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I recently got in a whole box of black spray paint, not knowing however, that it was enamel and not acrylic. Will the enamel spray stil be good to base models with ? Ive heard it can be a real pain in the head to paint over enamel. thanks

Some people use and don't mind enamel primers. I find the enamel primer is much more lower surface energy meaning acrylics tend to bead up on it. Also you have to wait quite a long time between spraying an enamel and going over with it an acrylic (take a whiff of the model, if it still has an enamelish smell to it, it means it's still outgassing and you need to wait before putting an acrylic over the top).

This might be common sense for any kind of spray paint, but don't go too heavy with it. I tried enamel spray precisely once and I was a bit too liberal with it, trying to get maximum coverage - a few details began to disappear.

I knew one or two people who liked using brush-on enamel as a chip-proof primer, but that was no great shakes for me either.

As long as it is flat, you are golden. Enamel makes a significantly better primer and undercoat since it dries harder and more durable than acrylic. Gloss makes a surface a bit more difficult to cover, but not impossible.

I only prime/base coat my minis with flat enamels through my airbrush. A paint can is OK, just don'r saturate the minis and cover up the details.

However, because I use the prime/base coat in the primary color of the mini, I have used silver on mostly armoured units - my IoB Swordmasters to be exact, and they came out great and in record time. Why paint an area only to knowingly have to cover it up 100% again?

Yeah, enamel sprays are fine (most sprays are enamel) ... it's whether the paint is Gloss, Satin, Matt or Flat that you need to be concerned with.

Gloss paints aren't great for undercoating. Satin, Matt or Flat is fine, although the the first two may leave a bit of a sheen if it is exposed - easily corrected with a flat or matt spray.

It should be fine,just make sure you do quick passes when when spraying.
At the moment I can't spray because of the weather I am stuck having to use brush on primer. What I've discovered is this;
1) Brush on Acrylic primer (I'll not name names) is generally crap. I had a disaster of major proportions with six tanks where the acrylic basecoat did not really take to the primer (acrylic). Luckily a brilliant paint stripper from Poland got the paint off.
2) I primed them using humbrol enamel.Then basecoated with Acrylic. The acrylic has no problem with the enamel,and in all my years using both enamel and acrylic have never had a 'reaction' at all! I do have 2 of the original Land Raiders that were painted with enamels (acrylic wasn't around then!) and later repainted with acrylics when they became available.They've never chipped or worn off since I bought them way back when they were released!
3) I maybe should have used grey enamel primer as it has more of a 'key' than standard enamel paint but to be honest it takes much longer to paint up a 'grey' model than a dark primer base does!

Thanks for all the replies and advice guys, It is unfortunetly a gloss enamel spray but hopefully all will go well

Good luck...don't think it'll work.

 Iceforp9 wrote:
Thanks for all the replies and advice guys, It is unfortunetly a gloss enamel spray but hopefully all will go well

It most likely won't.

If you really want to try it, use a miniature you're not particularly attached to as a test piece.

Whelp, I tested it on A run of the mill ork boy, I was able to get paint to stick but it did take a fair few coats before it had any real effect, the end result also looked very bright and it was hard to get washes to work sometimes.
I feel confident in saying it's useable but as a lest resort. I will probably be heading back out to get a proper matt primer today

I used gloss silver enamel as a base coat for my HE SMs, as mentioned before, with the acrylic coats sticking to it just fine.

Sure, not optimal, but I got the two units done in record time since all the armour was done from the start.

If you are concerned about the acrylic paint on top of the gloss, you can hit it with a light coat of clear to give it some protection. However, if you have to buy a can of clear you might as well just buy a can of flat base coat to start!

Gloss of any kind sucks if you thin your paints at all, and you should be thinning your paints.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
Gloss of any kind sucks if you thin your paints at all, and you should be thinning your paints.

Thin or not thin when the base is glossy and shiny it is really hard to paint over it :(
This is one of the reasons why I avoid Tamiya primer on figurines, it makes really glossy finish.