mind that if a thread was started years ago, the original poster may not still be around to answer questions, but other than that most modelling threads stay just as relevant over time as they were to begin with.

I've had luck with white automotive primer Or off white. Goes on thin and no lose of detail

I stopped using GWs stuff years go when their black spray started leaving a chalky white residue on my models. I now use hycote plastic primer (car primer) for red, white, grey, and Army Painter for other colours. I mostly use the grey primer, its ace

I'm thinking about buying a good airbrush.

As I mentioned years ago, I stick with Vallejo. Although now I use the Vallejo Surface polyurethane primers.

Panzer Grey is a nice dark tone that isn't pure black. I should mention that the regular "Grey" is insanely light, nearly white. I added a bit of Panzer Grey to it to bring it down to a more mid range tone.

Wonderful stuff. I airbrush it, but it can easily be brushed on by hand for touch ups or hard to reach areas.

As I didn't want to start a new thread for my simple question I may as well ask here real quick. Is there such a thing as Mephiston Red spary in England? I have found it on offer in the US but no joy over here.