Why do we Prime

[Bigfoot57]

Here’s a perfect example of why we prime models before painting these propellers looked perfectly adequate for the job before priming afterwards though loads of seams revelled themselves which as you can see in the last picture have been removed where all the shiny parts are showing without priming these wouldn’t show up till you painted your top coat then would have looked horrible

Regards

Colin

 

[BarryW]

Spot on. It’s even more important for aircraft with those long seams that need checking.

A lot of people still seem to think it’s only about adhesion. That is a lesser issue and that only applies if you use water based acrylics.

Pre-shading is another reason to use it.

 

[rtfoe]

Priming in one color also equals out the base without the contrast of the filler and plastic surface showing through. It makes it easier to apply the main color without going over in many layers to get an even cover of the color.

Cheers,
Wabble

 

[Jakko]

It makes it easier to apply the main color without going over in many layers to get an even cover of the color.

That depends a lot on which paints you use and how much you thin them, though. Tamiya or Mr. Hobby acrylics, for example, when modestly thinned will cover well and so the colour of the plastic or other materials underneath disappears entirely in one coat. Some other brands cover so poorly that you need a lot of coats to build up the colour.

 

[Tim Marlow]

Spot on. It’s even more important for aircraft with those long seams that need checking.

A lot of people still seem to think it’s only about adhesion. That is a lesser issue and that only applies if you use water based acrylics.

Pre-shading is another reason to use it.

Agree with most of this Barry, but I’m not sure what you mean by the pre shade comment? I know what pre shade is, using it all the time, but am not sure of the context of your comment. Do you mean you pre shade with primer? In my case I prime to check seams and assembly then pre shade with paint, treating it as a stage in the painting process. I can’t see what you’d gain by pre shading with primer?

 

[Dave Ward]

I've spent too much time repairing paint jobs NOT to prime, it's now just automatic - and it always reveals that missed seam.......................
Dave

 

[rtfoe]

That depends a lot on which paints you use and how much you thin them, though. Tamiya or Mr. Hobby acrylics, for example, when modestly thinned will cover well and so the colour of the plastic or other materials underneath disappears entirely in one coat. Some other brands cover so poorly that you need a lot of coats to build up the colour.

Try white or yellow on dark green plastic with grey or green fillers. These are the two most difficult colors to cover although Tamiya white is my go to for perfect whites. The primers also help neutralise the two different materials of filler and plastic plus the smooth and scratched sanded surface.
I don't normally prime my armoured vehicles but give them a coat of black or dark brown to hide missed corners when painting. I will sometimes use grey primer over the dark prepaint to do highlight preshading effects.
For me primer is exclusively for planes.

Cheers,
Wabble

 

[AlanG]

Priming isn't essential though. Is it desirable? Yes. Up until recent models, i have never primed. I only ever used to prime NMF or light colours such as white, red or yellow.

 

[colin m]

My name is Colin and I'm a primer. Well not me but I do prime, and it always shows up some sort of shoddy workmanship.

 

[rtfoe]

My name is Colin and I'm a primer. Well not me but I do prime, and it always shows up some sort of shoddy workmanship.

Which comes to mind... do some not prime being afraid of shoddy work showing up?

Cheers,
Wabble

 

[BarryW]

Agree with most of this Barry, but I’m not sure what you mean by the pre shade comment? I know what pre shade is, using it all the time, but am not sure of the context of your comment. Do you mean you pre shade with primer? In my case I prime to check seams and assembly then pre shade with paint, treating it as a stage in the painting process. I can’t see what you’d gain by pre shading with primer?

I understand what you are saying Tim.

I black base, which is itself a form of shading, my black primer forms that black base.

Black basing is not necessarily always done with black alone (if at all) of course, as it depends on what effect you want.

On my Lanc I black based with primer, but of course black basing is meaningless when the base coat will also be black. Consequently I sprayed some lighter grey in places to pre shade in order to help colour modulation. After a coat of RAF Night I then post shaded using very dark greys such as tyre black in order to add further interest and variation. The last stage, incidentally, was to blend it all together with mist coats of Night gradually getting the finish ti where I wanted it. (That’s where I am now at with the HKM Lanc)

All the pre shading I do is always with primer, killing two birds with one stone.

 

[colin m]

Which comes to mind... do some not prime being afraid of shoddy work showing up?

Cheers,
Wabble

Oh hang on, so if I don't prime, all will be good. Yes, why do we prime?

 

[Mark1]

Working in the autobody trade plastic will always have some kind of primer on or the paint will flake off, i prime models more because its just the habit of a lifetime.

 

[rtfoe]

Oh hang on, so if I don't prime, all will be good. Yes, why do we prime?

Because we love pain. Tell me, who sits quietly in the corner without a care of what's going on around and "pain"stakingly assembling hundred or so parts to make something that will eventually sit on the shelf gathering dust. The pain will come later from loads of poisonous fumes, cuts, shot eyes, constant pain in the ear from nagging...and still we prime to find flaws to do it all over again.

Cheers,
Wabble

 

[Jakko]

Try white or yellow

Well, yes — especially yellow and red generally cover poorly regardless of which paint (type or brand) you use, and in that case, a primer underneath can help a lot. But I was thinking of common military/aviation/naval colours like browns, greys, greens, etc.

 

[Mini Me]

Something else is missing in this discussion and that is scale. When you work in a smaller scale, there is always the danger of covering up much needed fine detail. The smaller the scale the more important this aspect of modeling becomes. To avoid this I do not prime and I mix my topcoat paint very thin, and lay down several coats to arrive at the desired finish.......just me 2 cents worth.

 

[BarryW]

Something else is missing in this discussion and that is scale. When you work in a smaller scale, there is always the danger of covering up much needed fine detail. The smaller the scale the more important this aspect of modeling becomes. To avoid this I do not prime and I mix my topcoat paint very thin, and lay down several coats to arrive at the desired finish.......just me 2 cents worth.

I understand what you are saying and, yes there is a risk of that if paint coats are layed down so they obscure detail. A very valid concern.

That said airbrush layers of paint are very thin indeed, much thinner than a thin hand brushed coat.

Take my current build as an example.

On my 1/48 HKM Lancaster wing is very fine surface detailing, finer than you find on many 1/72 wings.

I have already sprayed:

Two coats of black primer.
Some grey preshading in places
A coat of RAF Night, sides and undersides.
Post shading in places with Tyre Black
On top of model over the primer coats, Dark Earth, post shaded with light earth and blending mist coats of DE. Then in places over that, Dark Green and then post shaded with a lighter green, plus mist coats of DG.

Tomorrow I will apply:

Painted on walk lines and roundels
Two gloss coats
A panel line wash.
Two (maybe three) matt coats.
Various other weathering treatments, pigments, streaking, exhaust smoke etc.

After that lot the surface detail will not just be visible but will be emphasised and brought out.

So I do believe that your understandable fear that fine detail will be obscured is groundless provided an airbrush is used.

I do accept that I spray with MRP that has a particularly fine pigment and hence results in an even thinner paint layer, but I do remember that when I used Vallejo some years ago that did not hide detail either (unless I cocked up!)

While I understand your fears I do think that you have nothing to worry about. An experiment perhaps?

 

[AlanG]

God i wonder how people managed to produce wonderful models in the past without priming. They must have been lucky each and every time they painted.

Whilst i understand the benefits of it. Is it really the B all and end all?

 

[Mini Me]

I always use an airbrush and I always use smelly enamel paints which most people avoid because they don't want to be bothered with a respirator and proper ventilation. I find they adhere to plastic surfaces with superior results and the pigments are the finest available next to lacquer. in conclusion, if you do all the body work right on the first go round there will be no need to spray the entire model to check ones work, just spot prime the affected areas if you are unsure. I prefer to lay down the top coat and if I have a problem area, just let it dry and spot it back in once I have made corrections. Different strokes for different folks........

 

[Mark1]

God i wonder how people managed to produce wonderful models in the past without priming. They must have been lucky each and every time they painted.

Whilst i understand the benefits of it. Is it really the B all and end all?

Definitely not , norman ough made these from carboard,notepaper and hes sisters hair in the days before there was even plastic