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Hi all,

New to Warhammer 40k and have decided to go with Tyranids with Hive Fleet Behemoth my choice of colours. I bought the Start Collecting box and thought I would first try the Mephiston Red spray on the Genestealers first, as these are the cheapest to replace in case I didn't like the way they turned out, after spraying a few of the miniatures with the spray I noticed that when it had dried, a fair amount of the details and almost completely disappeared.

Is the spray known to do this? I had shaken the can for 3-4 mins so plenty of time, I sprayed inside with the door open for ventilation and it was easily 15-20C, any ideas what might have happened?

Thanks all.

It sounds like you have oversprayed the miniatures, or were way too close when spraying.

My advice would be to back up the can so you are spraying about 8 to 10 inches from the models. Make many light passes with the can slowly building up the red.

It is ENTIRELY better to not spray on enough at first and then have to go and respray once you can see the portions that did not get covered. Unfortunately if you spray too close or too much, you will lose detail.

This might seem obvious, but check out some videos on youtube regarding priming and see how those folks are doing it.

Just remember, less is more!

Edit addition: Also try not to "stop" the can on any one miniature, try to keep it moving so no single area gets a big spray directly onto it. With a little distance and a good sweeping motion you will see the spray build up slowly and cover your models as intended. If you stop on a model it increases the chances of getting too much on a particular area or model. (This is just what works for me, I hope it can for you also)

Good Luck


Automatically Appended Next Post:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=miniature+priming+tips

Here is a list of results after typing in "miniature priming tips"...This will get ya on the right track.

Thank you very much for your advice and the link, I will watch some of those videos now thanks again.

Whether it’s brushing by hand, airbrushing, washes, or rattlecans, Duncan’s advice always holds true;

Two thin coats.

Probably covered in the videos, but one thing to keep in mind is simple - unless in the process of actually spraying, Always Be Shaking. Shake the can well before use. When you think you've shaken it enough, shake it more. When you think you're ready to start, shake some more. And then in between spraying passes, shake some more. It helps keep the contents well mixed and the pressure as consistent as possible, both helpful to spray can painting.

I'm not sure if it helps or not, but I also swirl the can around such that the bearing passes the circumference of both the top and the bottom ends of the can. I'm quite thorough in the shaking though.

I used to spray 10-12 inches from the miniatures because a friend of mine oversprayed constantly I was terrified of doing what he (and you) did. The result was a granular texture you could see after painting.

After talking with another friend who used to do model cars, I found a better method. Now I typically spray maybe, uh, 4-6 inches from the miniatures if I had to guess? I prime on sprue like a lazy heathen, and each pass is maybe about a second long across the sprue as evenly as I can time it. Don't start spraying over the sprue, don't stop spraying over the sprue, and don't linger at any point. Afterward, I'll go back and just dust any parts that it looks like I missed.

I don't know if that's the "right" way to do it, but I've basically always been happy with the results.

The answer to your issue has been stated, so in the meantime if you want to rescue those models I'd grab some Dettol (the proper anti septic brown liquid) and give the models a bath in it to remove the paint.

No point wasting all those models!

And just to add a bit of solidarity, I did exactly the same the first time I primed anything with a spray-can. I was planning to paint some Imperial Assault Stormtroopers, but after my ham-fisted attempt at priming, they looked more like abominable snowmen. I soaked them in dettol, as Oppl suggests, cleaned them up, and tried again making sure not to smother the miniatures this time, and it all worked out fine. The good news is that it's all fixable, and that having made this mistake now, you're less likely to make it again in the future.