"Which Primary colour?" Topic

I recently discovered some painters use dark brown under metallics instead of black, claiming steel and gunmetal look richer.I tried this out & it seems to make a difference.

It got me wondering whether different periods benefit from different primer colours. For example, are Napoleonics better over white or brown? Are Ancients best over brown? Green primer for WW2?

Does anyone deliberately vary primer colour by period? What colour(s) do you use & why?

I used to vary my primer color, black, gray, or white depending on how bright I wanted colors to appear. I was never enough color knowledgable to go any further than that. What you mentioned is interesting.

I have heard that a pink undercoat will help, tremendously, with applying yellow -- it makes the yellow brighter. I have yet to try this, however -- I always forget… Cheers!

I am just ending an experiment with priming in three different mediums:

Spray Clear, to allow the color of the (plastic molded) miniature to be retained.

Spray Gloss Red as the dominant color of the figures (Space Marines from Space Hulk).

Spray Gloss Dark Purple as the dominant color of the figures (Genestealers from Space Hulk).

Clear: Jury still out. Didn't work great for biological figures, with painting efforts to cover the base plastic cover more trouble than having a few areas "natural". Didn't turn out horrible, just didn't really prove worthwhile.
However, with vehicles (SF tanks, etc.), where only certain sections will be spot-colored, I think it will work fine. No problems with the acrylic bonding to the clear coating, which is essential.

Red gloss spray: Worked a treat for the armored Space Marines (no exposed heads). Drawback is when I had to do touch ups, I couldn't quite match the spray can color. Also, I'll need to use a gloss clear sealant to maintain the glossy look of the base paint. Still, I like what it produced.

Purple gloss spray: Again, only real problem was matching the dark purple when I had to do touch ups. This time I mixed some "plum" craft acrylic with black acrylic for a close-enough match. Good enough to game with is my standard for these things (kinda tedious to paint, actually), so again it was fine.

Several years back I used "hammered metallic green" for a fleet of alien bio-spaceships. Worked great. Easiest paint job ever. Spray, and then add engine "light" and weapons "light." Done.

Next up: Taking a bunch of plastic wall anchors ("mollies") and turning them into two fleets of gold metallic and silver (chrome) metallic spacefleets. Again, should work a treat, and look very different on the tabletop! (Yes, partially inspired by Starship, but also classic SF. Hey, why not chrome? It reflects sunlight/heat/lasers, and there ain't no space pigeons to spoil it after a good washing.

Period no. Scale and coat color, yes. Generally, 28's are white-primed if not wearing plate. 6's are black-primed and then damp-brushed white. 2's are white primed.