"1/600th Shapeways Jets Prepping?" Topic

I was reading some of the techniques for priming/sealing the grainy WSF plastic material here on TMP, and it struck me that perhaps, at least for some minis, spraying them with a clearcoat first to seal the porous plastic, and smooth it out a bit might be preferable, and then applying a primer on top of that, for the paint to stick to.

Not sure if the primer will stick to the spray-on, clearcoat well though.

I know some recommend doing the reverse, e.g. priming, then sealing and/or painting next (two different options there), and then re-sealing if the paint went on last.

I want to smooth out the finish a bit, so the graininess doesn't show, or shows less, when applying washes to it, to bring out the details.

Thoughts?

I've been using a mix of first applying a few coats of PVA glue to fill the deep pores in the surface and then using multiple light coats of gloss coat. I'm getting good results on the 1/144 WWI fighters and 1/600 ironclads.

Go light – especially if there is surface detail like panel lines you are trying to preserve (though in 1/600, likely not?)

Here's a picture of a plane prepared using this method and then a primer coat of acrylic spay paint applied.

Good luck on your project!

My current method for WSF is:
- wash in water, using an old toothbrush to scrub (gently over anything thin)
- coat of ancient Future I inherited from an uncle that I don't trust for topcoats but use for stuff like thise
- pretty thorough spray priming, for the most part the details on my big space ships and big bombers isn't too fine