Primers

something like Krylon white primer should work fine, it's mostly what I use.  if you are painting a dark color over it, one of the red or dark gray auto primers would work as well... 

I've never used primer over PE and have not had any problems, so I would assume that a general primer would work fine.

Sometimes primer helps.  Color tone can vary if you don't prime, but with PE it doesn't matter as much.  If you had an Al barrel and Resin/pastic mixed, I would prime it.  Test out whatever primer you do pick.  Some can be think and you might lose detail.

Oh, I was under the impression it was advisable to prime PE, thanks guys I dony have to bother now.

Will

Will7813 wrote:

Oh, I was under the impression it was advisable to prime PE, thanks guys I dony have to bother now. Will

There are a couple of things you can do to help ensure your paint sticks to PE/metal parts. (1) PE parts tend to be very smooth, sometimes polished. For PE parts which aren't "textured" by the etching process, you can very lightly rub them with fine (1200 or higher) grit wet and dry to "key" the parts to help the paint stick. (2) The other thing is to wash the parts with alcohol (or metho here in Aus) before painting.

Phil_H wrote:

wash the parts with alcohol (or metho here in Aus) before painting.

That also removes all the oils from your fingers, which IMO, is even worse for painting over than the extemely smooth surfaces.

Ok, thanks

Will