"Painting Tips #8 – Primer Update" Topic

New blog post:

I thought I had it all sorted at least as far as priming my miniatures was concerned.

I've been using the same water based primer from International Paints for over ten years with great results. The quality of the primer I use is important to me as I'm one of those who subscribes to the "paint is not a primer" school of surface preparation.

Imagine my horror when I discovered that my latest can had dried out and it's now really hard to get this in the UK's large DIY chains. What to do? Find a replacement I hear you say! And so I did:

Read more …

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Martin Stephenson
The Waving Flag | Twitter | eBay

Thanks for that post. I am sure there must be something similar in the USA. I have a lot to prime and the humidity has been horrible. I spray prime normally. I have been hesitant with brush on for fear of being too heavy handed.

Matthew

I wish this were available in the US. I could use a good brush primer this time of year. Gesso just doesn't do it for me.

I found this link for you. Now all you need to do is find it in a smaller size. ;-)

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Martin Stephenson
The Waving Flag | Twitter | eBay

Gesso does not, by itself, have tremendous adhesion qualities. I seal all of my mini's with urethane-stain, aka, The Dip. However, if you do not like The Dip, a clear coat of either clear Urethane, or Pledge Floor Shine/Kleer, will seal, and protect the paint, without altering it -- aside from making it glossy. Just add a dull-coat, and done. I would apply them full-strength, to provide the maximum protection. Cheers!

A good primer is hard to find. Here in Australia I have been using an etch primer, which works extremely well. I have been looking for a special metals primer, but had no luck. (Though I havent been looking too hard, as I am satisfied with the etch primer)

I subscribe to Martin's "paint is not a primer". I probably got it from him come to think of it.

For the US (or California at least)

I looked into specialised paints but they were only available in large quantitites at a high price.

I have settled for automotive etch primer which is easy to get and cheap in Home Depot, Walmart etc.

It's a funky green/grey colour and paint white over that or whatever I feel like. I have an airbrush (original goal was to airbrush primer ..) so zenithal highlight works really well with the grey.

If you are "fortunate" enough to live in a part of the states where humidity is a curse, rather than an abstract concept, then it should be possible to decant it into a container (i.e. spray it, but look up the details on how to do it without killing yourself on interweb) and then brush it on. I haven't tried it – would love to hear whether that works or not. I suspect that if you decant some and leave for a couple weeks/months that it might not be particularly stable.

This stuff smells like it is bad for you so use a respirator mask – I recomment this one
link

It took me a couple of tries to get it to spray a very fine layer, but it is possible.

I am not convinced that the special metals primer would be much better than the etch, but if it is available great.

John

so, what would you use for Resin buildings? I have had a lot of buildings purchased over the years for one project or another. The projects died but the buildings are nice and I thought I could paint and sell them.

I bought Oshiro resin buildings – he sells them pre-primed and uses automotive primer- he's tried other things and likes the best.

John