Base coating

[AegisD]

I recently started painting minis myself and for the longest time I\'ve used rustoleum flat black enamel to base coat. It works really well on the plastic minis I\'ve used it on, providing a very smooth and even coat. But now that I\'m building my army more, and have been picking up more metal minis I\'ve noticed that using the rustoleum to base them gives me a bit of an orange peel effect.
I\'ve retried it a few different times thinking It was something I was doing wrong but every time the coat dries it comes the same. Anyway, I was hoping someone here could recommend a spray that gives an even consistent coat. I\'m open to any suggestions, and also have an airbrush I can use if the citadel foundation paints work well. Although I\'d like to avoid spending $15 on the GW brand.
If there\'s already a thread about this though I\'d be happy to read it if someone could direct me to it. Thanks!

 

[QuietiManes]

It sounds like you are after a \"primer\", not just a base coat. You can\'t use regular paint as a primer, period. You can almost get away with it on certain materials, because certain regular paints stick very well to certain materials, like acrylics to plastics.

For metals, you\'ll need to get a primer. There are countless threads listing their primers of choice on the forums here. Duplicolour Sandable Primer is a good cheap one, you can find in the house paint or automotive section at Walmart, here. I\'d list some other but it really depends where you are, since chemicals don\'t ship too far, your local supply will be different than many others.

If you do a search for \"primer\" you\'ll get a wealth of information and options.

G\'luck.

 

[Avelorn]

The search button is in the left corner and there is also a rather chaotic sticky thread on top of this part of the forum that have a bunch of links further down. It will be arranged... eventually. lol

I would consider using the airbrush if I were you. Definitely the easiest and best way to prime, myself I just don\'t have one atm.

I use three primers right now. Tamiya fine surface primer (expensive), chaos black (expensive) and Vallejo grey primer (don\'t remember). All depending on the paintjob. I find the Tamiya gives the best finish but have trouble \"gripping\" thin coats of paint. Chaos black is decent all round but for an army I would actually say that it doesn\'t stand up well to wear and tear. Rackham grips the paint well but gives a slightly powdery finish that can work to your disadvantage for showcase quality work. But you\'ll find many more tips in the threads on the subjects.

Welcome to the forum btw.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by AegisD
I recently started painting minis myself and for the longest time I\'ve used rustoleum flat black enamel to base coat. It works really well on the plastic minis I\'ve used it on, providing a very smooth and even coat. But now that I\'m building my army more, and have been picking up more metal minis I\'ve noticed that using the rustoleum to base them gives me a bit of an orange peel effect.

I\'ve retried it a few different times thinking It was something I was doing wrong but every time the coat dries it comes the same.

This is odd. The same paint should work much the same on metal as on your plastic minis; better if anything!

Is it possible it\'s just the inherent roughness of the metal casting you\'re seeing after the paint has dried and shrunk down, versus the super-smooth plastic?

Anyway, assuming it is the paint you could try priming first, which ideally one should anyway to provide the best bond (to metal in particular).

Rustoleum make Painter\'s Touch primers which are widely used by hobby painters so that\'s a good first thing to look at. You\'re right to avoid the overpriced GW stuff.

Einion

 

[AegisD]

Originally posted by Einion
This is odd. The same paint should work much the same on metal as on your plastic minis; better if anything!

Is it possible it\'s just the inherent roughness of the metal casting you\'re seeing after the paint has dried and shrunk down, versus the super-smooth plastic?

Anyway, assuming it is the paint you could try priming first, which ideally one should anyway to provide the best bond (to metal in particular).

Rustoleum make Painter\'s Touch primers which are widely used by hobby painters so that\'s a good first thing to look at. You\'re right to avoid the overpriced GW stuff.

Einion

This could be, but I\'m a bit of a perfectionist about getting as smooth of a finish as possible on the larger flat surfaces before I prime the piece (Oh and yes I suppose I was referring to priming, my bad :redface. I usually even hit it with 600 sandpaper after removing mold lines to get a nice surface to lay the paint onto, but I know I\'ll never get all of the imperfections out.

I\'ve actually been looking for the rustoleum painters touch stuff too since I\'ve heard good things about it, but no one around me seems to carry it. Not even the building supply places like Home Depot or Lowes. I was actually shooting some duplicolor on my car today though and was pretty pleased with the coverage on that, so I might give that a go. It\'s the same flat black but it\'s a lacquer too, so it\'s a bit easier to work with than the enamel in my opinion. And hey, worst comes to worst I just dunk it in some simple green and start over right?

Thanks for the help though, and I\'m sorry I posted another thread about something so common. I really did try to use the search feature first.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by AegisD
I\'ve actually been looking for the rustoleum painters touch stuff too since I\'ve heard good things about it, but no one around me seems to carry it. Not even the building supply places like Home Depot or Lowes. I was actually shooting some duplicolor on my car today though and was pretty pleased with the coverage on that, so I might give that a go. It\'s the same flat black but it\'s a lacquer too, so it\'s a bit easier to work with than the enamel in my opinion.

Nearly any decent car primer should work about as well as any other, including the acrylic formulations (what I use).

Originally posted by AegisD
And hey, worst comes to worst I just dunk it in some simple green and start over right?

Yep!

Einion

 

[AegisD]

Originally posted by Einion
Nearly any decent car primer should work about as well as any other, including the acrylic formulations (what I use).

That\'s what I\'m using right now, along with Krylon lacquer. I can never seem to find anything acrylic based. Everything sold around me is always enamel, which I\'ve had success with in the past, but it takes forever to dry and even longer before it becomes capable of holding paint. Not to mention the problems I\'ve been having with it recently.

On a side note, what happens to Greenstuff when the mini is dunked for stripping? Does it get soft? Dissolve? Dry poorly? I mainly use it for gap-filling, but I wonder none the less.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by AegisD
On a side note, what happens to Greenstuff when the mini is dunked for stripping? Does it get soft? Dissolve? Dry poorly? I mainly use it for gap-filling, but I wonder none the less.

Unfortunately this depends on the stripper and how long you leave the piece soaking, so no one answer. Sometimes filling putties hold up well to the stripping process, sometimes they lift a bit at the edges, sometimes they seem to go all porous and sometimes they get squidgy (but might harden up fine given a bit of time); only way to know how it\'ll work for sure is to try it and see.

And hey, if you have to strip you have to strip

Einion