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So, I've gotten my two Apartment 5 and was looking forward to getting them painted.... But jesus, I don't know how to do this!
They each required a full can of white spray paint to get basecoated, and even then the brown is STILL showing through! I can't paint them white because it only fills in the lines (obscuring the detail), gets absorbed (still showing brown through) or just clutters up (because painting large areas with a brush is a bad idea).
I'm at a loss. Do I really need to spray them even more? I guess I already ruined one section by trying to brushpaint it, so spray them seems like the only choice.... It just feels so wrong having to buy 3 - 4 cans of white spray to basecoat these gorgeous buildings.
Or well, perhaps these buildings are not as cheap as I thought after all...

I would think priming it first would have helped. Other wise, maybe built to white with light greys?

Strange. Are you using primer?

I used a can of grey primer then a can of white without a problem to paint 3 apartment fives and all their bits and pieces.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but I meant white primer. One apartment got a full can of Citadel Skull White Primer and the other got like 75% of an Army Painter Matte White Primer.

Weird. I was using plastikote mid grey primer and then a plastikote white primer over the top and didn't really have a problem at all with the wood showing through. Didn't have to spray it any more than I have any thing else I have sprayed.

Edit: though thinking about it I used the same white primer straight on some of the spare wood frames that I had made into terrain and the wood was showing through really badly without the grey base coat.

 SilverMK2 wrote:

Edit: though thinking about it I used the same white primer straight on some of the spare wood frames that I had made into terrain and the wood was showing through really badly without the grey base coat.

Well... I guess that's it. Sigh, this does not make my wallet nor me happy, having spent two cans of primer in vain.
I guess the only thing I can do is buy a can of grey primer and a can of white primer now.

 The CF wrote:

 SilverMK2 wrote:

Edit: though thinking about it I used the same white primer straight on some of the spare wood frames that I had made into terrain and the wood was showing through really badly without the grey base coat.

Well... I guess that's it. Sigh, this does not make my wallet nor me happy, having spent two cans of primer in vain.
I guess the only thing I can do is buy a can of grey primer and a can of white primer now.

Get the $2 cans from walmart, it works just as well as the $10 stuff.

I haven't any personal experience but I read thad MDF terrain needs to be primed in a special way:

http://miniatures.about.com/od/buildingmaterials/qt/primemdf.htm

Hope that helps. I'm looking forward to see the apartments on the table soon.

Noir wrote:


Get the $2 cans from walmart, it works just as well as the $10 stuff.

*cough* Sweden *cough* No walmart :c

bladerunner_35 wrote:I haven't any personal experience but I read thad MDF terrain needs to be primed in a special way:

http://miniatures.about.com/od/buildingmaterials/qt/primemdf.htm

Hope that helps. I'm looking forward to see the apartments on the table soon.

Hmn, the apartments are HDF - High Density Fibreboard, but I guess they have the same problem. The link was good.

Now to look for the cheapest sollution...

I think the problem was "Citadel" primer. From what I've heard it's not true primer. It's more like a white paint.

I use Dupli-color primer for my minis and MDF/HDF and had 0 problems.
White primer on wood is not opaque but it still cover the wood pretty well. The dark grey and dark red covers perfectly.

@CDK: Well, the other building got Army Painter, and while I noticed a difference, it still took a lot to get it covered.

Also, now I've got myself a grey and a white can of army painter primer. Naturally it covered greatly now, considering that they'fre basically primed already just hoping the detail won't take too much punishment.

Something you can possibly do is go into the details with a sharp color pencil to bring some of it out. Color pencils can be great for making things like tattoos on figs and such.

I would undercoat in a weak PVA solution first to give a key for paint to grip onto.

I have to be honest, after painting 4-5 of these things I wonder if you may have had a dodgy can of spray, or it might be some problem with the citadel spray?

First building I did I used a coat of watered down PVA, then spray of varnish before using the 'Army Painter' white spray. Almost done in one coat, then a second quick coat over the top and it was fine.

But, being lazy and thinking that it was very thin wood (and therefore would not absorb much paint) for the buildings after I just used the white spray directly. Once again, it just took 2 coats (or more like 1 and a half, the 2nd was just a touch-up) and they were done!

The other possibility of course is that the wood they are using has changed recently? Struggling to think of any reasons why it could become so difficult to be honest

Well, the army painter did work a lot better than the citadel spray, so it might just be a case of bad Citadel products.

Like I said I think it's not a "True" primer. I think You'll be fine now.

 The CF wrote:
it might just be a case of bad Citadel products.

from gods lips to your ears....

 The CF wrote:
Well, the army painter did work a lot better than the citadel spray, so it might just be a case of bad Citadel products.

It's actually something that was touched on in the first O-12 Infinity Podcast.

It's not Citadel Primers, Army Paint Primers, etc. It's the material. It soaks up the aerosol sprays and "swells" without the color ever really sticking.

They suggest to apply a coat of varnish before ever priming.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 The CF wrote:
Well, the army painter did work a lot better than the citadel spray, so it might just be a case of bad Citadel products.

It's actually something that was touched on in the first O-12 Infinity Podcast.

It's not Citadel Primers, Army Paint Primers, etc. It's the material. It soaks up the aerosol sprays and "swells" without the color ever really sticking.

They suggest to apply a coat of varnish before ever priming.

And yet many have had success using 'true' primers - which is it?!?

 Alpharius wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 The CF wrote:
Well, the army painter did work a lot better than the citadel spray, so it might just be a case of bad Citadel products.

It's actually something that was touched on in the first O-12 Infinity Podcast.

It's not Citadel Primers, Army Paint Primers, etc. It's the material. It soaks up the aerosol sprays and "swells" without the color ever really sticking.

They suggest to apply a coat of varnish before ever priming.

And yet many have had success using 'true' primers - which is it?!?

Bear in mind, I'm just going off what I've heard and what the local shop that does a lot of Infinity has mentioned to me.
I think poorly of GW's primer, it's fancy watered down paint. I can do a better primer coat with fingerpaints and a drunk monkey. Army Painter's stuff is pretty good though, at least the primers. The color sprays (important distinction) are hit/miss.

But, note what the two people who said that they primed without varnishing/applying a light coating of PVA glue(what Romeo and crew suggested as well) used the following:
Silver used a "general purpose" primer likely from Plastikote. Their stuff is for painting indoor/outdoor and automotive purposes. I don't know exactly which one he used, but there is an enamel primer that they sell in midtone gray.
Dupli-color primer is a which is, again, used for automotive purposes.

It might sound silly but automotive stuff (especially that which has a "crack filler" like Duplicolor/Plastikote) usually has a bit more teeth than the standard acrylic primers.

Well, it seems like the whole world is against me in this project.
The grey coat did well, but oh god the white. Got a bad can that sprayed not only the white colour but also... i'm not even sure what to call it. White grovel? Adding a texture to most of the building, especially the indoors.
Then, after having coated it in white I started trying to paint it. God, I have never felt so ashamed of anything I ever painted. Not sure what's wrong, if it's the colours I chose or If I just can't paint flat surfaces. Either way my ego just took a big hit.
Hopefull I'm motivated enoughh again tomorrow to take another, unpainted floor and get lucky with the painting and do something nice.
I hope.

The "white gravel" is from when you're spraying in too cold conditions and/or the can has not been shaken up enough.

It can also happen when you're spraying too close to what you're spraying or if what you are spraying had minor imperfections or if you had some dust, etc get onto the surface when you spray.

I hate to say it, but this is one of the biggest reasons why whenever I go to spray something I take a small piece of the material and spray that before doing the actual model/structure. It's a good habit to have.

Ah, guess I forgot to shake the can. Well, yeah. I did, heh.
I guess this'll make for a good amount of lessons learned the hard way in the future.
I'll just have to cheer up and do a good job next time around. Might also look into how some people painted their buildings for inspiration and motivation.

Can you sand it down with fine sandpaper and prime it again?

I guess I could. Hum hum.
Strange thing is that it kind of looks cool. Like if the apartment has been abandoned for a few years. That if, I manage to paint it right.
I'll see about how this goes when I try to paint the Apartments again. Wish me luck!

Give us some pictures, please!

I'll see what I can do. Tried some pictures before, but I couldn't see to catch the bad parts on camera But as soon as I get some time free, I'll try to fix it as good as I can, then I'll show you some.
One thing that just ocurred to me was that I might be trying too hard with the painting. Most good-looking MAS Apartments seem to have only been primed and then very little detail is added.

The CF wrote:I guess I could. Hum hum.
Strange thing is that it kind of looks cool. Like if the apartment has been abandoned for a few years. That if, I manage to paint it right.
I'll see about how this goes when I try to paint the Apartments again. Wish me luck!

The CF wrote:I'll see what I can do. Tried some pictures before, but I couldn't see to catch the bad parts on camera But as soon as I get some time free, I'll try to fix it as good as I can, then I'll show you some.
One thing that just ocurred to me was that I might be trying too hard with the painting. Most good-looking MAS Apartments seem to have only been primed and then very little detail is added.

Just a grey basecoat and then add some grime and streaks in the same grey colour only slightly darker. As if water has trickled down from edges, angles and windows as the wall has been exposed to the elements. If you're feeling adventurous you can also add some slime/algea to the bottom of the walls as well as just general grime that has splashed on the surface when rain hits the water beneath. I tried finding some imagery to show you but it was difficult, you can generally see this very clearly on most buildings in a city. The streaks come from the corners of the windows or any other angle that is created by the shape of the wall (even though streaks also appear on straight edges as well).





See you on friday!

SO it looks as if the consensus is - get a 'real' primer and try it out on a sample bit first!