Primer Question

[RKrebs]

What is the difference between primer colors? Should I primer with a color that is relatively close to the colors I am going to paint? Or is there a generic catch all type of primer? I see grey, sand, black, blue, red, etc etc primer, but am not sure what to get. I see mainly the grey primer being used.


Thanks

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I deal with Vallejo, so I will refer to it.

Vallejo has 16 primer colors. Your normal White, Grey, and Black, but also colors like German Dark Yellow, German Grey, US Olive Drab, Russian Green, UK Bronze, Green, etc, etc.

If you are building say a US Sherman tank, you can use the colored primer as your basecoat (instead of the usual grey primer and then layer of OD green paint).

With the primer and color in one, you end up putting less layers of paint on your model, and thus less paint to obscure details. One less step to do, and saves you time in your build.

 

[RKrebs]

So then really there isn't any difference between the paint and primer as far as looks go? In other words, if I were to do a camo and used OD green paint over black primer, you wouldn't be able to tell that it was paint on primer as opposed to paint over paint?

 

[urumomo]

Acrylics will produce different tones over different base-coats .
The whole thing with pre-shading panel lines .

Heavy coats will negate this but also negates one of the desirable properties of acrylics .

Uru

 

[Quaralane]

Some lacquers and other semi-transparent colors will also look different with different base colors
Just something to keep in mind

 

[urumomo]

Check this out .

Really good .Well worth your time ;D

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGPH1BM4e_Q[/youtube]

Uru

 

[RKrebs]

Hah..I saw that video and skipped over it because of the subtitling. I thought it was in spanish for some reason.

Thanks.

 

[urumomo]

;D

Nah . It takes you from start to finish .

The first time I saw it , it had Russian subtitles over those subtitles . ,, still narrated in English .

Later

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

So then really there isn't any difference between the paint and primer as far as looks go? In other words, if I were to do a camo and used OD green paint over black primer, you wouldn't be able to tell that it was paint on primer as opposed to paint over paint?

Well the difference being that you put one more coat of paint.

Say you are doing a NATO 3 tone camo.

Instead of primer grey or black, followed by NATO Green, Brown, and Black, you could use something like Vallejo NATO Green Primer overall, and then just put on the NATO Brown and Black for the camo colors.

Difference is number of layers of paint and your time.

 

[RockyD88]

One question, can Vallejo primer be tinted with say Model Color to get the base color one is looking for?

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I have never tried it, but most of their products can be mixed with one another. That is the beauty of an all in one acrylic system like Vallejo!

 

[gameengineer]

Hopefully this is sort of related to this topic of primers. Should we worry about acrylic primer on plastic adhesion issues especially if we plan to weather the tank with chipping agents?

That video link was great because being new to scale modeling I have been trying to figure out the approach with regard to what to assemble first and what to prime and paint first. Thanks for this discussion.

 

[Junkie]

Chipping agents won't make much difference however the intensity by which you 'go at' the kit matters. If you add water over your chipping layer, let it soak in and then chip away with an old brush or sharp toothpick you'll be ok but if you really go nuts with a toothpick you might scratch into the primer. Just use common sense and don't go crazy.

Also let your primer cure at least 24hrs.

As for order of assembly / paint. Wow - huge topic and really depends on what you're building and your build style. My only advice is to try and think or look ahead several steps to anticipate areas where you a:wouldn't be able to paint once it's assembled and B: logical sub assemblies that would benefit from being painted prior to assembly. Think car engine...cockpit...tank interior or backside of roadwheels etc...

Most of all just go for it. Plan to butcher a few kits and you'll learn alot as you go.

 

[gameengineer]

Chipping agents won't make much difference however the intensity by which you 'go at' the kit matters. If you add water over your chipping layer, let it soak in and then chip away with an old brush or sharp toothpick you'll be ok but if you really go nuts with a toothpick you might scratch into the primer. Just use common sense and don't go crazy.

Makes sense. In other forums there were some who swore by lacquer based primers. I think even Paul Budzik who seems to be very knowledgeable on scale modeling mentions this. But on the other hand I've heard acrylic is fine too.

As for order of assembly / paint. Wow - huge topic and really depends on what you're building and your build style. My only advice is to try and think or look ahead several steps to anticipate areas where you a:wouldn't be able to paint once it's assembled and B: logical sub assemblies that would benefit from being painted prior to assembly. Think car engine...cockpit...tank interior or backside of roadwheels etc...

Most of all just go for it. Plan to butcher a few kits and you'll learn alot as you go.

Hmmm, huge topic eh'? I've been watching a few videos of tank model building and painting and they all have varying levels of construction before the primer hits it. I have a Tamiya Sherman M4A3 tank model 1/35 scale that I want to try build as scale with weathering. It will ultimately go into a small diorama.

Sorry for hi jacking RKrebs, I'm done now. :

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

If you are worried about chipping into the primer layer, just put down a coat of matt varnish over everything before you put your chipping fluid and then top color down. Matt varnish will give you a barrier of protection when you are removing the chipping layer.

 

[Junkie]

Good tip.

 

[gameengineer]

If you are worried about chipping into the primer layer, just put down a coat of matt varnish over everything before you put your chipping fluid and then top color down. Matt varnish will give you a barrier of protection when you are removing the chipping layer.

Nice one. I saw someone doing that in a video I recently watched.

-Steve