Jump to content

Priming: how to get good results? spray or paint-on?


elfhead

Recommended Posts

I started with brush on gesso 4 years ago, and it was really hard to get a consistent finish. I switched to spray on a year later and never went back.

When i started spraying I started with the GW primer cans, but they were finicky in high humidity where I live. I found that the car automobile spray cans (Rustoleum where I live) are much better at getting good results in warm, wet climate that is the mid-western US during the summer. I will also say, as someone who will occasionally go back to strip and repaint models I’ve previously painted, that GW primer is indestructible on plastic (which is incredibly annoying if you are stripping because you messed up and primed in high humidity.) Rustoleum, on the other hadnd, comes off well with Simple Green, and is otherwise really strong for gaming. I do not know of a substance on earrth that can remove the $@#& GW rattle can primer from plastic; as someone else above has mentioned, it must be some kind of chemical bonding with the plastic itself.

Last year I got an airbrush, and that has been a game changer as well. It’s even better for control, which is handy for sketching out lights and shadows. I don’t see myself going back to cans unless I’m trying to do large batches of terrain or something.

I don’t think I would go back to brush on gesso unless... we had a zombie apocalypse and regressed to the middle ages.

Edited by Ggom
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎6‎/‎24‎/‎2020 at 8:57 AM, RuneBrush said:

One thing that you may not be aware of is that citadel sprays all contain an "etching agent", so basically a chemical that slightly dissolves the plastic so the paint binds into it.  This gives it a really substantial hold so that you're unlikely to rub off undercoat with normal handling of a model.  Brush on or airbrush on undercoats don't have this, so the undercoat can be a little more fragile.

Funny, I indeed was never aware of this until I read your comment. Now this weekend I actually also found out myself. I had some 1mm thick black foam (sorta blue foam, but, guess what, black) and made a pattern on it using a GSW rolling pin. Than I glued the strip onto a base. Next thing was priming it with Chaos black. The moment I did this the pattern on the foam completely vanished and became a sort of sticky melted mess. Guess this is due to what you described here. I repeated with a normal primer (Vallejo) and no problems at all.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...