Primer questions.

I don't know exactly about the Tamiya primer, but if it's the same stuff as their spray paints, it's acrylic based.

I am just a beginner, but i have only used alclad primer on my models (it's cheaper than the tamiya one and you have more control with an airbrush than with a rattlecan.

Cheers, Clemens

Tamiya's liquid surface primer (in the bottle) may be acrylic, but it has to be thinned with Tamiya's lacquer thinner. It doesn't thin with water like their acrylic paints. It's thick stuff, so I have to thin it with a 4 to 1 thinner to paint ratio for airbrushing. It works OK.

Chris

I often use automotive primer on styrene kits and it works fine.  Does not dissolve plastic, except near very surface, which gives it a lot of "tooth."  I do not, however, decant it- I use it straight from spray can.  Such primers are quite rough/flat, and need sanding anyway before color coats, so I see no reason to airbrush them.

I've just tried the Alclad light gray primer. I've used a lot of other primers over the years, ( Floquil, Floquil figure primer, krylon, and others)> The Alclad is the best I've seen. Airbrush ready, goes on very smooth, nice light gray color. I recommend it highly.

Tom

I believe the Tamiya primers, as well as their rattle-can paints, are a synthetic lacquer, whatever that is.  They can be thinned with lacquer thinner, but I have never had to do that.  They apply very nicely directly from the rattle cans and result in a nice, smooth, uniform finish, and I have never seen them damage the plastic.  It's good stuff.

Tamiya acrylics are the ones that come in bottles.

In my experience, which is very limited compared to others here...., primer is primer. I have used everything from $15 a can to $1.50 a can and honestly, have had good results with all of em. One of my favorites, and it's available everywhere, is the "Now" brand. Very cheap and works perfectly. I'm to the point of choosing them by shades of gray or black rather than price or brand.

Thanx for the feedback lads.

I will give the automotive grey rattlecan promer a go. I think if it is a lacure based paint it might bite into the plastic a bit better than an enamel or acrylic ??

I supose one will just have to be extra carefull when painting it so that it doesn't melt the plane!

Theuns

I bought a bottle of the Tamiya primer, and found out the hard way that it does not thin with alcohol, as their paints will.  I do not have a spray booth, so unwilling to AB lacquers, so unable to use the Tamiya.  When I feel like I want to prime, I take the model outside and rattle-can it.

hi bill

i too use inexpensive ACE HARDWARE big rattle can primer at $2.50 a can. use a fresh one when starting a ship or plane and 1/2 used can for armor as it can get a tad rough toward the bottom of the can. i also spray in the garage because of the fumes (i A?B acrylics) and because it can leave a dusting of particles on the paper when the overspray dries. NOTE neither the primer nor i work well in the garage when the temperature is below freezing.

As to "synthetic lacquer," I wonder if they mean acrylic lacquer, as opposed to the conventional old stuff.

As to all primers being equal, I think they do vary in how well they bond to different substrates.  For instance, the best primer, bar none, for aluminum, is zinc chromate, hard to find now as they have determined it is carcinogenic.  Bonding to plastic is not super difficult, priming metals such as stainless and brass used for PE is a lot harder.  A lot of primers that work well on steel and iron do not work as well on aluminum and brass. Resin is somewhere in between.  Harder to get a good bond than styrene, but not as hard as metals.

Vinyl is a real challenge!  As the thread currently in the "painting and airbrushing" forum shows, painting vinyl, and finding a primer for it, is a REAL challenge!

I tried Tamiya primer and I didn't really like it. So I ordered some Vallejo(?) primer from sprue brothers. I gotta say it's the best primer I've worked with. Airbrushes easy, paint grips to it really good, it doesn't smell. It also comes in different colours. I've also tried ak interactive primer, it's just as good

Interesting to hear all the different result you lads had. Here in South Africa we have a limited rang of stuff we get, so it makes it a little more chalanging .Atleast we rarely get much below freezing in the winter LOL.

How well can one controll the amount and texture of the primer that comes out of the Tamiya rattlecans directly?

Even here in SA zinc chromate is hard to get, I work in the full size avuiation world and the thing w use it strontium chromate epoxy.  Just do not let your respirator leak while spraying that! I nearly "went under" once :-(

Theuns

Tamiya spray paints are not acrylic based. thet are synthetic laquer!

They are acrylic. It's even written on the cans...

Clemens

I started using the Tamiya gray primer in the tall can.  works fantastic.  I try to put it on very lite as I think the build up you get from the automotive and cheap store primers can ruin the finish by having such thick paint on it.  I've also put enamel and acrylic over the Tamiya primer.  there's my 2 cents worth.

John

Just ignore my posts about the Tamiya paints beeing acrylics...

Some Idiot just labelled the cans wrong... I'm sorry for the confusion.

Clemens

Don't get pathetic, It was just a mistake...

My can of Tamiya semi-gloss black has a sticker on it saying "Acrylspray" wjich means that the content of the can is acrylic paint (but it isn't apparently). I don't know why It has this sticker on htere, but I apologise (again) for the confusion caused by this.

Clemens

the word "acrylic" actually has nothing to do with whether a paint is a lacquer or not

there are almost as many acrylic lacquers as there are water-soluble acrylic paints now,,,,,,,acrylic merely means that the pigments are made of ground up colored synthetic acrylic bits,,,,,instead of lampblack, titanium dioxide and eye of newt, as in previous days

Clemens, you are not wrong about Tamiya 'TS' spray paints. They are acrylic lacquers. Here is the proof.

www.stanbridges.com.au/.../MSDS85029.pdf

Here is a link to the MSDS sheet for TS-29 Semi-Gloss spray can. The first ingredient listed is "Acrylic copolymer." Thus, by definition, these paints are Acrylic paints. Tamiya labels these paints as lacquers, and since they don't tell us the exact chemistry of the paint, we would have to take them at their word. I think they use the word "synthetic" because the old-style lacquers used cellulose, which comes from plants. Tamiya's lacquers use the acrylic as a film former, which is synthesised rather than harvested from plants. (They may actually use both acrylic and cellulose).

The same is true for Tamiya's spray can primers. However, Tamiya's acrylic bottle paints are not labelled as lacquers, so they probably are not acrylic lacquers.

The confusion comes from the way the industry has come to define certain paints. Acrylic paints are named after the acrylic polymer used as a film-former. But lacquers and enamels are not named for their ingredients.  Some people are also mistaken in that they think all Acrylic paints are water-based, but they don't have to be. It helps to read the label.

Hope this clears up the confusion.

Chris

YAY! I'm not completely wrong!

And I thought I have to buy me a new thinner for spraying those wit hmy Airbrush..

Clemens