I started the confusion by typing “Vallejo” instead of “Vallejo primer”. I was only griping about the primer, I like the paints.
Glad you clarified, I was scratching my head there. Thx.
to add, I use vallejo primer with a few drops of their airbrush thinner mixed in. Only use Vallejo airbrush thinner and sparingly too. Tamiay x-20 will ruin the primer, Never use it with vallejo. Light coats built up. I dry the primer with a hair dryer when I am done for a few minutes and it has solved all my sanding issues. dries with a great finish and very hard. You still need to wait a day to sand it but after that there are no problems. I clean the airbrush with denatured alcohol through the airbrush. Its cheap at the hardware store and works great. dont use windex. it will gum it up.
I have been having good luck with scuff sanding with 1000 grit all large parts then washing them in soap and water then let air dry. No primer. I use Testors MMA paint 100% of the time. Paint will still lift using masking tape, I just airbrush one color then hand brush the other color using a pencil line as a guide if it is a two tone model. Boats cars and planes mostly.
This may make no difference at this late date but, for what it’s worth . . .
I used to paint airplanes for the navy. The way I was taught to prime any surface was to spray the primer thinly so that the metal surface could be seen under the primer. I would think that a very thin coat, applied so that the plastic could be seen when priming was done, should be sufficient to hold any topcoat. Primers, if they are true primers, slightly etch the surface in order to hold and they also are specifically designed to hold topcoats. If applied correctly primers won’t hide any detail.
For lacquer primers, such as auto paint primers, or Krylon primer, the stuff drys so fast that I put down a thin coat, as the above poster says, wait about thirty seconds, and then put on a heavier coat.
i prime everything. since i do a lot of 1/35 armor i use Ace Hardware NOW gray. i have used Ta miya for small ships as it is finer. i have painted Tamiya, MMA, PolyS and vallejo over it, masked with silly putty, pposter “tape”, masking tape with no liftoff.
I always use primer. For autos it’s Plastikote T235 sandable primer. Think Tamiya in a big can.
Armor gets a colored primer from the Rustoleum “Camouflage” line. “Dark Green” is a good color for OD, “Army Green” is a great base for Russian 4B0 green. “khaki” is good for any desert camo, “Earth Brown” and “Black” work good on tracks.
I just used Vallejo Primer for the first time Wednesday. I bought a big bottle of their RAL 8000 color for a series of DAK tanks.
In playing around with the paint,I feel it works great as a base coat. Like previously mentioned, don’t expect to sad away flaws after using this. In fact I primed a piece with the Rustoleum Khaki and then used the Vallejo Primer over that. I added a drop of Vallejo thinner and it sprayed just fine. I put the piece up and left it so I cannot comment on dry/cure times.
There are thick, heavily bodied primers, like auto body sandable primers. These will fill in small sanding scratches and small flaws. The downside is that they tend to obscure fine detail. So you must weigh the advantages and disadvantages. If the model is larger scale, or does not have a lot of fine detail, then a heavy bodied primer can indeed reduce the amount of work on things like seam finishing and scratch removal.
Building my first ship model in 50+ years. Which is better white or grey primer? It is a 1/600 of the ship class I serverd on and will be decaled as my ship. I’m will be trying Tamiya Fine Spray.
Replying to this super late - I have white, gray and black primer, and generally speaking I tend to use the one that is closest in value to the color I will be laying on top of it. I just recently bought the white to use for a couple car kits what were painted racing white and light yellow.
Im new to making models, and i want to buy one, i just need to know, can i paint model without painting with primer?
Yes you can
But it helps,especially with acrylic paints, primer helps with adhesion. Also with multi media like metal and resin it helps uniformity and adhesion.If you are painting light colors over dark plastic it helps with coverage.Of course primer helps you identify seams that need cleaning up.
But plenty do without it,swear its while not necessary,it has its place,so its a choice
I always use primer over areas that required sanding. Such as removal of mold lines and filler.
For me all bare plastic gets primer. My latest iteration is Stynylrez with about 10-15% lacquer thinner added because it comes out smooth as silk with a very tight thin film. If you’re not airbrushing then I agree with early posts of Tamiya rattle cans primers.
Should you prime ? The paint will stick better if you do.
I use Tamiya rattle cans, decant it into a 4 ounce Mason jar, and airbrush it thinned with MEK. To the poster at the top of this page, no matter what way of priming you choose, priming is the best way to avoid the headaches of pulling little chunks of paint off while you’re unmasking things. I used to not use primer, but after trying it for the first time, I found that it makes everything easier. You get better coverage with fewer passes of the airbrush, and its far less likely to run or sag due to it sliding around like it does on bare plastic. Not sure about other primers, but decanted Tamiya that is airbrushed is fully cured and ready for paint in 2 hours. I have tried rattle can primers of all different types and they just don’t work as well as airbrushed primer…the primer goes on way too thick compared to what you can do with an airbrush. Its something you don’t really notice until you try both ways and compare them. The difference then is like night and day.
Before priming, cleaning is very important. I use ethanol to remove my finger grease.
A first coat of color can be considered a primer but that doesn’t really give you any advantage.
So buried in your original question is the need to clean; paint/ prime; putty/ sand; paint/ prime; touch up; paint.
For a while I cleaned the plastic with isopropyl but doing so does something that Stynylrez doesn’r care for so much. Makes no sense but it’s confirmed to be so in my personal testing. So I went back to wiping down the model with odorless mineral spirits and all is well using that.
I never clean my plastic at all,and never no issues,go figure.
I need to not munch on taco chips at the bench.
Maybe the cleaning that matters most to me is after the final prep before finish color.
Bill