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I don't often use sprays, but after painting a white Space Marine for an upcoming event, I've resolved to never try to basecoat white with a brush again. I'm considering Krylon or the Army Painter from things I've read. They're both fine on the Plastics, but what about resin? Does anyone have any horror stories with spraying Finecast/ Forgeworld?

As long as you use primer intended for miniatures, you should be fine. Shake the can for a long time, though.

 Weboflies wrote:
I don't often use sprays, but after painting a white Space Marine for an upcoming event, I've resolved to never try to basecoat white with a brush again. I'm considering Krylon or the Army Painter from things I've read. They're both fine on the Plastics, but what about resin? Does anyone have any horror stories with spraying Finecast/ Forgeworld?

I've primed with cans for all of my finecast and resin since I bought my first miniature. It works absolutely fine - The cans are intended for both materials (plastics and resin) so there's no difference

I've never had any issues.

I'm glad I found this thread. I was just about to post the same question. Thanks!

Yep, just for the love of babe emperor, wash your finecrap models first, dont prime right out of the box with out washing.

I've been using Army Painters Black Primer on both Finecast and Forgeworld minis for quite a while without any problems.

The only issue I've had is that the paint chips and flakes quite easily on resin in some places despite thourough washing before and multiple thin layers when priming them.

I use grey spray primer on nearly everything and I've never had any problems. I always wash figures propertly first.

I use brush-on gesso on 1/32 scale soft plastic figures.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I use grey spray primer on nearly everything and I've never had any problems. I always wash figures propertly first.

Same! Which grey primer do you prefer?

Acryllic paint in a can is acryllic paint in a can. If the material you want to work with can handle acryllic paint, sticking it in a can won't change that. T

he only thing you have to make sure of is that you've properly washed you're resin, otherwise the paint isn't going to be on there for very long.

I always give resin a coat of varnish first in case I missed a bit while cleaning (matte varnish as anything yiu missed will be shiny in contrast to it.)

 sockwithaticket wrote:
Acryllic paint in a can is acryllic paint in a can. If the material you want to work with can handle acryllic paint, sticking it in a can won't change that.

I wouldn't say that. Acrylic paint can have a range of different solvents. I don't know how common it is, but you can also have varying propellants which affect how much bite a paint has as well. The solvents in a spray acrylic can etch the surface of a plastic like a brush on water based acrylic can't. Then you have things like acrylic putty primers which will want to lay down thick and are inappropriate for spraying miniatures. I've heard Gunze's lacquer range called "solvent based acrylic" but it's a completely different animal to water based acrylic.

The most obvious case of something that can handle acrylic paint but not acrylic spray is polystyrene foam. Doesn't get hurt at all by brush on acrylic, put it in a can with a stronger solvent and a liquid petroleum gas (LPG) propellant and watch your foam terrain pieces disappear in to puddles of slop.

All that said, I've never had a spray primer damage resin at least not that I've noticed. But it's not correct to suggest acrylic paint is acrylic paint without considering solvents and propellants which can vary wildly.

Mdlbuildr wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
I use grey spray primer on nearly everything and I've never had any problems. I always wash figures propertly first.

Same! Which grey primer do you prefer?

Just a can I get from a UK DIY warehouse. I think it's made by Rustkote. I've used various different ones over the years.

 sockwithaticket wrote:
Acryllic paint in a can is acryllic paint in a can. If the material you want to work with can handle acryllic paint, sticking it in a can won't change that. T

he only thing you have to make sure of is that you've properly washed you're resin, otherwise the paint isn't going to be on there for very long.

I always give resin a coat of varnish first in case I missed a bit while cleaning (matte varnish as anything yiu missed will be shiny in contrast to it.)

So you can see the leftover stuff shine through the matt varnish, or it just runs off? What matt varnish fo you use when you do this? When you find leftovers do you just wash again, and varnish again?

This also has me wondering, is dettol safe to sttip resin models, and if not, what is?

Even once you've washed the resin, sometimes it will look shiny. The matte varnish eliminates that completely, thus if you see any shine you know you need to go over that bit again, because you missed it or the coat is too thin. You don't then have to strip it and start from scratch, just apply more varnish to the relevant place.

I use vallejo matte varnish straight out of the 60 ml bottle, generally apply it with a brush as I don't do much that's bigger than dreadnought size and it allows you to be more precise.

 sockwithaticket wrote:
Even once you've washed the resin, sometimes it will look shiny. The matte varnish eliminates that completely, thus if you see any shine you know you need to go over that bit again, because you missed it or the coat is too thin. You don't then have to strip it and start from scratch, just apply more varnish to the relevant place.

I use vallejo matte varnish straight out of the 60 ml bottle, generally apply it with a brush as I don't do much that's bigger than dreadnought size and it allows you to be more precise.

I'm just a little foggy on the purpose of this vs just laying down a regular undercoat. Is the matt varnish less likely than paint to come off if there's still a touch of residue on the model?

Sorry if I wasn't being clear enough, yes. The varnish will not come off like primer will if the resin isn't clear of mould release agent/residue.

If you're feeling super lazy you can actually use varnish straight off the bat rather than cleaning the model at all. I've done this a few times and not had any issues with either primer or varnish coming off.

Wow, that's a great tip. I will try that!

GW ones are safe, so I assume they all are

Alright, I know people are going to tell me this isn't a good primer, but here goes.

I use Color Decor indoor\outdoor spray enamel that is black. Works very well for me.

Rust-oleum American Accents 2x Primer.

Comes in Black or White. Goes on kind of glossy and thick, drys to a nice thin coat with all details still visible.

I have sprayed over 5k worth of Necrons (Metal and finecast Lords and cryptects, plastic everything else) and 3k of Daemonkin (finecast Flesh Hounds, metal Lord and plastics) and just now had to buy a third can for my next projects.