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Hi guys just wondering what primer i Should use? I was thinking about using Tamiya White fine Surface Primer or Mr Hobby Mr Surfacer 1200 but not shore?

I use airbrush primer as it goes on more even then spray can primer. I use Vallejo Model Air Primer: 17ml Grey.


Your going to get a different answer from everyone

The "Tamiya White Fine Surface Primer" is reaaaally something I suggest you avoid.

Their primers are enamel. I found this out the hard way when trying unsuccessfully to strip the Ariadnan Chasseur.

Yes I only use the Tamiya stuff for terrain, it gives a nice even and smooth coat and will go straight onto even the more thirsty bits of MDF.

Normally use the Army Painter stuff just on account of price, and the varying shades you can get are useful.

Personally unless you dislike painting grey, I would recommend the good old Halfords grey primer. Maybe it's because I'm getting old but when I use the black AP primer I can't see the fine detail on the Infinity minis. Same with white, although you can always apply a wash before you apply the base colours.

But with grey, it's a lot like holding a resin mini in your hands. You can still see the shadows and the light will still catch the raised areas.

Duplicolor autoprimer. Black, white or grey.

I don't swamp it in paint, but it's more than a dusting.

With white, I apply a wash over it to bring up detail before blocking in the colours.

White Gesso thinned with Paint Easy and airbrushed. I abhor rattle cans.

Army Painter Uniform Grey spray. I'm in the process of getting an airbrush set up, where I'll probably switch to airbrushing Vallejo surface primer.

 Siygess wrote:
Personally unless you dislike painting grey, I would recommend the good old Halfords grey primer. Maybe it's because I'm getting old but when I use the black AP primer I can't see the fine detail on the Infinity minis. Same with white, although you can always apply a wash before you apply the base colours.

But with grey, it's a lot like holding a resin mini in your hands. You can still see the shadows and the light will still catch the raised areas.

I have some halfords plastic primer in white and grey but didn't think they would be sutable so I asked you guys.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Red Harvest wrote:
White Gesso thinned with Paint Easy and airbrushed. I abhor rattle cans.

I don't have an airbrush

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Red Harvest wrote:
White Gesso thinned with Paint Easy and airbrushed. I abhor rattle cans.

I don't have an airbrush

 NuclearMessiah wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Red Harvest wrote:
White Gesso thinned with Paint Easy and airbrushed. I abhor rattle cans.

I don't have an airbrush

Airbrush paint can still be brushed on and since it is pre thinned you don't have to worry about putting in on thick and losing detail. I could airbush one model and brush a second with the same primer and you wouldn't know the difference.

paladin9262 wrote:

 NuclearMessiah wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Red Harvest wrote:
White Gesso thinned with Paint Easy and airbrushed. I abhor rattle cans.

I don't have an airbrush

Airbrush paint can still be brushed on and since it is pre thinned you don't have to worry about putting in on thick and losing detail. I could airbush one model and brush a second with the same primer and you wouldn't know the difference.

Ok I'm going to use the white vallejo surface primer going by what you said.

 NuclearMessiah wrote:



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Red Harvest wrote:
White Gesso thinned with Paint Easy and airbrushed. I abhor rattle cans.

I don't have an airbrush

Yeah, you can just brush on Gesso too, no need to thin it then. Also, a trick with it. A very, very light drybrushing with white Gesso over the unprimed mini will 'reveal' any mold lines that you may have otherwise missed during clean-up. Just drybrush where the mold liines would be, rather than all over the mini. I suppose you could do this with white paint too. the Paint Easy is essentially the same as matte medium-- both are acrylic polymer emulsions-- but not as thick. You can use it as a general thinner too, cut with just a bit of distilled water. It's much cheaper too.

I recommend Vallejo black primer.

I hand prime my models.

Bosny Flat Black, Primer Grey or Primer Red for me. Dunno if that's available in your area but it has served me well both for gaming and display pieces.

I usually use Humbrol spray primer because back when there was a hobby shop here that was all they sold and it's done me fine

Whatever you go for: Probably cant go wrong with a test of the primer on a less detailed mini first. Eg: one of those old ulgy citadel minis

Also if you're going for army painter make sure you google a tutorial on how to use it (very different to citadel primer or autospray eg: i literally measure 20 cm from tip to model and do short bursts and it does not like cold/damp)

Im using Vallejo Game colour white primer through an airbrush for my tohaa. Added matt medium/glaze medium to water it down.

This is how the first one turned out: (no loss of detail for the painting and i always wanted to use the game colour primer because it was so durable but never wantedto paint it on with a brush)

I personally just brush on gesso.

I use the vallejo primer through my airbrush and the studio paints do the same.

When applied properly the GW are also good.

I'm used the white vallejo surface primer and I brushed it on and I'm disapointed because it's building up in the receses and is not covering very well.

paladin9262 wrote:
I'm used the white vallejo surface primer and I brushed it on and I'm disapointed because it's building up in the receses and is not covering very well.

Are watering you watering it down?

Do not water it down.

If it clumps get an exacto knife and cut the clump away and use a small amount of primer to cover it.

People seem to whinge about Army Painter White a lot but recently just used it to base my Aleph and while it won't be as good as a Airbrush primer (definitely the best option for the best coat of primter), it does a pretty good job if you use the can right.

Found it easy to control the can enough to get even coats without blocking details.

Sometimes comes up 'chalky' but I worked out it was the can not being shaken / used enough, so if you wind up ever using it don't be stingy with the spray and do a couple of sprays in the air to get the paint and air moving around the can after a solid shake. Having it a tiny bit warm helps with that as well.

I use two different Vallejo Surface primers. I use German Grey, and Grey.

The German gray, is not quite black, so you can put more vibrant colors on it more easily.

The grey is light enough to almost be a white, but not quite.

the white vallejo surface primer i used to brush on is terrible because you get in uneven coverage and it just pools up and I have had to redo it 4 times and using a spray can seems to be better also why do people adhor spray cans?If its just the white how does the grey compare.I need to know by lunch time uk time.