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Author Topic: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?  (Read 3207 times)

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Offline Raktra (So long, I guess)

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Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« on: March 8, 2009, 07:15:51 PM »
I managed to land myself with grey spray primer the other day when on the hunt for black... *facepalm*

I tested it out on a Juggernaut and the results were pretty good, the red came out nice and bright. However, I'm wondering if this will be a good idea on plastics, as they're all I have left, or will the inability to tell whether or not I've sprayed it be crippling?

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Offline Dux Aurelius Elysius

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #1 on: March 8, 2009, 07:18:45 PM »
Is it the exact same shade as codex grey?  Is there absolutely no difference in the reflectivity of the finish between plastic versus primed?  We don't have the primer to hand, how will we know :)

Paint will paint on to it just fine.  As long as you're not using glazing from white as a technique all power to you.
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Offline Raktra (So long, I guess)

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #2 on: March 8, 2009, 07:22:03 PM »
It dries pretty much matt, so it's got a little texture to it. It's the exact shade of the plastics, so I guess I'll just have to be very keen eyed when spraying.

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Offline Calus Drakin

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #3 on: March 8, 2009, 07:26:24 PM »
I picked up grey myself when I went looking for primer. For some reason the only black primer the local home depot had when I went was the kind for cars.

I was a little worried about that too. But my grey is actually like half a shade darker then the plastic. You have to look really hard generally, but if you have like a piece of a sprue to hold up to it, you may be able to tell the difference.
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Offline Raktra (So long, I guess)

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #4 on: March 8, 2009, 07:27:46 PM »
I'm using the car stuff Calus. As long as it's acryllic the paint goes over pretty well. Just so you know ;)

Offline Dux Aurelius Elysius

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #5 on: March 8, 2009, 07:41:34 PM »
I picked up grey myself when I went looking for primer. For some reason the only black primer the local home depot had when I went was the kind for cars.

Plenty of people swear by car-designed primer.  DJ-of-E, if I recall correctly, uses it.  Not tried it myself but there you go.  I'd imagine it's binding properties are excellent.
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Offline Lt_PliskinAJ

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #6 on: March 8, 2009, 07:44:04 PM »
The grey primer works great. I use it more then I use white and about the same as black. I like it because it lets you have a good primer but it won't 'lighten/darken' the model.

I say you have yourself a fantastic mistake.

Offline Skeeve

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #7 on: March 8, 2009, 07:55:48 PM »
Some time ago I post here a link where somebody tested quality of primers (many brands) in terms of sticking to the surface. Bottom line -they are all equally good in that respect. The only drawback of SOME (not krylon) brands is that it melts plastic, so.... if you want to test new brand of primers I suggest to get you plastic model or better still empty plastic sprue to the vendor and ask them to try - they usually have a testing bottle.

Now back to specific question of a gray primer. There are people that swear by it because they don't have problems associated with the black primer (poor control of shadow density and muting of bright colors), yet it doesn't bleached out bright colors. To make it less theoretical; there are people who don't like to paint shadows - they prefer black primer; there are people who prefer not to paint highlights - they use white primer. People who want total control - often prefer grey primer. On the other hand, I prefer total control but use white primer, mostly because vendors around don't carry grey.
« Last Edit: March 8, 2009, 09:29:16 PM by Skeeve »

Offline Reikai

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #8 on: March 8, 2009, 08:10:23 PM »
Personally when I paint my Gundam Models I usually use Grey over White or Black.  I know Tamiya Surface Primer is grey, and works great.  Personally I prefer grey over black/white... but probably only because I'm used to it =P.

Offline Raktra (So long, I guess)

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #9 on: March 8, 2009, 08:11:56 PM »
Thanks for all the great (and beslubbering speedy) replies guys. I'll paint up some sample models to see how it goes and post them up tomorrow so you can see the results. Right now, I have an Art GCSE tomorrow to prepare for.

Offline DJ-of-E

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #10 on: March 8, 2009, 10:59:34 PM »
I picked up grey myself when I went looking for primer. For some reason the only black primer the local home depot had when I went was the kind for cars.

Plenty of people swear by car-designed primer.  DJ-of-E, if I recall correctly, uses it.  Not tried it myself but there you go.  I'd imagine it's binding properties are excellent.

Correction, I NOW use them.  Previous primer were the "older" GW Primers that I've bought in bulk before they changed the formula.  I've also used Armoury, but their new formula since August 2008 sucks major donkeys.  Now I use Duplicolor Sandable Black and it's probably the best primer I've ever used.  I got it to use with plastics, too.

BTW, I've also use grey (was priming guardsmen this morning) and I found the similar problem.  What I've done is to prime a light coat of black, and then prime over with grey to make sure you cover the black.  Also, if you're worried about not getting the cracks of the model, I don't know you should be worried about those areas as you are not touching them.

Offline Dux Aurelius Elysius

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #11 on: March 8, 2009, 11:16:31 PM »
Correction, I NOW use them.

Mea culpa.  We've had so many discussions on primer I'm losing track of who says what :P  I'll hunt out who it was mayhap.
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Offline Fafnir

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #12 on: March 9, 2009, 01:33:03 AM »
Plenty of people swear by car-designed primer.  DJ-of-E, if I recall correctly, uses it.  Not tried it myself but there you go.  I'd imagine it's binding properties are excellent.

I use it a lot too... hell, it's all I use. Although I only use white primer.

Offline DJ-of-E

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #13 on: March 9, 2009, 02:29:54 AM »
Correction, I NOW use them.

Mea culpa.  We've had so many discussions on primer I'm losing track of who says what :P  I'll hunt out who it was mayhap.

Even though it's already posted under Techniques and Products, barely anyone reads that thread.  I think it's best to just have 1 stickied thread solely on primer.  I mean, it worked when the "stripping" thread was around and not a lot of people ask about it.

Offline Dunedain

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #14 on: March 11, 2009, 11:46:46 AM »
I use gray primer on plastic models, its worked fine for me. My greens and browns came out really good (I was painting rangers)
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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #15 on: March 11, 2009, 02:32:29 PM »
Plenty of people swear by car-designed primer.  DJ-of-E, if I recall correctly, uses it.  Not tried it myself but there you go.  I'd imagine it's binding properties are excellent.

Indeed.  It works a treat on Forge World models.  Holds much better than GW's spray, which sometimes flakes even after washing the resin.


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Offline typhon

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #16 on: March 11, 2009, 04:32:44 PM »
  One guy I game with uses grey primer on all his armies and I haven't seen an off color from it in his painting.


Offline DarkstormUlthwe

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Re: Grey Primer - Weird enough to work?
« Reply #17 on: March 12, 2009, 08:54:44 AM »
I use Plasti-kote Projekt Paint Metal Primer. It's very close to the gray tone of the older GW plastic models. Newer models in plastic are in a darker tone in my experience. I think my primer is made to protect exposed metal from rust, but it works great for my miniatures. Good base, no flaking at all and the paints come out nicely.

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