Undercoating: Throw me in a lake of fire...

[Queequeg]

Need help, my brethren! I decided to go back and try undercoating a few models with a spray can again. What a boondoggle!

When I first started painted over a year ago, I tried it, and was left with a chalky texture on a whole unit of Orc Boar Boyz. Even after meticulously painting them, they look like hell. So I went back to undercoatring everything by hand with black acrylic - sometimes having to coat it twice. But at least I had a wonderful, uniform surface to work with once dried. But after seeing post after post and page after page of people undercoating with spray paint, I decided to try it again, making sure that I followed the simple instructions for distance, type of paint, etc.

Guess what? More chalky dog sh*t. I\'m going to have to strip these models and go back to my old way. My hope is that someone has a good suggestion for undercoating that\'s going to save me some time and sanity.
:evil:

 

[Necrontyrtitan]

Alot of spray paints results depend on humidity and heat, so it might be a problem with your environment, and there\'s not lot you can do about that....

With mine, I shake it for ages, and never just start spraying on the models straight off, always spray for a second or two onto the paper thats been put down, or into the air, as it gets rid of any dry old paint, and \'clears the pipes\'...

Make sure you\'re not to close to the models, don\'t overspray, and you should be ok...

But as for other ways...Airbrushes are supposed to give good results, or you could just dunk your mini into the pot...

If your painting it on though, always thin your paint...might take longer, but you wont have huge great brushstrokes in it like my falcon.... :no:

 

[Shawn R. L.]

This will sound crazy, but try warming the mini first and the paint will dry quicker, possibly giving a better surface.

 

[Avelorn]

Did you use the same spray as las time? It might have been a bad batch.

Weather and humidity is very important as well!

Do you use \"passes\" in other words: Start spraying next to the model and then pass it from right to left or vice versa.

 

[frenchkid]

Here\'s what I do:
Warm the can if it\'s almost empty, it raises the pressure a bit and makes sure that the flow is even.
Hold mini 20cm (5in I think) away from spraycan and start spraying in passes. I never spray to time in the same spot to avoid to undried layer to overlap. And passes are very quick so one spot needs about 3 passes to be covered. I don\'t expet the end result to be white. It\'s usually more on the greyish white then pure white. Then I passe the mini in front of the hair dryer for a while, somone told me that this helped strengthen the undercoat, and it makes sure that it is dry when I put the mini down, so no accidents happen
And you do all this without touching the mini or setting it down. I get pretty good results like this.

 

[Fizl]

Also don\'t spray from too far away - if you do it may dry before it hits the figure giving you that nice chalky feel

Shaz

 

[StarFyre]

haha

great tips...

someone said not too close; someone else said not too far

Sanjay

 

[MPJ]

So I guess that means spray from a \'middle\' distance. :drunk:

 

[Godlikebuthumble]

30ish centimetres works fine for me in most cases... might get a bit closer for metal minis, but since that time where I melted a plastic Landspeeder by spraying from too close...

 

[Hatewall]

It sounds to me like you are too far away. The paint is drying before it hits the figure and making little \"pebbles\".

Practice on an empty sprue. The paint need to be light but glossy when it goes on so the solvent will level the paint before it dries.

If you are using plastic, the solvent will slightly craze the plastic and make the undercoat stick to the model better.

 

[Queequeg]

Thanks for all the help - by the way, any tips for taking the paint off and trying again? I have some plastic and some metal models that need a striping of the single coat...

 

[matty1001]

Brakefluid apparently works wonders. Iv never used it though, i use Mr Muscle oven cleaner but that can take a few goes and not good for doing more than a couple of models at a time.

 

[Necrontyrtitan]

Dettol Liquid (antiseptic/disinfectant) works absolute wonders...The neat brown stuff, not the window or antibacterial stuff. Its safe for metal and plastic, and strips minis in a few hours...

Chuck them in for 24 hours just to make sure, throw them in some warm water (but make sure its in a bowl or sink you dont mind getting a bit dirty, as the paint turns to goo...it\'ll come off, but it\'ll need scrubbing) then have at them with a cheap toothbrush. Jobs a good\'un!

Plus, its re-usuable, and its cheap

 

[Queequeg]

Brakefluid and Dettol Liquid: No effect on the glue? Just the paint?

 

[JakeSh]

Too close? He is five inches away!! I\'d recommend spraying from no less than a foot away.

It just sounds like you got a bad batch to me. Try a different can or brand.

 

[mickc22]

well I\'ve just had a nightmare with the Cadian command I\'m doing, the undercoat just went totally crap, orange peeled, and generally reacted in a bad way. At first I thought it was the FW resin but there was a metal mini in there as well, so I decided it was the primer itself (have had it a while)
Anyway I got them all cleaned off, and went and got some Plasti-cote grey primer,(400ml can for less than £5) warmed the shed up to about 21-22 C. it went on beautifully.......not used this before so I\'m well impressed

 

[Queequeg]

Just primed a couple sprues of giant spiders and they came out famously. I think I was too far away at the recommended 1\' so I tried it at about 6\" - beautiful basecoat.

The other factor that I think botched my last attempt was the temperature. I set up a box on it\'s side with my mini\'s in it and did the job but it was about 80F - so Necro and Avelorn were probably dead on that the paint was half dry before it hit the mini\'s

Thanks for the help guys!