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Hey guys
Recently I tried airbrushing with paints and being a novice at the whole thing, lets just asy that things didn't go smoothly, what I did learn is that sprayed paint is awesome particularly for priming.

I'm currently looking for Gold and Red primers to prime my models, primers which GW doesn't supply... Well that's not true, GW supplies a gold rattle can primer that costs close to 50 Aus dollars and if that isn't overkill don't know what is.

I was wondering that 3rd party/hobby primer (Can) lines do you guys use and do any of you know any specific gold or Red primers?

Thanks

I've found that rustoleum 2x from bunnings does a great job at priming, it is available in red though I doubt it is in gold.

I'm actually not sure if you will find any gold _primers_ in a spray

The key thing, really is to test it and see how it goes - there are gold sprays from bunnings, but you'd need to test it on some trash models to see how it is going to go. The trick is really going to be to shake the hell out of it, but even them I am skeptical how well it'd go.

kb_lock wrote:
I've found that rustoleum 2x from bunnings does a great job at priming, it is available in red though I doubt it is in gold.

I'm actually not sure if you will find any gold _primers_ in a spray

The key thing, really is to test it and see how it goes - there are gold sprays from bunnings, but you'd need to test it on some trash models to see how it is going to go. The trick is really going to be to shake the hell out of it, but even them I am skeptical how well it'd go.

rustoleum eh? Ok thanks ill have to look for that, come to think of it, is there a difference between the spray that say GW sells and standard cans at a hardware store? I assume there would be a concentration difference or something

As for the gold, I suspect that's why GW charges the price of a spare organ to get their gold, due to it being fairly uncommon... Which is a pain in the arse lol

Most of those GW cans are not primer, they're paint in a spray can, designed to let you easily base coat in a color that can be matched by a paint in their line. You still need to prime before using them.

Editted for typo

Good point, even the GW gold wouldn't be a primer.

There are gold sprays at bunnings too, but I've never tried them.

There are definitely differences between the cheap sprays and the expensive sprays, but the GW spray isn't amazing, I'd put it on par with rustoleum.

Bunnings has Squirtz or something as well, which is bugger all, that would probably be worse quality, but even then lots of folks I know use it to prime models.

If you want to get expensive stuff, have a look at Mr Primer Surfacer sprays (bna model world) - bna also have a humbrol bronze acrylic spray, which would be great as a basecoat by the look of it ($11.65)

That said, you'd be priming in red, then spraying your bronze - don't just put spray down on plastic unless it is primer.

Go to your local auto shop. Acrylic auto-primers do the job just fine and are generally much cheaper than 'dedicated' modelling brands.

I think these days if I wanted a gold model I'd airbrush it, start with a gunze 1500 surface primer and then hit it with a Vallejo metal color gold or perhaps a Mr. Color gold if they have one.

I've fallen in love with lacquer primers. For airbrushing I use the Gunze 1200 or 1500 lacquer primers and for spraying out of a can its hard to beat Tamiya's lacquer primer. I know some people feel any old cheap acrylic spray is fine but I've been liking the lacquers enough to pay the premium (though for airbrushing the gunze stuff is actually pretty cheap).

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I think these days if I wanted a gold model I'd airbrush it, start with a gunze 1500 surface primer and then hit it with a Vallejo metal color gold or perhaps a Mr. Color gold if they have one.

I've fallen in love with lacquer primers. For airbrushing I use the Gunze 1200 or 1500 lacquer primers and for spraying out of a can its hard to beat Tamiya's lacquer primer. I know some people feel any old cheap acrylic spray is fine but I've been liking the lacquers enough to pay the premium (though for airbrushing the gunze stuff is actually pretty cheap).

Out of curiosity since I have never airbrushed with lacquer paints. How does it compare to acrylics?

Since lacquer requires solvents, how bad does it get in terms of turning your hobby room into a gas chamber?
How much harder is cleaning the airbrush? I Manage to clean my current airbrush mostly with tab water, I imagine lacquers require hard solvents for that too.

Klaus von Groehm wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
I think these days if I wanted a gold model I'd airbrush it, start with a gunze 1500 surface primer and then hit it with a Vallejo metal color gold or perhaps a Mr. Color gold if they have one.

I've fallen in love with lacquer primers. For airbrushing I use the Gunze 1200 or 1500 lacquer primers and for spraying out of a can its hard to beat Tamiya's lacquer primer. I know some people feel any old cheap acrylic spray is fine but I've been liking the lacquers enough to pay the premium (though for airbrushing the gunze stuff is actually pretty cheap).

Out of curiosity since I have never airbrushed with lacquer paints. How does it compare to acrylics?

Since lacquer requires solvents, how bad does it get in terms of turning your hobby room into a gas chamber?
How much harder is cleaning the airbrush? I Manage to clean my current airbrush mostly with tab water, I imagine lacquers require hard solvents for that too.

I'be found lacquers spray very consistently. That's why I like the gunze primer, spraying a large mode you get a very consistent texture across the whole thing.

Lacquer solvent stinks, but it is also very short lived because it evaporates quickly. So if you have good ventilation while spraying all the fumes end up outside and within a couple of minutes the model also stops smelling. I spray in the same room where I work and I like it because it doesn't make my room stink (unlike some paints which you spray and the fumes hang around for ages).

The fast evaporating solvent means you can prime with lacquer then work on the model in a few minutes. If the primer needs sanding you can sand it like 30 minutes. If you don't need to sand it and just want to over coat with an acrylic or enamel I just wait until it stops smelling the spray straight over it, it's usually good enough to spray over by the time I've finished cleaning my airbrush ready for for the acrylic/enamel.

I find clean up is easy using a lacquer thinner from the local hardware store. I do believe lacquer thinners are harsh on rubber seals in airbrushes. If you have Teflon seals it's fine. My AB has Teflon seals on the needle but rubber seals in the paint cup and the air cap an it hasn't been a problem for me yet. I haven't tried it yet but in wondering if Vallejo AB cleaner can clean lacquers, because I noticed one of my brushes which was stained with lacquer got clean when I used Vallejo AB cleaner on it. I haven't tried it in my AB though, it may just turn it to a horrible goopy mess

I use Krylon Color Master Color Max and it works extremely well for my minis. I have a background in Auto Body Repair and Paint and I really like the way that the Krylon flows and covers. Once it dries if you sprayed it right its nice and even and smooth. I have only seen it in White, Black and Grey although there may be a reddish brown color as well.

Rust-oleum American Accents 2X Ultra Cover primer is pretty much replacing GW's overpriced stuff for me. $4 at Walmart compared to $18 or so at my FLGS for the GW stuff.

Tamiya Surface Primer is my favorite aerosol primer. It's lacquer-based, goes down incredibly smooth, sands well, and is tough as nails.

I also like to use Alclad II Primer/Microfiller in my airbrush (it is also lacquer-based).

 November wrote:
Hey guys
Recently I tried airbrushing with paints and being a novice at the whole thing, lets just asy that things didn't go smoothly, what I did learn is that sprayed paint is awesome particularly for priming.

I'm currently looking for Gold and Red primers to prime my models, primers which GW doesn't supply... Well that's not true, GW supplies a gold rattle can primer that costs close to 50 Aus dollars and if that isn't overkill don't know what is.

I was wondering that 3rd party/hobby primer (Can) lines do you guys use and do any of you know any specific gold or Red primers?

Thanks

Army painter all the way, tons of color solid quality. Where I live the humidity blows up in the summer, GW primer fuzzes up under even a little humidity for me, but I've sprayed on the hottest and most humid days with my good ol TAP with no problems.