"Primer" Topic

It's been a long time since I painted any miniatures and I found my primer had all died. I liked Krylon rattle can but I found my nearby walmart does not carry it any longer

What do you use/recommend?

Walmart's store brand flat primers work just fine.

My local Wal-marts no longer carry their own brand. I have to order them online and have them delivered to the house. :(

I prefer that above all others.

My local Wal-Mart does not have a wally brand. I did not know they had one. I shall have to check around. Thank you for the information

Krylon camouflage range of primers are fantastic, bond to plastic and metal, and are ultra-flat. Car parts stores will have them for sure.

Good to know Tacitus. Walmart does not list any Walmart brand primer online. I do have auto stores nearby

If you have a Michaels store nearby, they carry krylon and you can sign up for their coupons which run from 40-60% off. I always pick mine up with the 60% off coupon. Less than $4.00 USD that way.

Walmart does not list any Walmart brand primer online.

Hm….. it has gone away since the last time I ordered. For a while it was under the name "ColorPlace" and then they changed it to "Homeshades". Lots of product still under those names, but no sign of the primer. Crap. Down to my last 5 cans.

I have very disappointed int the disappearance of Walmart's primer. My local has also dropped the flat white and black paints! Instead of a $.99 USD can it is now $4 USD for a can of primer which I find less capable. This is progress?

This is progress?

Backwards progress

It all depends upon how you are painting and what you are painting.

I notice now all primers (ie at Walmart) tend to be "filler primers" now and will literally fill in all the details.

I've been using 'Rust-Oleum Clean Metal Primer', got a 12-oz can, UPC 0 20066 77808 8, at Home Depot. It's white or very light grey. Am very satisfied with it, goes on in thin coat, doesn't 'fill detail'. Will get more when this runs out

I live in one of the few areas of the country where Walmart is hard to get to, so I've never tried a Walmart primer, but for a long time I was buying the $2 USD primers from the local chain hardware store (OSH). Sadly those were discontinued years ago.

A few years ago during my quest to find a spray-on plastic primer, I settled on the Rustoleum 2x Ultracover primers and paints, because they bond to many types of plastic. I eventually discovered they also make decent metal primers, and while they were about $4 USD/can, that made sense (those days may be over…). These come out really fast in a heavy flow, so can be pretty hard to use on small scale miniatures with tiny details, but they seem to dry pretty thin. If I can spray lightly enough to avoid sagging and running, they work pretty well. I now use the white and gray primers from this line for larger miniatures with larger details. It also turns out that the "Paint and primer in one" advertised on the can is pretty much correct; I've used various colors as basecoats and even one-step finish coats for particular models (the 2x Ultracover Midnight Blue Satin makes an awesome 1944-45 USN glossy sea blue).

To avoid filling in details, I've also been using expensive Tamiya primers. These are really overpriced, but they spray at low flow and dry super thin, so it's really easy to keep from filling in details. They are also formulated to stick to both metals and model plastics, so they work really well on everything I want primer on. I save these for super-tiny stuff and highly detailed small scale models (e.g. 1/1200 and 1/2400 GHQ or WTJ).

The various Testors and Tamiya spray paints for models also work well as primers, and can get the basecoat to an exact historical match for particular colors. I used Tamiya TS-3 Dark Yellow as a basecoat for all my British/Commonwealth Desert Air Force planes, and the Tamiya AS-29 Gray-Green as the basecoat for all my early war IJN planes. I'm about to start a huge early-war US painting project, so I bought Testors Olive Drab spray cans to make the base coat the right color, because I could get matching Testors brush-on paints for touch-ups and corrections.

- Ix

Krylon camouflage range of primers are fantastic, bond to plastic and metal, and are ultra-flat.

Thanks! That's good to know. I'm going to try a few of those. I've been wanting to find a cheap flat green primer forever and a day.

- Ix

I use the Rustoleum 2x Ultracover Primer in white and black and the Krylon Camo colors. They both work great on metal and plastic. Pay attention to the instructions, they get temperamental if it is too cold or if it is very humid. Otherwise I've had great results with both.