Why do we Prime

[Bigfoot57]

Here’s a perfect example of why we prime models before painting these propellers looked perfectly adequate for the job before priming afterwards though loads of seams revelled themselves which as you can see in the last picture have been removed where all the shiny parts are showing without priming these wouldn’t show up till you painted your top coat then would have looked horrible

Regards

Colin

[BarryW]

Spot on. It’s even more important for aircraft with those long seams that need checking.

A lot of people still seem to think it’s only about adhesion. That is a lesser issue and that only applies if you use water based acrylics.

Pre-shading is another reason to use it.

[rtfoe]

Priming in one color also equals out the base without the contrast of the filler and plastic surface showing through. It makes it easier to apply the main color without going over in many layers to get an even cover of the color.

Cheers,
Wabble

[Guest]

It makes it easier to apply the main color without going over in many layers to get an even cover of the color.

That depends a lot on which paints you use and how much you thin them, though. Tamiya or Mr. Hobby acrylics, for example, when modestly thinned will cover well and so the colour of the plastic or other materials underneath disappears entirely in one coat. Some other brands cover so poorly that you need a lot of coats to build up the colour.

[Tim Marlow]

Spot on. It’s even more important for aircraft with those long seams that need checking.

A lot of people still seem to think it’s only about adhesion. That is a lesser issue and that only applies if you use water based acrylics.

Pre-shading is another reason to use it.

Agree with most of this Barry, but I’m not sure what you mean by the pre shade comment? I know what pre shade is, using it all the time, but am not sure of the context of your comment. Do you mean you pre shade with primer? In my case I prime to check seams and assembly then pre shade with paint, treating it as a stage in the painting process. I can’t see what you’d gain by pre shading with primer?

[Dave Ward]

I've spent too much time repairing paint jobs NOT to prime, it's now just automatic - and it always reveals that missed seam.......................
Dave

[rtfoe]

That depends a lot on which paints you use and how much you thin them, though. Tamiya or Mr. Hobby acrylics, for example, when modestly thinned will cover well and so the colour of the plastic or other materials underneath disappears entirely in one coat. Some other brands cover so poorly that you need a lot of coats to build up the colour.

Try white or yellow on dark green plastic with grey or green fillers. These are the two most difficult colors to cover although Tamiya white is my go to for perfect whites. The primers also help neutralise the two different materials of filler and plastic plus the smooth and scratched sanded surface.
I don't normally prime my armoured vehicles but give them a coat of black or dark brown to hide missed corners when painting. I will sometimes use grey primer over the dark prepaint to do highlight preshading effects.
For me primer is exclusively for planes.

Cheers,
Wabble

[AlanG]

Priming isn't essential though. Is it desirable? Yes. Up until recent models, i have never primed. I only ever used to prime NMF or light colours such as white, red or yellow.

[colin m]

My name is Colin and I'm a primer. Well not me but I do prime, and it always shows up some sort of shoddy workmanship.

[rtfoe]

My name is Colin and I'm a primer. Well not me but I do prime, and it always shows up some sort of shoddy workmanship.

Which comes to mind... do some not prime being afraid of shoddy work showing up? :thinking: :smiling2:

Cheers,
Wabble

[BarryW]

Agree with most of this Barry, but I’m not sure what you mean by the pre shade comment? I know what pre shade is, using it all the time, but am not sure of the context of your comment. Do you mean you pre shade with primer? In my case I prime to check seams and assembly then pre shade with paint, treating it as a stage in the painting process. I can’t see what you’d gain by pre shading with primer?

I understand what you are saying Tim.

I black base, which is itself a form of shading, my black primer forms that black base.

Black basing is not necessarily always done with black alone (if at all) of course, as it depends on what effect you want.

On my Lanc I black based with primer, but of course black basing is meaningless when the base coat will also be black. Consequently I sprayed some lighter grey in places to pre shade in order to help colour modulation. After a coat of RAF Night I then post shaded using very dark greys such as tyre black in order to add further interest and variation. The last stage, incidentally, was to blend it all together with mist coats of Night gradually getting the finish ti where I wanted it. (That’s where I am now at with the HKM Lanc)

All the pre shading I do is always with primer, killing two birds with one stone.

[colin m]

Which comes to mind... do some not prime being afraid of shoddy work showing up? :thinking: :smiling2:

Cheers,
Wabble

Oh hang on, so if I don't prime, all will be good. Yes, why do we prime?

[Mark1]

Working in the autobody trade plastic will always have some kind of primer on or the paint will flake off, i prime models more because its just the habit of a lifetime.

[rtfoe]

Oh hang on, so if I don't prime, all will be good. Yes, why do we prime?

Because we love pain. :tears-of-joy: Tell me, who sits quietly in the corner without a care of what's going on around and "pain"stakingly assembling hundred or so parts to make something that will eventually sit on the shelf gathering dust. :smiling6: The pain will come later from loads of poisonous fumes, cuts, shot eyes, constant pain in the ear from nagging...and still we prime to find flaws to do it all over again. :tears-of-joy:

Cheers,
Wabble

[Guest]

Try white or yellow

Well, yes — especially yellow and red generally cover poorly regardless of which paint (type or brand) you use, and in that case, a primer underneath can help a lot. But I was thinking of common military/aviation/naval colours like browns, greys, greens, etc.