Brush on Primer

[Jezzter]

I was wondering if anyone knows about this product:

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I am asking because I want to use brush on primer instead of spray. I just mixed a batch of this with the magic wash and it seems smoother than the spray, but I am wondering if there is going to be long term effects or if this is not an acceptable type of primer for minatures??? thanks

 

[PegaZus]

Originally posted by Jezzter
I am asking because I want to use brush on primer instead of spray. I just mixed a batch of this with the magic wash and it seems smoother than the spray, but I am wondering if there is going to be long term effects or if this is not an acceptable type of primer for miniatures??? thanks

I have heard that this is acceptable, but I haven\'t read anything about the long term effects. I wouldn\'t think that there would be any issues. It may even be stronger. I have used it with my latest mini, but that was last week so I can\'t comment on the long term.

 

[Jezzter]

I am wondering if I should use it with just distilled water straight. It seems that it is taking about three coats with magic wash to cover the mini to a complete white finish.

Is it important to have it completely white or is it more of the coverage with the solutions that are put on as a primer. More to the point, is it important how solid the primer is on the mini or is it effective enough to have a wash like finish to have an effective base coat for painting??

 

[Wren]

I would probably try it with just water. Magic wash and other additives are useful to get paint to behave in certain ways, but all you\'re trying to do with primer is get it to stick, and additives are more likely to interfere with that than plain water.

You don\'t need to paint the figure completely white. The function of primer is to help paint stick to the figure. If you don\'t use primer, the paint is likely to rub off the smooth surface of the mini. The primer sticks to the surface and creates a bit of tooth for the paint to stick to to lessen rub-off. So you just need a couple of coats to bind to the surface of the fig. (To avoid rub-off it also helps to put the mini on a holder so you don\'t have to handle it much during the painting process and then apply a sealer when you\'re done.) Some styles of painting like to have a pure white (or black) surface, but it\'s probably easier to just do a couple of coats of primer then a coat of white or black paint if that\'s what you need.

I know I\'ve seen discussions of people using gesso as a figure primer, but I don\'t remember how well those who\'ve tried it have liked it. You might try doing a search for gesso and checking for past threads on the topic. I use a brush on primer specifically for mini painting.

 

[mattsterbenz]

Im sure it would be fine as long as it\'s thinned enough so that it wont be streaky from brushstrokes. I have primed models before with thinned Chaos Black and haven\'t had any problems with paint chipping or anything, so im sure that real primer would do just as good or better.

-Matt

 

[lahatiel]

While I haven\'t yet tried using gesso as a primer personally, I\'m thinking about it after reading this great article about it on the WeeToySoldiers blog:

http://www.weetoysoldiers.com/wp/?p=34

Originally posted in September \'05, the article was updated in January \'07 (the update starts about one-third of the way down the page) that illustrates that when priming when gesso, it might not be necessary to thin it at all -- might be worth checking out.

 

[chrispasseno]

I use gesso exclusively. I thin it 50:50 with rubbing alcohol or sometimes water. I also airbrush it on, which would explain why I thin it.

You\'ve gotta let it dry for at least 24hrs before messing with it. Or you can put it in your handy coffee can/desk lamp oven for a couple minutes.

My progression of priming started with spray on flat black paint, which clumped more than covered no matter what can I used. Then I read that same article and started brushing on gesso without thinning. This required too many touchups and loss of detail for my taste, so I thinned it down and brushed it on. That worked, but still needed a couple coats. So I put it in my airbrush and thinned with alcohol, which dried quicker and allowed me to do multiple coats of gesso quicker.

So to wrap it up... Gesso works for me.

 

[chrispasseno]

The gesso article should be here:
http://www.weetoysoldiers.com/wp/?p=310

 

[DaRat]

I\'ve tried Liquitex White Gesso straight from the bottle on two figures.

In both cases, the gesso covered up too much detail for my tastes. Might be acceptable for low tabletop quality painting or mass army painting.

I also found that I could rub off large chunks of gesso fairly easily with my finger nail.

I\'ll stick with Reaper MSP Brush On Primer.

 

[lahatiel]

Originally posted by chrispasseno
The gesso article should be here:
http://www.weetoysoldiers.com/wp/?p=310

Doh! Thanks for that... I\'m not sure how my original link got messed up, as I copied it out of the address bar from the page when I was looking at the article on my screen at the time. ??? Oh well.

 

[JesterzUSMC]

I\'ve used thinned elmers and paint before to primer coat.
As long as the paint has something to stick to it is fine.

NOTE: The elmers doesn\'t last!
It worked in a pinch for a quick job and the paint stays on solid, BUT any impact and the paint will flake and crack and won\'t stop until it\'s all off.

TIP!:
Use thinned elmers for test colors!
When you\'ve done a scheem, freeze the mini, and drop from about a foot above the desk. use a toothpick to get the crevasses!
Never tried it, but seems like it could work?!
Cheaper than making a poor unfortunate Space Marine into a blobby Guinea Pig!lol

 

[lizcam]

I only use magic wash to thin everything including brush on primer. I add a bit of glazing medium to it as well but that\'s due to living in a dessert and needing to extend the drying time a bit. It\'s worked extremely well and I have had requests from people to send me little bottles of primer and the recipe. Magic wash should be just fine with that, just remember you don\'t have to make the whole thing WHITE. Just tint the mini with the primer. You just need enough to provide \"tooth\" for the paint.