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So i just went to my LGS earlier in search of some 'brush on' primer (Michigan winter's killin me). I don't (yet) own an airbrush.

Long story short, the only thing they had in stock was the Tamiya Surface Primer grey. I bought some 3$ models to test it on. First one didn't go so well, does this have to be thinned with the lacquer as it suggests...or can I simply just thin it with water? OR is this stuff just not good for brushing on, and I should be looking for either the vallejo or reaper brush on stuff?

(Note: I'm a bit skeptical of brush on primer in general, to be honest, but I don't (at the moment) have any other options so I figured I'd give it a shot. It seems a LOT more popular than I would of expected, but no one seems to mention the Tamiya stuff)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Are you talking about the Tamiya stuff that comes in a little glass jar? If so, you absolutely cannot thin that with water, only lacquer thinner will work.

Out of the bottle it’s pretty thick, but that makes it useful for adding cast texture on tanks and stuff. It can be airbrush if thinned with a lacquer thinner. As far as I know it doesn’t work well at all with a paintbrush, then again I’ve never attempted to use mine like that.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
Are you talking about the Tamiya stuff that comes in a little glass jar? If so, you absolutely cannot thin that with water, only lacquer thinner will work.

Out of the bottle it’s pretty thick, but that makes it useful for adding cast texture on tanks and stuff. It can be airbrush if thinned with a lacquer thinner. As far as I know it doesn’t work well at all with a paintbrush, then again I’ve never attempted to use mine like that.

Yes, that is the exact stuff I'm talking about. I can definitely say it didn't seem to work very well with the paintbrush, at all...I'm glad I used brushes I don't care about 'cause it was also seeming to take hairs with it as applied. Stuff seems pretty potent . I didn't grab any lacquer and probably won't for that matter. Thanks for the info. Think I will just try either the Reaper paint on or the vallejo airbrush primer with a brush.

Thanks for the answer, though.

I honestly can't think of any truly 'good' brush on primers, i've seen people struggle with the vallejo ones too. Which i'm still not convinced the polyurethane ones are intended to be multi use like that...they seem made for an airbrush. Some people insist they work fine as a brush on but i'm not convinced.

I'm very sensitive to the solvents and nasty crap they put in spray primers so priming models is always a big hurdle for me. Couple whiffs of that stuff is like an instant headache.

Yeah you have to thin it with a lacquer thinner. Don't use hardware store lacquer thinner, it's waaaaay too strong, I use Gunze's self levelling thinner.

It can be brushed on as an overall primer but you have to thin it a lot to do so. It's not really designed for that though. It's more designed as a fast drying sandable filler primer that you can use on small areas you need to clean up like small gaps, seamlines, scratches and whatnot. A bit like liquid green stuff. Or it's designed to be thinned down heavily and used as an overall primer through an airbrush.

It can be thinned down and hairy brushed on over an entire model but it's not really intended to be used as such, has to be thinned a lot and takes a bit of practice to apply it right.

Use synthetic brushes and they should be fine as long as you are using one of the aforementioned lacquer thinners (not hardware store ones).

Also the thinners have some pretty intense fumes. Don't use it unless you have good ventilation.

Honestly I went down the brush on primer path and airbrush on primer path for a while and in the end just went back to rattle cans They're so much better. Tamiya's rattle can primer is pretty good, maybe it's a touch too slick but I like it because it's really easy to apply, in the winter I just open my window and spray through a box fan set to high using a box with the back cut out of it pressed up against the fan to stop the cloud of spray migrating anywhere other than out the window through the fan. After spraying leave the fan running for maybe 30 seconds then turn it off, close the window and put the models in another unused room to dry for a short while.

Yea I think I will probably stick to the 'ole rattle cans. Just have to pick my timing wisely.

Thanks for the responses.

Yeah, FWIW I think the Tamiya product is a good one, but unfortunately not for in the application you bought it for. It's more useful as either an airbrush primer or a replacement for liquid greenstuff.