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I'm currently trying to start a new army of Tau on a small budget, so I'm trying to cut down on costs. One of the biggest is going to be the primer paint - I'm doing a predominantly white colour scheme, so I don't want to spray them black. While I could splash for the Corax White or Army Painter sprays, I'm wondering if there's a cheaper option. Does primer paint need to be a special solution, or will off-the-shelf white spray paint do the job just as well? I've got the paints for almost everything, but cutting down spending now is going to be very helpful.

Thanks in advance

Especially for plastics** you can just use an off the shelf spray can, but beware some will lay down very thick. It's best to test them on something you don't care about first or stick to ones people recommend (which varies from location to location).

It's typically best to stick to matte paints for your undercoat (they give more bite) unless you are painting metallics or translucent paint (where you might want a gloss to get a smoother and less grainy finish), and typically acrylics or lacquers if you intend to paint acrylics over the top of them.

You can buy specific "primer", but keep in mind "primer" is a vague term that can mean a lot of things, many of which you don't actually want on your miniatures. For an undercoat on a plastic model you basically just want it to grip well to the plastic and in turn that paint you put on top of it will grip well to it, most spray paints have strong solvents which mean they stick well to plastics and as long as it's a matte acrylic or lacquer then paints should stick to it well also.




**I mention "for plastics", if you have metal models it may be worth using something more specifically designed for metals to reduce the chance of paint chipping. Honestly, I don't paint enough metal models any more to have tested what makes for good metal primers. But plastics aren't nearly as fussy. Also when I say "plastics" I mean the typical polystyrene that our plastic models are made from. Some low energy plastics like polypropylene are a bitch to get paint to stick to them because they have a super low surface energy.

Thankyou very much, that's very useful. I'm only painting plastic miniatures at the moment, so I'll give it a try on one of the drones (I've got enough to spare a few). I'll bear the advice on metallics in mind.

Personally for a white army I'd go to Halfords and buy their own brand Grey Primer (they also make a black and white).
http://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints-body-repair/car-spray-paints/halfords-primer-grey-500ml
A watered down wash (you can easily make up a pot from paint, water and a touch of hand soap) of some colour just to get away from monochrome and give some richness then build up your whites on top of that.
The cans are bigger and cheaper than GW.

never skimp on paint. the paints (generally) designed for miniature painting are such for a reason. i think when you try to skimp on stuff in this hobby it generally is a bad idea. best to wait till you can spare the cash and do it right

I'd disagree here.
The Halfords primer is imo better and cheaper than either GW, Modelmates, Tamiya, Vallejo or Armypainter spray primers.
I would avoid Plasticote, Rustoleum and a few others as they really aren't up to the job and will obscure detail.
The hobby specific paints are just priced accordingly to a niche market.

While I wouldn't normally skimp on paints, I feel the the undercoat is the one layer where you could probably get away with it. Though there is the risk of wiping out the detail, some cans are really quite overpriced.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So an update - it turns out that cheap is not necessarily cheerful for spraypaints. I tried the Halfords white spray; it came out sputtery, with a poor finish that was alternately too thin, too think or horribly blistered. In conclusion, I'll just splash for the more expensive one and remember this.

That sounds more like an application issue than a paint issue.

I use rustoleum to prime everything but plastic (which i airbrush Vallejo PU primer on). Shake it for 2 minutes, rolling the agitator to ensure it isn't sticking. Make sure it isn't too hot, or cold - you also don't want humidity.

Well I'm painting all plastic, but thanks for the recommendation nonetheless. I sprayed the test mini in nigh-on perfect conditions - at least two mins shaking, dry but cool, well-ventilated - so I think the paint was the problem, especially since I must've sprayed many dozens of minis beforehand in almost identical conditions (or worse) with different brands of paint and had no problems. Therefore I'd say it was the paint that was at fault.

I have been using Halfords primers for years. Their white needs to be applied over another primer ideally (I believe it says so on the can).

I typically prime with their grey primer, then prime from above with the white to pre-shade. For a white army I would probably give a little bit more white spray from slightly to the sides, leaving grey just underneath. Then hit with a wash in an appropriate tone for the look you are going for.

Ah. My problem may have been to apply the white directly onto bare plastic, which was very dilute and then very blistered. I'll give that a try next weekend.

Colonel-Commissar wrote:
Ah. My problem may have been to apply the white directly onto bare plastic, which was very dilute and then very blistered. I'll give that a try next weekend.

Yeah, the white has trouble gripping. However a really light spray on top of their grey primer gives a good solid colour.

That does look exceedingly good. Thanks for the help (and very good painting there by the way, especially the tattoos).

Colonel-Commissar wrote:
That does look exceedingly good. Thanks for the help (and very good painting there by the way, especially the tattoos).

No problem. Hope it works for you!

If you click on the second image to go through to the galley, you can zoom in and look at the directional highlighting from the white. Really quick and easy way of painting if you use nice thin paints.

Sorry, I wasn't trying to slight you with insufficient prep, those results just sounded really odd - like bad prep or a bad can

I would have said bad can, but as SilverMK2 observed it was possibly bad prep on my part instead.

I'm feeling much more optimistic about this as a project now, which is broadly good.

Colonel-Commissar wrote:
I would have said bad can, but as SilverMK2 observed it was possibly bad prep on my part instead.

I'm feeling much more optimistic about this as a project now, which is broadly good.

To be fair, you would expect primer to go on straight, but white is always a PITA. I've tried other brands and never really gotten much joy spraying white on bare plastic. Only one brand gave good coverage, but it left about 4 inches of paint on the model from a single spray

Halfords grey, then halfords white is the best combination I have found.