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Hey! So I just primer'ed my first group of Deathwing Knights and noticed after the fact that I forgot to remove the mould lines from some of the miniatures. My question is is it possible to remove these mould lines at this stage in the process and then just go back and re-spray the parts of the model I scraped, or is that going to end up looking worse than the mould lines themselves?

Depends how thick the primer is and how carefully you remove the mould lines. I'd recommend going at any large, smotth surfaces that you have to do this on with some very fine (2500) grit sand paper very gently. what you're going for is the primer to seem to smudge into into the bare plastic. Not a hard line.

So you're saying that if I file down the lines with some sand paper I may not need to re-primer? A buddy of mine said just to remove them and then paint over it without bothering to re-spray, but I'm worried the paint won't stick correctly if I do that.

I'd go in and carefully scrape the missed lines with a small file or the back of a hobby knife (My preferred method) Then just hand paint a 'primer' layer of paint over the scraped area, or do one more quick spray primer coat if there is a lot of paint removed in the line removal process.

Best of luck & take it easy.

-Red__Thirst-

It depends what primer, but many primers are specifically designed to be sprayed on to show up flaws which can then be corrected by further sanding/filling/etc.

So yeah, you probably can, but it depends on the primer. I find Vallejo primer terrible for post working, that's one of several reasons I have completely stopped using it.

If it's a particularly thick layer of primer, my advice would be to sand it rather than cutting or scraping. If it's a thin coat it probably doesn't matter so much.

When I'm painting model aircraft rather than miniatures, my first primer coat isn't the last thing I do before paint, it's an intermediate step in the prep process to show up any mould lines or gaps I didn't fix properly. I then fix those gaps and mould lines and just locally spray primer back on those areas again before starting on the actual painting.

EDIT: Oh, also, if it's a thick layer of primer or a slow drying paint (enamel) you're probably best off waiting a few days to a week to make sure it's properly cured before sanding it, if the paint is a bit rubbery from not having cured properly then it's not going to sand nicely. I have swapped largely to lacquer based primers for that reason, I can spray them and then sand within a few minutes.


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 Weboflies wrote:
Depends how thick the primer is and how carefully you remove the mould lines. I'd recommend going at any large, smotth surfaces that you have to do this on with some very fine (2500) grit sand paper very gently. what you're going for is the primer to seem to smudge into into the bare plastic. Not a hard line.

If it's a sandable primer that has had proper time to cure I'd start more in the 1000-1500 grit range.

I usually don't go above 2000 grit for my final sand because that'll give you something smooth enough to not be seen under a couple of layers of paint.

The only reason I go above 2000 is if it's something I'm trying to polish to a glossy shine.

I do what Red_Thirst has suggested, use my hobby knife to scrape/cut the mould line away and then use brush on primer to go over the affected area.

Honestly, if you are sanding, you will be getting some toothiness on the plastic anyway, so adding another layer of primer probably won't be necessary.

Thank you for all the replies guys. I've started the process, and will attach a picture of how its going so far. I found some 2000 grit sand paper and a X-ACTO knife which Ive been using in tandem to try to smooth the lines out. I should specify that by "primer" I'm actually just using citadel zandri dust spray paint, which I do realize is technically different than primer. I wasn't at all able to smooth the lines out without scraping off a lot of paint, so I'm considering just respraying the zandri dust over the top. I worry about just painting right over the top of the plastic, as I want to make sure that the paint sticks. Let me know what you guys think - respray or just paint over it.

Since you are just using paint anyway, not primer, what would the point be of "priming" all of it again with more paint?

I wouldn't spray it again unless it was sprayerd very lightly to begin with, and then only another very thin coat. Too many coats of spray, and you'll lose detail.

Otherwise, If you don't have a pot of a comparable colour you can brush on, spray some in some kind of small container and use a brush to apply that. Try it on something else first to see if it's thin enough to do that without showing brush marks, and make sure you've got some proper paint thinner around for when you need to clean the brush first. If the spray needs thinning to be brushed on, you might wanna do a little research to see what sort of thinner would be appropriate for that specific paint.

 Gordon Shumway wrote:
Since you are just using paint anyway, not primer, what would the point be of "priming" all of it again with more paint?

Typically sprays of the same colour tend to be tougher than pots. That's *typically*, I'm sure you could find some paints that's not true.

Anywho, if you don't need the model to be that colour in the end, I wouldn't bother spraying it.

If you do need the model to be that colour, I would spray it again. But that's just me. I'm pedantic about surface finish and it's time consuming to hairy brush paint a colour on in such a way that it won't be obvious that part of the model is sprayed and another part hairy brush painted.

I'd just do very light coats, waiting some time between coats for the paint to flash off (depends on the weather, warm day a few seconds, cold day a few minutes). That'll minimise any potential detail loss.

I might even hairy brush paint the area with a couple of coats first so the contrast between the bare grey plastic and the light biege isn't so harsh, then finish off with a spray. That way you'll need less coats of spray to get a good finish.

But it's up to you in the end. You can make it work either way.