Primer and lighting

[Dranu]

Hey, I had two questions, one on primer and one on lighting.

-What is a really good primer to use for a high quality mini?
Right now I have always used GW white primer, but it seems it always leaves a bit too grainy of a coat. From the galleries I\'ve seen of some of the best minis here, the paint seems to have alot more smooth coat than what I can acheive.
I was wondering maybe to use my vallejo primer that came with my paint set. Is it smoother? Should I paint it on or airbrush it on? If I airbrush it on how do I do it and what airbrush should I get?
Any ideas for a type of primer would be great! Money isn\'t an issue for primer, I just want the best quality I can get.

-What type of lighting should I use?
I heard lighting that uses light simmilar to sunlight is the best, just wondering what teh best type of light to get would be.

Thanks!

 

[Sand Rat]

I\'ve primed with everything from clear coat to thinned black paint to el cheapo deluxo spray paint from Walmart (usually the stuff for repainting you BBQ Grill) and have found that humidity makes a big difference when priming.

As for the second question, daylight bulbs are best - I use the newer compact florescents to suppliment the room lighting in the area where I paint.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by Dranu
Hey, I had two questions, one on primer and one on lighting.

-What is a really good primer to use for a high quality mini?
Right now I have always used GW white primer, but it seems it always leaves a bit too grainy of a coat.
Some of the GW White did have bad batches which left a great deal of grainy paint on the mini. Agitation of the can didn\'t help a great deal.]
From the galleries I\'ve seen of some of the best minis here, the paint seems to have alot more smooth coat than what I can acheive.
I was wondering maybe to use my vallejo primer that came with my paint set. Is it smoother?
Vallejo primer on it\'s own I find kind of poor and with a tendency to give an uneven mottled finish which can affect the base coat. However mixing it with other Vallejo paints gives you a much better primer coat which can be brushed on in dilute coats and assisted to dry via the old Hairdryer. That way you can get Dark grey primer (mix with Black) White-ish mixed with White or any other colour you want to try

Should I paint it on or airbrush it on? If I airbrush it on how do I do it and what airbrush should I get?
Take your pick. Personally I\'m happy brushing on the Vallejo Mix as a Primer. But a reasonable Airbrush such as an Aztek could be easily used for Airbrushing on the primer, But to my mind just using an Airbrush for Primer is a bit of both over kill and underutilisation of an Airbrushes capabilities. (Says he who still hasn\'t used his Aztek properly.)

 

[DaRat]

You might want to try Tamiya Fine Surface Spray Primer. I\'ve not used it personally, but I\'ve seen minis freshly primed with the Tamiya, and they look very smooth.

I use Duplicolor Sandable Primer (from auto parts stores) which is smooth enough for me (but not as smooth as the Tamiya).

All of that said, the smoothness of coat that you\'re seeing probably also comes from using thinned paint and proper technique and not only from using a finer grain primer.

As far as lighting goes, \"Daylight\" bulbs are pretty commonly available these days in most hardware stores in the US. I have some from different manufacturers. Some are better than others (I like the Ott Lite ones the best, but they\'re more expensive, even the ones that screw into a standard socket), but almost all of them will be fine for most people.

 

[airhead]

Primer:

look here:
http://www.maximusinminimis.com/Primer%20Test.html

Lights:

OTT are great, but pricey. Catalina (carried by Staples and some others) has a line of color correct flouresents. I have not tried them, but they can be had for less than the cost of replacing a bulb in an OTT.

 

[TaurenMoo]

Since I currently use GW black primer my comments on it as follow:

First I sprayed the miniatures individually. I have a pair of forcepts I use (they are metal) for everything, from spraying the primer to painting on. Wash the paint off at the end and rinse repeat. It is better to spray fair away from the miniature and do really really light coats on the primer, Don\'t forget to clean/cut mold likes and sand down the piece before priming.

After that very thin coats. If you can\'t get a particular nook through normal and I mean normal spraying of the model, don\'t try to spray directly into the crack. After you are finished and it has dried go back with watered down black paint and simply apply a couple coats of the stuff over the model where it might seem thin or into cracks and thats about it... Found using this method less detail is affected and the base coat is smoother. Thinner is better

 

[Dranu]

Thanks for all the helpful tips!

I think I will probably pick up some Tamiya.

One more thing, TaurenMoo, you said sand down the piece. I remove mold lines and all, do you mean just sanding down those areas or areas that don\'t have mold lines as well?

 

[Temporary Sanity]

Some people take model-prep to the next level, and sand all sandable surfaces of the mini. Takes a lot of time, and may not be a necessary step if the mini is cast well to begin with. If the mini itself is pocked, or has bumps, that will show up in the final paint job, of course.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Dranu
Hey, I had two questions, one on primer and one on lighting.

-What is a really good primer to use for a high quality mini?

Automotive primer. Hard to go wrong with something that inexpensive that does the job.

Originally posted by Dranu
From the galleries I\'ve seen of some of the best minis here, the paint seems to have alot more smooth coat than what I can acheive.

Some of that is deceptive - quite a few of the images on the site feature post-processing to make them look good; some of them a lot of post-processing.

Originally posted by Dranu
...what airbrush should I get?

Skippy or Jiff? Coke or Pepsi? Mountain Dew or 7-Up? Opinions vary. But if you do a search you\'ll find lots of prior threads with brand recommendations and other info - like on compressors, which are now the major expense in airbrushing for many people, costing more than the airbrush (like 3x or 5x the price!)

Originally posted by Dranu
-What type of lighting should I use?
I heard lighting that uses light simmilar to sunlight is the best, just wondering what teh best type of light to get would be.

Where are you?

Einion

 

[Dranu]

Where are you?

Georgia, USA

 

[usurpator]

I use Mr Surfacer 500, it\'s a brush on that really kisses the mini

 

[Einion]

Since you\'re in the US you might like to try OTT-Lites then.

Einion

 

[Dranu]

Thanks for the tips. I picked up some Tamiya Fine White Primer and an Ott-light Jupiter magnifier lamp.

The Tamiya spray is wonderfully smooth (significantly more than the GW one I was using), and the Ott-light lamp is great lighting (wish it was a little higher magnification though hehe)

Thanks again!