So it's slowly becoming winter here and I was wondering, are airbrush primers any good? I use a Iwata NEO Air airbrush size 3.5.

Which companies are the best?

Should I even use airbrush primers?

I'm a airbrushing noob, and I haven't actually used any of the airbrush primers. I've just used a thin coat of either, white or black. With spaceships, you could also use a grey (you could use any shade of grey, depending on what your goal is. If it's a a brighter, use a lighter shade). In saying that, with the fine detail on these ships (in particular the smaller fighters), you could skip to a thin coat of your main colour. Then you could build up with a couple coats of lighter shades of your main colour.

As for paint companies, I've only used Vallejo Paints through my cheap-o airbrush.

Heres a tip: dont strip or prime your xwing models. Theres no need, except maybe for an extreme paintjob for a contest. Just paint over the factory paintjob.

Agreed - I don't know much about airbrushes but I've never primed an X-Wing model and it's never been an issue.

On 10/31/2017 at 9:27 AM, Darth Drago said:

So it's slowly becoming winter here and I was wondering, are airbrush primers any good? I use a Iwata NEO Air airbrush size 3.5.

Which companies are the best?

Should I even use airbrush primers?

I've used Vallejo primers before. They spray nice, level out beautifully but seem to take a long time to dry, at least to my satisfaction. The guys in the AMPS and IPMS clubs I belong to swear by the Badger primers. Same advantages as the Vallejo but quicker drying.

The reason I strip before repainting is to get rid of the wash used to enhance panel lines and details. These washes seem to be a thicker paint and you may lose detail if you don't strip. Depends on how radical a repaint you're going for.

If you're going to use a metallic as a base, definitely prime. The usual recommendation is a gloss black. The gloss to give a nice, natural metal finish. Not sure why the black is specified but if you change your base coat and use thin layers of paint, you can vary the tone of the finished metallic.

If I can get myself to sit down at the work bench and finish my natural metal A-Wings, I'll post pics of them.

I prime with 2$ bazar sprays.

On November 1, 2017 at 6:12 PM, Meade said:

Heres a tip: dont strip or prime your xwing models. Theres no need, except maybe for an extreme paintjob for a contest. Just paint over the factory paintjob.

I've not painted any of my XWM ships, but I've painted many other things, and this seems sound to me.

After painting, I'd still hit things with some Testor's dull coat though. Keep the bottle and figure inside your home and transport the figure to a warm (not hot) spot under a lamp after spraying outside. If it looks frost afterward, spray again later and it can clear.

When you do need primer, I go with Duplicolor sandable primer in black. You will find it in the auto dept of big box stores. Super cheap, sprays well, material is very fine and dries nice and taut. I undercoat with thinned black paint after that. This gets much of the deep shadowing out of the way ahead of time.

Very helpful comments! Thanks!

Here's one other question.

Is the hardware primer any good or should I get model specific primer?

I've never found the need to use anything model specific. Hardware store grade rust-oleum or plasti-kote are fine.

Id agree with the testors dullcote comment i use it all the time.

But ill reiterate... you will save a lot of time and effort by not priming your xwing minis. There is really no purpose, since the factory paintjob is usually thin enough not to obscure detail, and the purpose of primer is for paint to stick to the model.

Generally, for these ships, the only time you might want to prime is when you plan to do a drastic repaint where the factory paint might easily show through your base color like a yellow or white, in which case you'll likely prime with a white primer.

I've always had to prime my Imperial Assault figures though. The plastic they use for that tends to make the acrylic paint bead up. I'd expect Legion to be the same as IA.

3 hours ago, Meade said:

Id agree with the testors dullcote comment i use it all the time.

But ill reiterate... you will save a lot of time and effort by not priming your xwing minis. There is really no purpose, since the factory paintjob is usually thin enough not to obscure detail, and the purpose of primer is for paint to stick to the model.

This forum is not just for me, but also for others who have similar questions. I personally prime with Tamiya Primer (It's too expensive so I am tryign to find a cheaper solution) and I only prime larger models. (i.e. Raider, Deci, Falcon)

Thank you all for your comments!

6 hours ago, Force Majeure said:

I've always had to prime my Imperial Assault figures though. The plastic they use for that tends to make the acrylic paint bead up. I'd expect Legion to be the same as IA.

A lot of the time it's the mould release agent that they use which causes this. You can get around it by gently washing the mini in warm soapy water before painting.

57 minutes ago, You Look Like A Nail said:

A lot of the time it's the mould release agent that they use which causes this. You can get around it by gently washing the mini in warm soapy water before painting.

Should you do that with X-Wings too?

It's not a bad idea. But be very carefull with tiny cannons.

1 hour ago, Minaith said:

It's not a bad idea. But be very carefull with tiny cannons.

Can't hurt but I've never had to do it with x-wing miniatures. I assume that pre-painted minis get cleaned as part of their painting process, and whatever they're using for paint and washes doesn't seem to cause problems.

It's probably not worth doing right out of the box, but if you've used the mini for a while, natural buildup of oils from your skin can have the same effect, so it's worth giving things a brief scrub just to clean them up.

22 hours ago, Darth Drago said:

Here's one other question.

Is the hardware primer any good or should I get model specific primer?

If you live near an O'REILLY' s auto parts store they carry a great, cheap primer. Comes in white and grey and may be black. Recommended to me by a professional figure painter. Lacquer based so use all the normal precautions when spraying. Really nice finish when dry.

10 hours ago, thespaceinvader said:

It's probably not worth doing right out of the box, but if you've used the mini for a while, natural buildup of oils from your skin your hands sweat like a pig can have the same effect, so it's worth giving things a brief scrub just to clean them up.

Fixed.