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The inevitable has finally come. I'm nearly out of Army Painter spray primer (and varnish), which is what I've used for my entire painting career. The store that stocked them in town went out of business 9 months ago, and now my only choice is to buy things online. Trouble is... I live in Alaska, and getting rattle cans shipped here is nearly impossible. I'm considering switching to an all liquid primer that I could spray through my airbrush, but I've done that with Reaper primer before and because the airbrush lays down such fine coats, the primer rubbed off the edges while I was painting. And so, I have a few questions for the knowledgeable:

1) Can an airbrushed primer be as sturdy as a rattle can primer? Did I just get a bad batch of primer from Reaper or something?
2) I've heard good things about Vallejo, but haven't tried them yet. How well do their surface primers work?
3) What's a good matte varnish that I can spray with my airbrush?

Thanks for the help, all.

stick with GW chaos black primer and matte varnish, if you want to be safe, though it will be expensive.

I've heard bad things about vallejo primer, it rubs off like the other one you've mentioned, just avoid any enamel primer, those are not meant for miniatures.

I'm in Anchorage and use Krylon white, black, gray, and red primers and clear matte sealer for all my models. I have sprayed them outside in single digits and never had a problem (just bring them inside in the warm to dry obvs). Plus you can pick up cans at Freddy's for under $4 if you catch them on sale.

Since you have an airbrush, get Stynlrez primer and never look back. It's tougher and smoother than any other primer I've used.

Groo_The_Wanderer wrote:
I'm in Anchorage and use Krylon white, black, gray, and red primers and clear matte sealer for all my models. I have sprayed them outside in single digits and never had a problem (just bring them inside in the warm to dry obvs). Plus you can pick up cans at Freddy's for under $4 if you catch them on sale.

I've tried the Krylon white, and it's sooooo thick.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Big Mac wrote:
stick with GW chaos black primer and matte varnish, if you want to be safe, though it will be expensive.

I've heard bad things about vallejo primer, it rubs off like the other one you've mentioned, just avoid any enamel primer, those are not meant for miniatures.

Spray cans are hard to get shipped to Alaska, as I mentioned.