Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Was doing some research on Primers and comparing it to my limited experiences with them. I know everyone has said just go to walmart and buy some primer, but I have found it to be a bit heavy. Perhaps I purchased the wrong one? Compared to GW Chaos Black Primer, the primer went on a little thicker. Where as the GW primer looked like it shrank, hugging the details without adding thickness. Looking on here, I have read that GW primer is not primer at all. Instead it is paint? I know when painting, real primer is a must. But that is from my experience as a handyman painting houses. My experience with GW primer was helping a friend prime his models. I did not paint them, so I have no clue how well they held paint after they were primed. I would like to get a good primer for resin and plastic but was wondering what everyone else uses. Do you use a regular can of paint instead of primer? What brand of primer do you get at Walmart?
For metal models, I found a great primer that goes on like the GW primer and hugs the details with minimal build up. It is also at Walmart, but forgot the brand at the moment. It is a metal primer and comes in light grey. It worked beautifully and wish it worked like that on plastic. I will look around my bits bin for something to test the metal primer on, haven't used it on plastic yet. Your help and insight would be great. Sorry if this is a repetitive topic.

I find regular old (enamel) spray paint to be perfectly sufficient for plastic (which is what Chaos Black spray is). Been using Walmart's ColorPlace flat colors for years. As with most brands, the white is a tad finicky, tending to go on a bit chalky and thick if you aren't careful. The black, however, is magic - goes on incredibly thin, covers quickly and evenly, and has the apparent shrinking quality you mention (you can apply a very wet coat without losing any detail, once dry - as long as you avoid actual drips and runs, you're fine).

I use spray on mid grey primer for car repairs, or white acrylic gesso, which can be coloured with paint if you want a different base coat.

The gesso works remarkably well on soft plastic figures, which are made of high density polypropylene (I think) rather than polystyrene or ABS as is used for GW's figures. (Hard plastic).

Being UK based I use sprays from local DIY shops such as B&Q or Halfords. The formulation is probably the same as USA brands.

The best primer I've used is Tamiya Fine. It comes in white or grey, and has some serious bite for paint.

A close second is actually the Army Painter stuff, and it comes in several colours to boot. A lot of people have disputed this, but personally, I think it compares somewhat favourably to Citadel Black in terms of quality (but not in price - Army Painter is cheaper, albeit not by much).

Citadel White Spray Primer was a disaster pretty much every time I used it, it seem to slide off edges of miniatures, no matter how much I washed the miniatures or sometimes even Dullcoted it first. Very disappointing.

Dax415 wrote:
. I would like to get a good primer for resin and plastic but was wondering what everyone else uses. Do you use a regular can of paint instead of primer? What brand of primer do you get at Walmart?
For metal models, I found a great primer that goes on like the GW primer and hugs the details with minimal build up. It is also at Walmart, but forgot the brand at the moment. It is a metal primer and comes in light grey. It worked beautifully and wish it worked like that on plastic. I will look around my bits bin for something to test the metal primer on, haven't used it on plastic yet. Your help and insight would be great. Sorry if this is a repetitive topic.

Walmart Colorplace black or white primer. Works like a charm in my experience on both plastic and metal. And it's dirt cheap.
Spray 2-3 very light coats and it doesn't destroy any detail.

Just addressing a misconception here. Your primer layer, no matter the kind, or type should not cover the entire surface. Primer is meant to prepare the surface for your base coat which does cover the entire surface. A properly applied primer layer should still have some semblance of the color of the model showing through.

A.

I would argue that "priming" has become a significantly muddied term, Redfinger. While you're entirely right, in the stricter sense, styrene kits don't generally require priming if base/under coated with an aerosol enamel. If using spray paint to "prime" (or "primer," used as a verb, as is fast becoming the norm) a plastic kit in the looser sense, even and full coverage is desired. Some certainly may labor under the misconception, others have simply surrendered any hope of distinct terms and assume the broader, (at least seemingly) more common definition is being used.

Ok the paint at Walmart is called ColorPlace.....I should get the enamel? Or is there a ColorPlace primer? When I went to my Walmart there was no Color Place primer, just spray paint. I noticed ColorPlace comes in a variety of colors. What color should I prime a model if its a Grey Knight, Tau Battlesuit Commander, and Blood Angels Techmarine? Thanks

 oadie wrote:
I would argue that "priming" has become a significantly muddied term, Redfinger. While you're entirely right, in the stricter sense, styrene kits don't generally require priming if base/under coated with an aerosol enamel. If using spray paint to "prime" (or "primer," used as a verb, as is fast becoming the norm) a plastic kit in the looser sense, even and full coverage is desired. Some certainly may labor under the misconception, others have simply surrendered any hope of distinct terms and assume the broader, (at least seemingly) more common definition is being used.

Oadie you and I are usually in agreement on most things, but on this one I need to stand my ground. I feel better results are achieved (both in durability of the paint job and quality of the finish) with a sparse primer coat, particularly when dealing with the thin airbrushed layers that are so commonly used now. Can results be achieved using the method you are describing? Sure, particularly when using color based primers like the stuff Army Painter has, even with those I still do not so an entire opaque coat. For example I was working on some Dust stuff yesterday. I am doing them in an Afrika Korps finish. I used Armym Painter Deamon Yellow to apply a few thin coats. You could still see the grey surface showing through. But when I applied my Vallejo Golden Brown, it went on smooth, covered in pretty much one coat, and looks great.

A.

Hoping to get my last question answered, thanks guys

The Colorplace stuff is fine. It is technically not primer, but works very well on plastics. For metals you may want to pick up Krylon Primer.

I prime everything black because I like the built in shading it provides. If you are doing something that is predominantly red or yellow and want a really bright color, white might be more your speed.

I use Krylon primer from Michael's. Not everyplace has their primer...often you see their primer-paint combo on the shelves. But Michael's carries their bonafide primer and it works great and costs maybe $5 a can.

I use an airbrush with Vallejo primer.

Airbrushes just make priming, basecoating, and finishing so much easier.

I don't have a permanent airbrush station however. If I just need a miniature or two primed, it's far quicker to pull out a can than set up my brush, deal with cleaning it afterward etc. Cans still have their place.

 gorgon wrote:
I use Krylon primer from Michael's. Not everyplace has their primer...often you see their primer-paint combo on the shelves. But Michael's carries their bonafide primer and it works great and costs maybe $5 a can.

I love Michaels! Nothing better than using a 40% or 50% coupon to get an item

Always used GW black primer. For me it just seemed to work best!