Why do you guys prime your tanks.
I prime mine for several reasons. First I guess is because it will bring out and flaws and give you the chance to fix them before you get your real paint on it. It also gives the paint a better surface to adhere too. Also, I prime with black and do some preshading with it, just putting a light coat of the base color on after priming and then coming back and hitting the center of some of the panels and fading it out towards the edges. This lets some of the primer show through and gives the model some depth. These are of course just my reasons and there are many out there!!
I find that modern Acrylic paints are designed for model making and adhere very well without a primer, if using laquer or enamels then the primer gives a good key for those to bind to. I still prime my models as it shows up any misses seams and flaws in the build process, there is nothing worse than sitting back after completing your base coat to find you need to sand or get the filler out again!
I use a grey or white primer designed for auto plastics straight from the rattle can and do the opposite to Jester by using the primer to preshade the highlights and spray darker areas before the main basecoat colour.
I agree with all the above and…if you use photo etch, priming also helps here, avoiding the “bare metal read thru”…
SC
I agree with those above…to highlight flaws and give a good base for further painting. One other reason, for me, is when working with AM products - metal barrels, PE accessories, resin stowage, etc. - priming the model gives everything a uniform color and texture so that the basecoat of paint has the same shade and texture over the entire model.
[#ditto]
Sometimes I use resin, metal barrels, pe, etc… Priming gets the whole model the same color so the paint I apply afterwards has an even base to start with. And the base color is more even.
Mark
I rarely prime anything, and almost never on tanks. Enamels don’t need primer to stick, and even acrylic paints adhere pretty well provided that the surface is clean. I’ve never had any issues with cover photo-etch parts either.
Occaisionally, such as when smoothing out a joint on a ship’s hull or maybe airplane fuselage, I might prime the joint just to verify my work and smooth out any fine sanding marks.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HELP. i REALLY APRECIATE IT. NOW WHY iS CAPS LOCK ON.?
The main reason to prime is paint is not designed to stick to metal. Primer is designed to bond to metal. Paint will then form a good bond to the primer. If you are painted and all plastic model it is not neccesary but as stated by others it is good way to find seams or other errors in the build. So if you are using a metal gun barrel or photo etch and want the paint to stay you have to prime first. No matter what type of paint you use it will not adheare to bare metal meaning primer is a must!
Soulcrusher