nnascati | 05 Jul 2022 7:12 a.m. PST |
I was considering buying into Army Painter, until I saw the prices. Almost $20.00 USD for a can of spray paint? |
79thPA | 05 Jul 2022 7:32 a.m. PST |
Yeah, I was in a store a couple of days ago and noticed the sprays. I grabbed one to look at the price and then put it back. I can buy a lot of spray cans from other manufacturers for $20. USD Some people obviously find it a bargain, but I am not one of them. If I had an army to paint at once, I might find it beneficial if they were the only folks who made the shade I needed. |
nnascati | 05 Jul 2022 7:45 a.m. PST |
The only plus I see is that you can buy spray and brush in the exact same shade. |
Extrabio1947 | 05 Jul 2022 7:56 a.m. PST |
I bought a can of the Army Painter red primer a year or so ago. The "spray" came out in thick blobs and droplets, and no amount of nozzle cleaning fixed the problem. The figures went into a Simple Green bath, and the primer went into the trash can. If you are going to charge an exorbitant price, at least sell a quality product. |
Extra Crispy | 05 Jul 2022 7:56 a.m. PST |
When I can get regular spray paint at $1.50 USD/can….no thanks. |
rustymusket | 05 Jul 2022 1:53 p.m. PST |
I liked it for using primer as a main uniform color knowing I could touch up with the brush. I really had mixed results with it and avoid it now. |
Mr Elmo | 05 Jul 2022 2:07 p.m. PST |
I would love to see an in depth evaluation of primer so we can put an end the the alchemy debates of quality and price. Is GW better than Army Painter that is better than Krylon? Let's see the SCIENCE! |
Sgt Slag | 05 Jul 2022 2:08 p.m. PST |
I've used automotive primer (white/black/*gray* -- preferred color for everything) since 1992, with durable, very good, results. I used to get it at Wal-Mart for $0.89 USD per can. I think it might be close to $2 USD per can, today. I avoid expensive paints, of all types. Not a competition painter -- I use inexpensive products, which perform well enough for me, and my armies. Cheers! |
Yellow Admiral | 05 Jul 2022 2:14 p.m. PST |
The only plus I see is that you can buy spray and brush in the exact same shade. This is exactly why I have a small collection of them. A few shades work as base colors for aircraft and equipment, it saves me a lot of painting time. I have had a couple cans go bad in a way similar to what Extrabio1947 describes. They were used (by me, previously), and sat for a year or more between uses. To be fair, low air temperature may also have been a factor – just about any brand spray paint will clog and sputter and glob in low enough temperatures. But sometimes the insufficiently mixed globs in the paint can jam in the delivery tubes somewhere and the can is ruined. That's heartbreaking with a $18 USD can, a few choice words with a $8 USD can, a mere shrug with a $3 USD can. |
Zephyr1 | 05 Jul 2022 2:43 p.m. PST |
Switch to brush-on gesso. A bottle of that will last you hundreds & hundreds of miniatures… ;-) |
Yellow Admiral | 05 Jul 2022 2:52 p.m. PST |
Is GW better than Army Painter that is better than Krylon? I would also love to see an in-depth study on this topic, but I never expect to. It takes time and effort, and paints come and go from the market. All I have to go on is previous experience and my own experiments. There are a few spraypaints I've been willing to pay more for, just because they are reliable, consistent, and extremely well-suited to the application I need them for: - Tamiya spray paints for specific WWII cammo base coats
- Testors historical color spray paints (until they went out of production ), to go along with the perfectly matched brush-on paints
- Certain specific Army Painter colour (sic) primers, to go along with perfectly matching brush-on paints, for very specific aircraft or equipment base colors
- Testors Dullcote™
- Windsor & Newton matt varnish
- Tamiya spray primers (both white and gray) for small scale miniatures with very fine details
Other than that I use the cheapest white, gray or black primer I can find, or Rustoleum 2x Ultracover primer over plastics (because it bonds to plastic) or low-detail items where I don't mind a thick coat (because it covers in one pass). I've tried a lot of the miniatures-specific spray primers, and decided they got me no better results than the cheap store brand or base Rustoleum/Krylon primers (except they go bad faster…?). |
Yellow Admiral | 05 Jul 2022 3:04 p.m. PST |
One thing I really miss: cheap dark green primer For a couple decades there was a local store brand of primers in 5 colors (black, white, gray, rust red, dark green, brown). The dark green was a great basecoat on terrain and terrain-colored markers. Sometime before 2010 the green and brown were discontinued, and I've never found substitutes. - Ix |
nnascati | 05 Jul 2022 3:05 p.m. PST |
My plan was to use the primers to do base coat uniforms. I guess not! |
Bunkermeister | 05 Jul 2022 3:31 p.m. PST |
"Testors historical color spray paints (until they went out of production frown), to go along with the perfectly matched brush-on paints" I think Testors may have changed the stock number on Olive Drab and re-issued the paint. link I have not tried it yet, but it's on my to-do list. Rust-Oleum was mentioned by John the OFM about a decade ago, and I tried it out and it's great for most applications, particularly resin models or models that will be painted flat colors. Don't use it on latex models like HeroClix it often stays sticky. But regular plastic figures and soft plastic army men it's great. I use Tamiya primer that is going on anything I intend to paint a high gloss or that I want tiny detail on as the Rust-Oleum is a bit thick. But 99 and 44/100ths % of my painting starts with Rust-Oleum. I also by their camouflage paints they are very good too. I second Wal-Mart cheapest source for paint. Also if you have a nozzle go bad on you take it back for exchange for full refund, no questions asked. Or, I have taken to saving the nozzles when the can in empty and just swap it out if one goes bad on me. Mike Bunkermeister Creek Bunker Talk blog link |
nnascati | 05 Jul 2022 4:00 p.m. PST |
Talking about metal figures. |
robert piepenbrink | 06 Jul 2022 6:23 a.m. PST |
God point, nnascati. My general rule is cheap primer on metals, so-so expensive primer on hard plastics and serious brush-on or specific "bonds with plastic" sprays with soft plastics. The first two get a good clear matte finish--usually Krylon or Army painter--and the last get Woodland Scenics or a dilute coat of Elmer's brushed on. Note that "can" is a deceptive unit of measure. Krylon and Army Painter will long outlast the Walmart stuff if the paint and nozzle hold up. And I never throw away a working nozzle. |
Sgt Slag | 06 Jul 2022 6:26 a.m. PST |
I've used Wal-Mart spray paints (typically their 'house brand') on everything: metal, plastic, and resin. Same results on all materials, to be honest. For the soft plastic Army Men (huge fan of Army Men games -- wrote my own rules, self-published them from 1998-2007), they are made of HDPE plastic… Almost nothing will stick to HDPE plastic, for more than 10 years. Expect whatever paint/urethane/etc. to rub off, in around 10 years, if not sooner. Only issues I've had using Wal-Mart's house brand of primer, is that it chips, when I drop a figure on a hard floor -- just like every other primer+paint will. For normal handling, I've never had an issue with it rubbing/flaking off of metal/resin/hard plastic figures, with normal handling. Been painting metal/resin/hard plastic miniatures with inexpensive automotive primer since 1992. Cheers! |
abelp01 | 06 Jul 2022 7:17 a.m. PST |
Get a cheap airbrush & compressor set off Amazon and a bottle of Stynel res primer, that's been a huge time saver for me. Also, invest a few hours on youtube to learn maintenance and use of it, it'll go along way. |