Is there a "best" primer colour ?

[topgazza]

I know it may well depend on the top coat colours being used but is there an one spray does all colour ? White ? Grey ? Black ?

Also should "you" spray all the components on the sprues, not the clear obviously, or individually ?

Lastly what spray to use ? Standard platic spray cans or paint specialist cans ?

Many Thanks

[Mr Bowcat]

Hi Gaz,

If you had to pick just one primer I would personally go for grey. Ideally you would want to keep at least black, grey and white in stock, depending on what top coat colour you are using. Eg if you were painting Ferrari red you would be better off with white undercoat.

Personally I airbrush, but I have used Halfords grey plastic primer(spray can) in the past.

Cheers,

B

Edited to add, I rarely spray on the sprue,but it's down to personal preference.

[Guest]

As Bob says, if you only have one, make it grey, as it's middle of the road shade wise.

I also rarely paint items on the sprue, but some do.

[Bortig the Viking]

I agree with the above, if only the one make it grey, although I personally have different colors for different situations, as for painting on the sprue I try to paint off it as you can sand things down nicely then paint otherwise your undoing the nice paint job. Also I airbrush more than the hairy stick but everyone finds their own style, as long as your happy with the result.

[Dave Ward]

Gary,
If I could only have one primer, it would be a mid-grey, but I do use several others, white, black etc, depending on the topcoat. I'm not happy with using the same colour basecoat and primer, it's too easy to miss areas!
As a personal choice, I would steer away from Vallejo Acrylic Grey Primer - it has caused me no end of problems in the past, poor adhesion to surfaces ( lifts when you peel off masks ), and seemed to clog my airbrush up with annoying regularity. I stupidly bought a big bottle, and I now reserve it for brush priming in smaller areas that won't be masked!
Dave

[topgazza]

Grey it is. Doing a lot of reading here on the various stuff like painting. Last time I did modelling the painting was minimal. Partly due to the lack of choice, or at least as far as I knew as an early teen, and the lack of people to ask. But it seems reasonable to use a primer so the topcoats adhere better which is what the majority suggest in te paint section. Makes sense as well.

As I intend to brush initially I know I have a little extra work to do but I'm patient. it's a good point about priming off the sprues so sanding etc can be done easier

[Ian M]

Grey is a good all-rounder.
Yellow is best for Yellow (and Red, it really makes the red pop!)
White is often the best choice for a gloss white finish.
White and Yellow are probably the two colours that give the most trouble when a good gloss is needed, so a matching primer or undercoat helps a lot.

If you are totally hung up on colour match you might want to go the whole hog and use the same primer colour as the original subject......Can of worms time... lol

[topgazza]

Thanks. I like the idea of same primer as the top coat to give a good strong colour

[Guest]

As the above but I would like to add WASH all parts before painting as this will remove all greasy finger stains and the paint will adhere better to the surface.

[Jim R]

I swear by Stynylrez primer. I use black, white and grey. I mix to give different shades of grey depending on the top coat and how I want it to look. Not only will primer give a good surface for the top coat but will also unify the finish so that any defects can be rectified before the top coat. The primer coat does not need to be a very heavy, opaque coat, just enough to cover the surface. The more coats of paint the higher the risk of affecting detail. I tend to prime darker towards the lower areas and shadow areas and lighter from above. That helps to give variation in the top coat. The obvious exception to normal priming, as has already been flagged up, is generally a metallic finish is best over a gloss black primer and yellow needs a white primer. (Ian's thoughts on red sound good as red is an awkward colour)
Jim

[Bortig the Viking]

I use a few different primers, Zero, Stynylrez and still use Vallejo, I had a bigger bottle, to start with the Vallejo was a pain but have persevered with it and if you play around with air pressure etc it works fine. If I am using a brush I tend to go towards Tamiya. If using metal paints I have found the best way is, as Jim R says, use black gloss primer, I only got back into modelling last year so to experiment I bought some cheap, Ebay and second hand shops, models to practice on, worked for me.

[BarryW]

I have a different view to many here.

what primer you use depends on what you are trying to achieve.

As I am looking to do a weathered finish with modulated colour overall my standard primer is black. That enables you to build up a modulated appearance with the lighter coloured paint, more effectively in my view, than by pre-shading. It also help with the darker colours but with these you often need to do some post shading as well.

I also have white, red and a sand yellow primers for specific uses. Whenever I paint white, yellow or red I do a light coat of the relevant primer colour as it cover better than most base paint , you need fewer coats of the specific base shade thereafter.

The primer I use least is grey I rarely use it. The problem with grey is that most plastic is grey.....

[Bobby Conkers]

Sorry to hijack, but is there anyone who doesn't prime (on plastic kits)? That would be apart from me of course. As this is the first place I've ever sought advice, obviously this is from a beginner's perspective.

I've not noticed any disadvantage, but that's because I've never done it. But as Jim suggests, I fear losing moulded detail.

I hereby open myself to the pointing and laughing...

[stillp]

Andrew, I usually don't prime except in patches where I've been filling, but that's mostly because the primers I've tried don't play nicely with my airbrush.
Pete

[Bortig the Viking]

Personally I always put primer down, the reasons are you get a uniform base to work on and it you can usually see the imperfections so they are remedied before putting on a top coat, this is my style plus I mainly airbrush and do this in batches making my models in modules after a dry fit, works for me.