"how thick does the primer coat have to be?" Topic

I have really been struggling with primers.

The brush on stuff either seems to go on too thick or I water it down and it looks fine when wet, but there are sparkling silver spots when it dries.

Last night I tried a Krylon flat white primer. The weather conditions matched the requirements on the label. I put a very thin layer so the troops looked gray when I realized they were starting to look just a tad fuzzy. So I stopped, went inside and tried to touch some of them up with white brush on primer. In the end for most of them I just hit a spot between the legs (they are casualty figures) that was silver and decided to see how they looked the next day. Most of them are a light grayish white color. There is enough primer to make them grayish white, but not enough to make them look painted white. How do I know if they have enough primer on them to paint?

Thank you in advance for any tips.

Only thick enough so you do not see any metal. It should be a minimal thickness.

Try gesso. It thins out real well when dry and goes right into the details.

8)

Never had that experience with gesso. Thinning it out creates adhesion issues IMHO. I'm using the Liquitex white gesso. Tried another shot at priming Reaper Bones with the stuff, was far too annoying, so I cranked out the airbrush with some Tamiya Flat White acrylic paint…

Personally for metal I try to get a dusting of an even coat. If a little metal pokes through, I don't worry too much about it. Only when thee are large areas that are primer free do I go back with a little touch up. Also when touching up, I use the spray primer, not a brush on.

Damon.

This is why I switched from sprays to brush on gesso. I thin the gesso slightly and I use black. Very easy to see if you miss a spot.

But if I discover I missed one speck, I just paint over it and ignore it. After two or three coats of lacquer, I've never had a problem.

P.S. I have plenty of customers who don't prime at all. Never seems to matter much really. I use the black so I can be a bit lazy as a painter.

I started out (30 some ears ago) not using any primer but also used enamels. But started using gesso brush on and seems to work fine just as Winston Smith writes.

I don't think figurine painters necessarily use primers always for the same reasons.

Yes primers should provide a good adherent first coat.
Yes a primer should provide an even film over which paint can be applied.

But primers can also help define detail and show up any blemishes, and provide a slight 'tooth'.

After all is said and done there is no good or right primer, it's down to personal preference.

I myself use Scale 75 primer because it fulfils everything I want from a primer.

I still maintain that good ole Hunbrol enamel thinned with mineral spirits is as good a primer as you can get.

I switched to the .99 cent Flat Black Walmart paint (not even an official primer) that John the OFM has sung the praises of, and have had fine results. I usually lay the figures on a newspaper spray one side, flip them over, and spray the other side. Often some figures are only 85-90 percent covered, with missed spots in all those chronic hard to reach places. I seldom go back and touch these up, and have had no problems.

Perhaps the most annoying thing to happen to me this far was painting some Blue Moon 15mm Colonial people that are almost smaller than true 15s. They have beautiful details that are easy to paint out. I thinned the white primer a bit and painted a few. I was particularly pleased with the face on one. She looked great the night I painted here, you could see every detail on her face. The next morning she had a silver nose. So I touched up with paint. A few hours later she had a silver nose again so I gave up and used black primer on her nose and painted again. She is okay now, but she looked phenomenal that first night. She used to have a vivid face, now you can kind of tell she has some facial features like the other two, who pretty much just have eyes and a nose.

What exactly are you priming with?

Fizzypickles,

The white brush on primer is from Game Color.

I tried the brush on Gesso before on 54mm figures. I was afraid it would be too thick for smaller scales, but maybe I should try it again. I think I had to hit some spots twice because the metal was shining through in spots after the first coat. That is why I started trying paint on primers and spray on primers.

Does anyone know if Gesso is okay a few years after opening or does it expire?

Chris,

Does Wallmart make a flat white spray that is just as effective as the black? I started with black priming, but now prefer white as the colors seem to pop better.

I may be best off using spray primers in the winter, in the basement.

Thank you for all the tips and perspectives.

One you get the idea that primer and undercoat are not the same thing, this makes more sense.

Primer should be a thin coat so detail is not obscured. Gray metal should show through. Especially with sprays where there are going to be shadowed parts of the model.

For a consistent white undercoat (or black or gray or brown or whichever your painting method prefers) let the primer dry hard -- overnight is best but at least a couple hours -- then brush on thinned paint to get an even undercoat.

This necessary brush step convinced me spray primer is often not a time saver.

I do use Liquitex Gesso as a brush primer on 28mm figures. (You can also airbrush it but never mind.). One of its virtues is it goes on thick but shrinks as it dries, revealing detail. You don't thin it. I can't speak for other brands.

As Don has said, one of the reasons some people like using Gesso is because you can basically slap it on and IT WILL shrink to form a nice thin film. I've even seen people dip their figures in gesso. One drawback is the pinholes that are sometimes left, some go back over them and some ignore them. Personally I have found pinholes are more common when the gesso is 'scrubed' on rather than 'glooped' on as it causes air bubbles. Regards shelf life, just glob some on a penny and see how it dries in the morning. Gesso is just acrylic binder and chalk so should keep well.

Again personally I think aerosol cans are the devils work and should be avoided at all costs but a lot of folk use them.

I do all of my priming with an airbrush which pretty much guarantees full coverage and a thin coat with minimum of fuss.

If you keep having to retouch bare metal where you have already primed then perhaps the figures in question could do with a quick wash with mild detergent first?

Good luck

Here's a vid on a the stuff I use. Give you some idea of priming coverage.

youtu.be/owDUTC1IuKY

I always wash the figures in soapy water, scrub them with a toothbrush, rinse in hot water and let them dry overnight.

The airbrush looks pretty cool. Are there any mid priced ones you would recommend?

Thank you again.

I've always bought metal primer at Home Depot and used that, depending on how much you shake the can you can get a thinner or thicker coat. I use a painters mask and rubber gloves when painting, spraying outside. I try for a fairly thin coat and if I miss a spot or two it doesn't seem to matter.

Are there any mid priced ones you would recommend?

Cannot really go wrong with one of these link

Or one of these link

"Does anyone know if Gesso is okay a few years after opening or does it expire?"

I have a big bottle of the Liquitex that is at least 4 years old. As long as you keep it sealed and give it a good shaking/mixing before use, it should last a while (I even have some bottles of L. gloss & matte varnish that are at least 20 years old that are still good. As long as you keep it from drying out, you should be good. ;-)

Thank you again!

$1 USD walmart black, grey or white rattlecans depending on the model and color palette I'm going to use…