Priming models

I use one of Tamiya's flat light gray acrylics as a primer, although I may switch to Polly Scale when I've used up my current stock (nothing wrong with the Tamiya, but I really like Polly Scale.)

For a primer, you want a light, thin coat with good adhesion. Tamiya and Polly Scale have the best adhesion of any non metallic acrylic paints I've ever seen, heard, or smelt. (No, not the little fishies! ) If you do go with an acrylic, make sure the plastic surface is very clean—no, cleaner than that.

Just don't use a gloss. 

I use Floquil Grey Primer.  It's an enamel & the best primer I've found for modeling.  Must be applied with an AB.

Regards,  Rick

I always had problems with spray cans and I would never use them again. I use MM's Grey Primer (enamel) thru airbrush and it's very good.

I have had nothing but problems with the MM Gray Primer.  I threw it away. 

On the other hand spray cans are great!  Be sure to check the big box stores for the jumbo-economy sized ones.   

Krylon,  Plasticote, Rustoleum, American Painter - all make excellent primers.   They cost less than the ones with the model manufacturer's logo.   Be sure that the cans are room temperature or warmer and agitated well before use   Spray light mist coats instead of a single gloppy coat. 

[Oh, and by the way, did you know that Model Master paint is manufactured by RPM Industries, the same people who bring you Rustoleum?] 

And to the original question -- there is no problem in airbrushing a light coat of flat white as a primer.  Be sure that it is properly thinned and spray light coats.

Experiment and find what works best for you.   There is no one-size-fits-all.

If you don't have experience with spray cans, I would suggest you to avoid them as they are more complicated...temperature, humidity, distance, thickness, volume, etc. They also can obliterate the surface details quickly if you don't move them fast enough and it's not fun to try and fix.

Good luck.

I've used good flat white from a rattle can for years. Not the cheap stuff but Krylon and that ilk.

You should also heat the paint in hot tap water prior to painting and apply thin coats - never single, heavy ones. Then finish up with micro mesh sanding and/or polishing with a T-shirt prior to color coats.

All that being said, these paints have a large grain to the solids and there is little can be done about it. I wouldn't use them below 1/48 scale. In that scale I suggest Floquil metallics, airbrushed of course.

In the end it would probably be best to just airbrush the Floquil primers and metallics all the time and just stick with them. A the cost of some of the dedicated rattle can modeling primers (Mr Surfacer: $5-10), it seems a good idea. Dont have an airbrush? Time to take the plunge...

rjkplasticmod wrote:

I use Floquil Grey Primer.  It's an enamel & the best primer I've found for modeling.  Must be applied with an AB. Regards,  Rick

I would like to find a good acrylic though so I don't have to smell lacquer thinner when I clean the airbrush. 

For large surface areas, without a lot of intricate detail, I use krylon primer in the big spray can.  Decent coverage (use light, misted coats) and is really inexpensive.

For small pieces with a lot of detail, i.e. cockpits, wheelwells, etc., I use floquil lt. grey undercoating.  It's thinner than spray can stuff, sprays and brushes well, but ounce for ounce is much more expensive.

-Fred

MonsterZero wrote:

Is there anything wrong with using ordinary flat white enamel/acrylic as the primer? I know certain modelers use special primers but so far I tried only the Testors primer in a can. This has produced one of the roughest and ugliest finishes I have ever see because the can failed to atomize the primer like an airbrush does.

Mr.Surfacer 1000 thinner with Mr.Color thinner works superbly as a primer. That is what I usually use. Even works well as a base coat for Alclad II 

I have a jar of Mr Surfacer 1000, which I intended to put through my AB.

However when I did it came out sringy.

Can any help me with this?

Do I need to thin it? If yes, what with?

If no, then what? 

You definitely need to thin it.  Mr. Color makes a thinner, but any lacquer thinner will work, provided it's not too "hot" to melt plastic.

If it's still coming out stringy, thin a bit more and turn down the pressure on your airbrush.

I have been painting various models and figurines by hand for 10 years + now, and didn't get into airbrushing until 1 1/2 years ago, so my knowledge base is mainly from doing up 28 mm figurines and vehicles, but I have tried many kinds of rattle can primer, and found the best to be Games Workshop.  They make it in balck or white, it sprays consistantly, and doesn't have large clumps or texture. 

Haven't tried airbrushing primer yet, I'll have to give it a shot.  We have a RR store just down the block which sells Polyscale, I will pick up their flat grey and shoot it onto something!

Chris