"My primer spray is a bit fuzzy." Topic

Hi everyone;
Lately I have noticed that anything I prime, has a real textured,rough, almost fuzzy feel to it.
This happened with two cans of primer and kind of ruins the mini.
Any idea on why this is happening?
Time for new primer?
What can I do to the textured minis to smooth them out?
Thanks;
Joe

You may be spraying in too high of humidity. Not much you can do other than dip them in some super clean and try again.

Also, you might be a touch too far away, and the spray disperses.

Are you shaking the can very well. As not shaking it for about 3 mins will cause a bitty finish. If it does it after shaking well i'd throw them away and get some new model primer.

High humidity and/or from too far and/or bad can will cause premature drying and "textured" paint.

I have found that "Hobby" primers have had 2 bad cans out of 5. It's not worth the trouble.
If it sprays bad, get rid of it. Why take a chance on it ruining another batch?

Throw the can away, and get a cheap can of regular brand name primer from Wal-Mart, Loew's, Home Depot or K-Mart. I switched long ago from Floquil, Ral Partha and so on primer. Hobby primers are universally horrible.

Simple reason is that hobby shops do not have the weight and gravitas to bully suppliers over bad product. Wal-Mart has the heft to bully Krylon. Larger production lots, better quality control.

I actually use the cheap brand (Color-Place) from Wal-Mart. The flat black is usually good – smooth finish. The flat white has left a rough finish a couple of times recently. I think it was my fault for spraying too far away, though. Definitely bad for light coats/washes – comes out like stained terry cloth.

I really don't think that it is a case of bad primer. More likely it is due to the humidity. On warm humid days, I either don't prime figures or prime them in the cool basement. I immediately turn a large fan on and this disperses the fumes nicely. I get perfect results in the non-humid, cooler basement.

My primer of choice is Armoury primer.

If I get fuzzy texture, then I take an old toothbrush and vigourously brush away the fuzz until I'm down to the bare metal. Some of the primer, that which adhered properly, will remain and all of the bad stuff will be gone. Then I reprime them and usually get a nice smooth surface.

I have also noticed this effect if I prime on cardboard more than a couple times so I now put down a plastic bag, from a grocery store, and prime on top of that. Plus I always test spray off the minis to see how the paint is coming out of the can.

Check your can description. Some years ago a client sent me two dozen figs to paint. He had pre-undercoated them with spray primer. The figures had a definate 'texture'. I queried him about what spray he had used. His reply, after checking, was "whoops!". He had bought a PRIMER FILLER used for doing slight dents in car bodywork.

Worth checking.

James.

I had a can of Armoury black primer do that to me.
Try taking an old tooth brush to them and it should remove the fuz.

Humidity is a major factor. But I also found that swapping nozzles helped, too.

Spraying in the heat will cause the paint to partially dry before it strikes the figure and to leave a grainy texture.

After years of using Krylon (or even cheaper) flat and ultra-flat black spray paint as primer, I impulse-bought some Armory primer a few months ago.

Now I have a batch of 50 miniatures that needs scrubbing and brushing. :(

And no, "improper shaking", high humidity or gremlins had nothing to do with it.

Just wish I could bill the Armory for the time or minis.

Like DAF, I use Armoury primers. Only had "fuzz" once, ever and that was on some Dixon's I got for a diorama. They sat for a long while before I brushed them down. When I painted them (enamels) the fuzz was gone.

I am not sure why this occurs. For me it has occurred under many different conditions. I have a pretty stable environment so humidity isnt usually a factor.

I use the walmart flat black which is actually paint not primer. It never fuzzes on me. I've had the fuzz happen mostly with white paint. I want to do some white priming but I'm afraid of how it will turn out. I wonder why the difference?

Does anyone know of a sure fire can of white?
Should we be trying an enamel because you can paint acrylics over enamel contrary to what we are told usually.

I brush or airbrush (large surfaces only) FolkArt's Glass and Tile Medium. It's a clear primer that you can tint if you want. Great tooth and never obscures detail. In Michigan the humidity is rarely low enough when the temperature is high enough to use spray primers.

Paul

I just used a can of Wal-Mart "ColorPlace" interior/exterior flat white. I made sure I sprayed close – about 6 inches from the figs. The finish seems to be smooth. And it is fairly hot & humid today: 84 deg F. & 40% humidity. Dean

This is one of the reasons that I brush prime.

Switch to gesso. Youll never go back to spray priming.

Only happens with white for me. For white I only use 'Army Builder'. Blacks )any source) and Greys (hobby primer) have been fine.

I heartily second Chuck05. Switch to gesso and you will be hooked. I live in Florida, and the humidity here caused almost every batch of figures I primed to have some degree of fuzziness. It's horrible to deal with. Gesso has none of those issues, and unless you really abuse it, it dries with hardly any distortion of detail. Great stuff.

Jason

Me, I love the 'fuzzy' primers. I think it can have some nice textures to it. Also if you paint the areas down with a heavy coat, the 'fuzzies' go away…

I've had problems with every type of spray primer at one point or another. Ral Partha, Floquil, Testors, Armoury, Wal Mart, Krylon, you name it.

In fact, I had a bad batch that I did 2 years ago that I just finally now stripped to the metal. I now have to add more basing compound and then re-prime (plus reglue the weapons).

For two years now I've switched to brush-on gesso. You can't screw it up. It's amazing stuff. Of course, not as durable to the touch as enamel spray, once painted it's just fine.

nycjadie.wordpress.com

Hey everyone; I'm just getting back on line and can't believe all of the responses.
I think I am making just about every mistake listed above when I prime:-(
I live in Maryland and high humidity is a fact of life, so that is probably a big part of the problem.
I do spray on cardboard and have been trying not to get too close, so maybe I'm too far away.
I also use Armory primer and Army Builder colored primer.
Both have given me the fuzzys.
So it's over to Wal-Mart and then down to the basement.
I'll try the gesso route too, while I'm at it.
Thanks again;
Joe