Project 365: Day 4 - Painting Miniatures - Priming

A Premier primer on priming. Primarily to preview my procedure in priming.


It's Prime time!

Corny alliteration aside, getting into Miniature Gaming and Painting is  a pretty rewarding hobby to get into, but it's definitely not one of the easiest to start. From choosing which game to play, choosing an army, completing a list and learning to play, you also have to build and paint your figures.

Now some people are smart enough or have the money to have other people build and paint their stuff, while most folks would probably at least once try to muscle through on their own. For building figs, you usually have the instructions and the pictures for reference. Once you've assembled your figure you'll then need to paint it. Now painting isn't as simple as applying paint to figure. You have to prepare the surface  otherwise your paint wont stay on the figure for long, or worse yet it wont stick to the figure at all.

Now you'll be able to find a lot more detailed articles on priming online so I wont really cover the basics. What I will cover however are some of the things that the articles will other gloss over, miss entirely or the special adjustments we Filipinos have to make in order to compensate for climate, cost and stuff.

Now I'm not saying this is the only way to go. You're free to try other stuff and see what works for you. That goes without saying. But this is what I do and it works. Hundreds of spacemarines would be proof of what I do.

Here we go!

Hot Water = Win!

A lot of articles and can instructions would say "Avoid priming in humid weather" and/or list an acceptable temperature to start priming in. If these aren't followed then you'll usually end up with a fuzzy sandpapery finish to your models. You can probably live with the texture but it will be really ugly especially for faces and skin.

Now the big problem here is that we live in the Philippines. Humidity and rain are the orders of the day most of the year. You can try spraying indoors... but I dont think thats particularly healthy nor would your family appreciate that.

One way to compensate for funky humidity while priming is to warm your can. Submerge your can in hot (not boiling!) water about halfway. Once your can is warm, shake as usual and spray.

You'll find you'll be spraying a finer mist and at a higher pressure than before. Finer mist and faster moving paint particles means less chance of moisture combining with your paint on the way to your fig. Less moisture means less or no fuzz. A warm can also means less "spitting" when your can is almost empty so youll be able to get more paint out of the can.

I've used this technique while it was raining outside. I've even used this technique while I was in Baguio where it was really cold in the morning. Very little fuzz.

just avoid spraying when it's windy.

Sweep Spray don't Spot Spray

When spraying figs, whether you're just starting out or trying to get a spot you missed, always SWEEP. Direction doesn't really matter as long as your starting away from the spot that you're trying to get. While this may seem wasteful the reason behind this is that if you spot spray you're getting that big initial burst of paint  the first time you press down on the nozzle. Spot spraying often leads to overpriming and loss of detail.

Blutac is your friend

In my case i prefer the Black Blutac (Blactack?) which is available in your local National Bookstore.

I'm very OC  when it comes to priming and I want to cover as much of the figure in primer. This is especially useful if you're priming in black because it allows for a lot of shortcuts. The sooner you're done with one figure the sooner you can move on to the next. One thing I have to keep in mind though is while i want to cover every inch with primer I dont want to overprime. So how does Blutack help?

Arranging your figs on a piece of wood like this will help you get to those nooks and crannies. It also encourages you sweep spray. I usually spray from top to bottom, wait to dry then turn the figs around to cover another surface.

Blutack holds plastic figures very well, even large ones like dreadnaughts as long as you use enough of it. For metal figs I usually use this trick for small based figures only and for larger ones I use blutack on a gerber bottle instead. I'd still be careful though as you really dont want to drop that metal fig as you're priming.

So those are my tips for priming now lets move on to a topic that will be more about my opinion than anything:

What's the best primer to use?

This is a more controversial topic for a number of reasons. Cost and preference go head to head.

Some argue since youre spending on the figs anyway you might as well use something that specifically formulated for miniatures. Games Workshop, Tamiya and Army painter primers are the brands available here in the Philippines.

Now I'm not denying that these sprays work and work well. I've seen the results personally.

Some things to keep in mind though are that:

- They are still affected by humidity, spraying technique and overspraying. So consider using the tips I mentioned above. They are not magic sprays that will work perfect everytime, even if they are formulated for miniatures.

- They're expensive. 400 - 600 bucks a can. I dont think I need to elaborate on this further

One other end of the spectrum is using automotive primers or sprays. These are cheaper (begins at 85 bucks) and are readily available in hardware or grocery stores. They also come in a wider variety of colors. Some would argue that they're not comfortable using these for a number of reasons but using the techniques I listed above you should be fine

Some things to remember are:

- They arent formulated for figs so theres a good chance that if you dont spray properly you'll melt plastic figures. This is not a problem for metal figures though.

- Trial and error. Not all automotive primers are good to use as some  spray way too thick. Some even expand and "puff". Get feedback from people who've used the brand, check out samples and if you can test it out for free then take the chance :) Specialty paint stores will either have testers or swatches for you to look at

- Some people accidentally buy gloss or satin finish sprays and find it hard applying paint on the figs later on. You want Matte or Flat sprays. Primers are always matte or flat anyway.

- If you cant find the color you want as your primer, you can opt to go use gloss or satin sprays and finish with a clear matte coat. Just be careful not to overspray and lose detail. This works well for plastic figs but may not necessarily work well for metal figs.

Now I personally use Bosny Flat spray paints to prime my figs. Note that these aren't really primers but spray paints. They have their downside (chipping for metal figures) but for plastic figs they are awesome. using the techniques listed above and spraying a proper distance away (its on the can) I have yet to melt any figs.

So there ya go, my thoughts on Priming figures. Everything I've written here is something I've either tried personally or seen firsthand. You can go the branded route if you want, but with a little prep time you can get the same results at less of a cost.

Feel free to ask questions if you have any :)