What's The Point Of Primer?

[zuludog]

I do 1/72nd aeroplanes and brush paint with enamels


I always use a primer. It shows any blemishes, scratches, uneven-ness around joints, filling & sanding and so on


Then I give the model a very fine sanding & clean up


Primer gives an even base coat over, for example, different coloured plastic and areas of Green Putty etc.


I don't use aerosol primer, I use any convenient pale to medium grey that I have available


Sometimes I simply give a coat of a pale underside colour, all over; then top coats; then a final coat of underside colour

[Guest]

I am convinced...one THIN coat of plastic primer it shall be.


(and it wasn't the underpants that persuaded me, but the 'shows the blemishes' point!)


Thanks to all. Great Forum!

[Guest]

I am convinced...one THIN coat of plastic primer it shall be.
(and it wasn't the underpants that persuaded me, but the 'shows the blemishes' point!)


Thanks to all. Great Forum!

Well, lack of underpants could show the blemishes....... sorry, I will leave it at that....... :P

[stona]

I just started working on some wear and chipping in the wing roots/walkways of my current build and noticed how the various filler points and access panels had taken an earlier wash. The model had a coat of primer, a coat of enamel camouflage paint and two coats of gloss varnish (one before and one after the decals).


This is the upper wing, fuselage to the left, engine nacelle to the right.






The detail is quite fine on this modern molding. If the paints and varnished, including primer, had filed the detail it could not have taken the wash like this. I really don't think loss of detail is something that we should worry about when priming, it's certainly not a reason to avoid priming.


Cheers


Steve

[Guest]

I just started working on some wear and chipping in the wing roots/walkways of my current build and noticed how the various filler points and access panels had taken an earlier wash. The model had a coat of primer, a coat of enamel camouflage paint and two coats of gloss varnish (one before and one after the decals).
This is the upper wing, fuselage to the left, engine nacelle to the right.


[ATTACH]143019[/ATTACH]


The detail is quite fine on this modern molding. If the paints and varnished, including primer, had filed the detail it could not have taken the wash like this. I really don't think loss of detail is something that we should worry about when priming, it's certainly not a reason to avoid priming.


Cheers


Steve

What scale is your model please?

[Guest]

I don't use primer, but a light brushing of white, as it seems to do a pretty good job at highlighting things (for me, anyway) Primer would be good to use though, as it shrinks to the plastic (Or I think it does, don't quote me on that)

[stona]

What scale is your model please?

It's a detail of the 1/32 Bf 110 I'm currently building.


Cheers


Steve