| eptingmike | 25 Mar 2012 5:36 p.m. PST |
Hello all
OK so I have been doing the standard black spray paint(first GW, then Armory, then Krylon, now Home Depots $1 USD can)and never had any issues until I left the Pacific NW and moved to the SW, Arizona specifically. Now it seems it is either too hot, too dry, or too windy to ever get anything primed(I am exaggerating a bit, of course). What I am wondering is if I could just use some sort of flat enamel brush on paint like Testors model master and get the same results as a spray can. The sprays I have used seem to bind to plastic pretty well and do a decent job on metal but with the weather issues here it would be nice to have something I could use year round.
Thanks
Mike |
chuck05  | 25 Mar 2012 5:45 p.m. PST |
Artists gesso is your friend. I use Liquitex black. Brush it on thicker than you think you need and it shrinks to fit. Let the figs sit for 24 hours and your good to go. I switched to gesso a couple of years ago. I hated having to go out to the freezing garage to prime figs in the winter. I havnet missed spray primer one bit. Chuck |
| d effinger | 25 Mar 2012 5:51 p.m. PST |
I agree with Chuck 100%. I have the same issues because of the cold cold weather, rain, wind, snow etc but now Gesso works great for me. If I'm doing say….. 30 figs at once and the weather is perfect I might give the figs a spray and then touch up with Gesso underneath. They make a white and black Gesso but you can even add some paint to the white for a colored base coat. It is a beautiful thing. Don actionfront.blogspot.com "Who ever saw a dead cavalryman?" |
| eptingmike | 25 Mar 2012 6:05 p.m. PST |
Gesso seems to come up pretty often but I am a little leery of it staying on plastic although I don't think it would be an issue with metal.
Thoughts? |
| CPBelt | 25 Mar 2012 6:36 p.m. PST |
Discussions on plastic also come up. No problems at all on any plastics. Check the archives from last week--lots of gesso talks and solutions to misuse problems can be found there. |
| chuck05 | 25 Mar 2012 6:41 p.m. PST |
I use Gesso on plastic all the time with no issues. You may have to do a little touch up here and there after the Gesso shrinks. Its no worse than touching up bare spots after spray priming. And theres no fumes. Chuck |
| eptingmike | 25 Mar 2012 7:25 p.m. PST |
Well, I may just have to look into this, I s'pose! |
| redmist1122 | 25 Mar 2012 8:38 p.m. PST |
Too hot or too dry? Puzzled, I live in Tucson, IMHO Arizona has the prime weather to spray paint…no humidity! Stuff drys faster…especially when I'm on one of my mega terrain building projects – about twice a year. The wind…that's everywhere. I go out the back door of my garage; there's a perfect nook from the house, where the wind doesn't really blow. Now if it's too windy, I spray in the garage near an entrance. Good luck! P. |
| timurilank | 25 Mar 2012 10:25 p.m. PST |
Next time you undercoat with spray paint, use a mover's box (one meant for books) and tape the flaps together so as to increase the depth. No problems with wind, no wastage of paint, etc. The box in the photo has been used for the past nine years. The minis are on plinths taped to board which can be rotated while in the box. link cheers, |
| 1905Adventure | 26 Mar 2012 1:50 a.m. PST |
Gesso has worked great for me on resin, soft plastic 1/72 miniatures, hard plastic styrene like Perry/Victrix/Plastic Soldier Company, metal. Well, everything. Just wash whatever it is in soapy water with an old toothbrush to get rid of any mould release agent and it'll work perfectly (it'll probably work perfectly even without washing). |
| ming31 | 26 Mar 2012 5:57 a.m. PST |
Gesso and its water based , does not smell . 1 thing it must dry for at least 24hrs before painting on it |
 ColCampbell  | 26 Mar 2012 6:22 a.m. PST |
It also comes in gray, which is what I have used for several years. Jim |
| recon35 | 26 Mar 2012 7:01 a.m. PST |
I had the opposite problem here in SC. Either too humid and cold or too humid and hot. Common denominator being too humid. Switched to Gesso and solved the primer problem. As said above put it on thick and let it dry completely before painting. The only downside is occasional "webbing" between legs or arm to body, etc, but that's easy enough to cut away with a knife. The Gesso acts as a "shrinkwrap" on the mini. |
| Yesthatphil | 26 Mar 2012 9:04 a.m. PST |
I'm with timurilank. Also, I have never had a problem so experimenting with gesso would be a waste of time. Sounds like quite a pain waiting for it to dry, too … |
| John B | 26 Mar 2012 9:41 a.m. PST |
As a recent convert to Liquitex Gesso (I use gray), I encourage you to give it a try. I don't know if I'll be going back to spray primers. Yes, there is a 24 hour drying wait, but I've started priming new figures well ahead of when the current project is finished. I always have something ready to go, and since the newly primed stuff is sitting within my line of sight, it is actually serving as some motivation… if I can get these Fallshirmjagers finished, I can start on those Panzer IV. Since I don't have to wait for the weather to be right to spray prime, I think I'm actually more effecient with the Gesso. Plus, I find the coverage to be much better than I was getting with spray. |
 Tacitus | 26 Mar 2012 10:13 a.m. PST |
Vallejo brush primer. No wait time, no spray, no looking back. |
| eptingmike | 29 Mar 2012 10:48 a.m. PST |
@redmist,
I am up in Chandler.
It is funny that I found Seattle to be great for priming, with its higher humidity, and you are having no issues down in Tucson!
My biggest issue has been in the summer as I find that the paint seems to be almost dry right outta the can leaving my minis looking powder coated. I pretty much just ignore late May to August for priming unless I am up really early in the AM. |
