Is primer need to paint building kits?

[serenityFan]

When assembling kits like greenmax kits, when do I need to use Paint Primer? (Or: what is the purpose of Primer?) Or can I just paint it directly using acrylic paint?

 

-Andy

[disturbman]

I paint directly on the kit without doing anything before. I don't even wash the sprues before. But I'm far from being an expert like others here, I'm more of a barbarian for them. 

[Martijn Meerts]

Primer makes the paint stick better. It's not necessary, but can help with bits that are hard to paint otherwise.

[serenityFan]

I paint directly on the kit without doing anything before. I don't even wash the sprues before. But I'm far from being an expert like others here, I'm more of a barbarian for them. 

 

so you still get good results painting it directly on the kit, don't you?

 

Primer makes the paint stick better. It's not necessary, but can help with bits that are hard to paint otherwise.

 

So it makes paint stick better. Does it affect the final result?

 

And i've also read that most people would airbrush the primer. Does anyone use manual brush to paint primer or would that be not worth it?

[inobu]

The final outcome of any paint job is in the prep work. You always want to clean the part. You never know what is on or was on the piece. If someone handled the part and had oil or something on their fingers that print can show up on your finished paint job.

 

You always want to clean it to get the best finish possible.

 

Here are two key point on primers Wiki definitions

 

1. A primer is a preparatory coating put on materials before painting. Priming ensures better adhesion of paint to the surface, increases paint durability, and provides additional protection for the material being painted.

 

2. Primer is a paint product that allows finishing paint to adhere much better than if it were used alone. For this purpose, primer  is designed to adhere to surfaces and to form a binding layer that is better prepared to receive the paint.

 

Primer is often a rough finish not glossy. The roughness on a primed surface allows the finishing paint to bind to it and as the finish builds up it can render the surface engineered in the paint.

 

Depending on the color of the object and the finishing color the primer helps to render the true color. With a primer base some colors won't show true.   

 

In regards to brushed I would not use them for base or surface painting. Only for fine detailing. There are two problem when it comes to brushing painting.

 

Coating and brush streaks.

 

Due to the fine detailing of parts one brush stroke can apply a coat so thick that it covers a detailed component that may be .02" high where as an airbrush could paint at .001 leaving the detailed image visible. Brushed also leaves streaks which causes one to apply more strokes to smooth out the paint but in turn applies another coat which starts into the coating problem stated before.

 

What would you say to a guy that buys a BMW 740li and put a $99.99 paint job on it?

 

My thought in painting in N-scale is, "either you have to do it right or don't do it at all". You shell out a lot of money for a first rate product, to put a second rate paint job on it does not make a lot of sense to me.

 

There are a few thing I would like to paint but I not sure how the outcome might be so I just leave it alone.

 

So, to answer your question

 

Depending on the level you want the finished product to be and the condition of the products surface.

 

Inobu

 

 

 

 

   

[CaptOblivious]

absolutely always wash your sprue, because you can be sure that the manufacturer did nothing to remove the oily mold release, never mind what your fingers did pulling it out of the box!

 

As for primer, you don't need anything particularly special. An airbrush is best for putting down a fine layer, but I've also had very good luck with some brands of spray-cans (Games Workshop/Citadel in particular; check your local gaming store). I use either white or black matte acrylic paint (no special primers necessary) depending on what I'm going to do. Generally, black is good for backing dark colors or for deepening a color; white is better if you want truer colors or you'll be painting lighter colors over it.

[disturbman]

so you still get good results painting it directly on the kit, don't you?

 

I think I do, but maybe I'm just lucky. But the real thing is, I can't care about so much preparation and precision. It will become for me too much of an hassle if I was doing all these. For the moment I like my results so I don't see any needs to change my technique.

 

As for primer, I'm always doing two or three coats of paints, otherwise the results will be too bad. My primer is indeed my first coat. But if you really want top results I guess you should take in consideration the advices of our experts. :)

[serenityFan]

Thanks for all the input.

 

Since I won't be airbrushing (and have no plans to get one in the near future) I will look at spray cans next time I go the the LHS and try one.  I guess it's all about trying things out and see how it goes 

[quinntopia]

Washing the sprues is a REALLY GOOD IDEA!  The trick is that you can assemble 5 or 15 kits and not really see any of the problems that this is supposed to prevent.  But sooner or later, you'll put a coat of primer or paint on that model and notice some really ugly patches where the paint is not adhereing!  Its a pain to fix, much easier to spend just a few minutes and be safe rather than sorry.  I actually think this is more important that primer, but that's my opinion (based on an unfortunate experience I don't like to remember!)

[CaptOblivious]

Thanks for all the input.

 

Since I won't be airbrushing (and have no plans to get one in the near future) I will look at spray cans next time I go the the LHS and try one.  I guess it's all about trying things out and see how it goes 

 

Test it out on a piece of spare plastic first, something with a little detail to it. Spray cans can vary considerably in quality, and you want something that makes it easy to lay down a thin but even and fully-covering coat. If it sputters, builds up too quick, or obscures the detail on the test piece, try a different brand…

[stickboy]

Absolute rock solid advice to do with ANY aerosol- Shake, shake, shake!!!

 

Shake it until your arm is about to fall off, then shake it some more!!!

 

Yours, with tired arms,

 

Phil

[disturbman]

I have something to say to that but that's clearly not family friendly. 

[stickboy]

Lol

[disturbman]

Some feedback about necessary prework on kits. I have now a Walthers kit and I can say one thing, I'm going to wash this one! It looks like there is  a good deal of grease on it. Since I put it out all the pieces are gathering dust like hell. I never saw that with any Greenmax kit.

[Bernard]

Some feedback about necessary prework on kits. I have now a Walthers kit and I can say one thing, I'm going to wash this one! It looks like there is  a good deal of grease on it. Since I put it out all the pieces are gathering dust like hell. I never saw that with any Greenmax kit.

I don't know if it's the plastic Walthers uses as to why it gets dusty but some of the pieces in the Walthers kits can be extremely fragile.

[disturbman]

Yeah, the general quality of the kit doesn't seem so high compared to the one of any Greenmax kit. But that's ok, since I'm going to take some plastic off. 

 

No, the only problem with it is that once the kit finished one will be abble to see the plastic piece holding the windows on the structure... I don't know what to do about that. And that's pretty bad.