Primer woes

[ohbejuan]

Hey fellow addicts.

Primer question:
I have these two bottles of primer. The smaller one is Light Ghost Grey, and the larger one is basic Grey.

I have been using the light ghost grey with a little flow improver and had no problems.

I wanted to use the basic grey tonight. Even with nothing added, it came out so thin it was dripping off the model

So the actual question... Did I just not shake it enough? what would cause it to be so watery?

 

[urumomo]

You might need to remove the cap and stir it with a stick - like a bamboo skewer .
If it's been sitting a long time the resin with precipitate out and build up into a solid-ish mass at the bottom of the container .
I've never used that particular primer so that's the only suggestion I have .

 

[ohbejuan]

You might need to remove the cap and stir it with a stick - like a bamboo skewer .
If it's been sitting a long time the resin with precipitate out and build up into a solid-ish mass at the bottom of the container .
I've never used that particular primer so that's the only suggestion I have .

thank you! I will try that.

 

[Marktastrophe]

I use the regular grey primer on pretty much everything that isn't going to be a rust bucket or metallic.

QA is always a possible issue, lol.
But what Urmomo said is probably the ticket. After a manual stir with a stick you could put a few tiny stainless steel nuts in the bottle to act as agitators in the future.

I have not had the issue with the primers, but I've had a couple of second hand 17mm Vallejo jars that were old enough to separate and never mix back together in the amount of time or energy that I was willing to put towards a $4 jar.

 

[ohbejuan]

I use the regular grey primer on pretty much everything that isn't going to be a rust bucket or metallic.

QA is always a possible issue, lol.
But what Urmomo said is probably the ticket. After a manual stir with a stick you could put a few tiny stainless steel nuts in the bottle to act as agitators in the future.

I have not had the issue with the primers, but I've had a couple of second hand 17mm Vallejo jars that were old enough to separate and never mix back together in the amount of time or energy that I was willing to put towards a $4 jar.

this is good to know! thank you

 

[urumomo]

Any progress with this ?

 

[ohbejuan]

Any progress with this ?

I stood it on it's head for a day. There was clearly some pigment stuck to the bottom of the bottle. I put it on top of the dryer while it was running. Then I stirred it by hand, and shook it a ton. That improved it!

 

[Marktastrophe]

A bit of tape and a sawzall (or jigsaw, or w/e reciprocating tools you can get at) work really well if you don't have a proper hobby paint shaker.

 

[urumomo]

Disaster Waiting to Happen .
Just use your installed paint shaker - your arm - and keep your thumb or another digit atop the cap .

 

[Marktastrophe]

I didn't mean it for all paint shaken always. Just for stubborn edge cases.. and wholly interim.
That said, Robart shakers are pretty affordable.

 

[urumomo]

If you have a paint that requires violent agitation it actually requires stirring .
If the resin won't stir back into solution you should just bin it or keep it around for " grunt " work like terrain construction and stuff you don't need to be pretty .

 

[Marktastrophe]

That's all fair. I may have been too casual and not clear enough in that suggestion.

 

[golgotha]

A bit of tape and a sawzall (or jigsaw, or w/e reciprocating tools you can get at) work really well if you don't have a proper hobby paint shaker.

I simply took a length of brass rod, bent it to an open triangle (diffent triangle sizes to fit different, container openings) at one end, pop the other end into my Model drill, tighten the chuck, *important* adjust the speed to a sensible level, insert into paint and switch on and let the tool turn the paint into a smooth usable state. Stop drill before removing from paint. To clean stirrer spin the stirrer in appropriate cleaning liquid. The finish by wiping clean.

Likewise use this tool to mix thinners into paint, ready for the airbrush cup using a suitable container.

I have been using this technique for almost 23 years, managing only once to spin paint around the room and over me and loosing control by switching on and not holding paint container which rotated and centrifuge paint over a wide area. My wife was non too impressed, especially as it was a tin of Humbrol gloss Enamel.