Tamiya Liquid 40 Ml Bottle Primer

[Spatula]

I was at the hobby shop today and have noted that many modellers use this primer stuff to slap on their kits before they start working.

Today I bought the Tamiya Surface Primer (grey stuff) and just know that it's supposed to be "good".

What exactly does primer do? I also finally got some good Tamiya Putty - Basic Type, to replace that Squadron stuff.

What I basically need to do is to smoothen out a bumpy part on the beam cannon of my strike valkyrie. If you see parts S2 and S3, you'll see that there's a part where there are three squarish exhaust ports. I got this idea from Cody's Coop to cut that part out (which I did okay on) but now the part where it is cut is jagged and difficult to work around with sanding.

Any suggestions? I'm using wire meshing (used for miniature chain link fences) to to under that part and give it more "texture").

So with primer, here's my questions:

1) What is primer and what's the purpose of it?

2) Does it fill in the panel lines therefore making the panel lines basically useless?

3) Are there any bad effects of putting on too thick of primer?

4) How is this different from the Tamiya Basic putty?

[Chas]

1) What is primer and what's the purpose of it?

Primer for model kits serves the same purpose as primer for interior painting, or automotive etc. . .

it primes the surface, by evening out minor colour variations, and surface makrs and providing good uniform suface texture for the paint to stick to. You can find 'specialty' primers that are designed for certain tasks, i.e. High-Build Primers (auto) designed to fill in scratches (left from sandinng) etc. but they all serve the basic function mentioned above.

2) Does it fill in the panel lines therefore making the panel lines basically useless?

As you are applying a layer of primer over the model of course it gets into the panel lines. If it filled them in and made them useless do you think we would use the stuff? It is basically another layer of paint.

3) Are there any bad effects of putting on too thick of primer?

If you mean, will the primer melt the styrene or something akin to that, no not in my experience. But then again I've never put a thick coat of primer on a model. I don't know why you would want to do that. The idea is to putty and sand down the imperfections and seamlines untill you think they are smooth then apply a layer of primer to check for any imperfections. Where you see them (and you always will) you sand again and then reapply the primer, repeat untill the offending uneveness is no longer visible. I have found it to be easier to scribe the panel lines before I begin to sand in order to deepen them and prevent them from disappearinng during the sandding proccess. Once you are happy with the relative smoothness of the kits appearance you lay down your base coat and begin the painting process.

At least that's how I do it.

4) How is this different from the Tamiya Basic putty?

Putty is different because it is designed and used to smooth areas that have severe differences in height, i.e. sink holes, seamlines, gouges, etc. . . Putty is not meant to, and in my experience does not, provide a uniform surface for the paint to stick to. That's where the primer comes in.

Hope that helps. I'm no expert but that's how I see things.

[Spatula]

Thanks for your reply, I'm still quite new at this whole modelling business. To be on the safe side, I took out an old Valkyrie unbuilt kit and used the spare unused parts for testing to see how this stuff works out. I tested how the Tamiya putty behaves vs the Squadron putty. I love this new stuff.

As for the primer, I used a paint brush and brushed some of the stuff over panel lines to see what it would do. One coat wasn't too bad, but the second coat seemed to thicken it and lose the details. I'm glad I'm obviously trying out all these new things on scrap material, which is a logical thing to do, heh.

I will probably airbrush the primer on. I read up that a laquer would be required to thin the primer so it would have a lower viscosity and flow through the airbrush better. What mixture am I looking at here? Remember I want a good coverage of the primer to do it's job, but not for it to take away panel lines and stuff.

[Chas]

Can't hepl you there. I don't use an airbrush. Strictly old fashioned here. But I'm sure someone will be along soon who can help out. My primer of choice is Mr. Surfacer 500, 1000, and 1200. Glad to hear your test went well. Good luck!

[jardann]

I only use spray cans for primer. I've used several different kinds and never had a problem with the primer filling in the panel lines too much or with it affecting the plastic. I don't use the automotive primers though, which may be "hotter" and may have more potential to damage the plastic surface.

There was a thread a while back about using different kinds of primer. The Games Workshop primer is excellent, but expensive. It will not obscure any detail. I have also used some Krylon brand primer that can be found in hardware stores and it is pretty good. Leaves a good surface, but will cover the details if you spray it on too heavy. Several light coats are always better than one heavy coat when your spraying any kind of paint or primer.

Jsut keep practicing and you'll get the hang of it.

[Penguin]

Primers are quite useful, especially for brush painters like me. Providing a smooth, even coat for the paint to adhere to helps get rid of brush marks and uneven colour intensity.

The better primers (like Tamiya) usually come in a few grades. Tamiya has a "fine" grade primer, at least in spray, which I've used plenty. It coats well and doesn't fill in the details. If you ever get the spray primer, make sure you really shake up the can well. I've had a lot of "particulate" matter left over on the model sometimes when using the grey primer if I didn't really shake well before spraying.

Also see if you can find both grey and white primer. Grey is best for darker colours, or if you want to dull down the final colours of your kit. White is best for keeping the top coats bright. If you really want dark colours or are doing a "dirty"/weathered model, there are some black primers as well. I used Gunze flat black spray lacquer to prime my Ivanov SV-51, and it helped make a really smooth, dark finish for the RLM-66 grey on top.

If you've got a really good kit already (few to no imperfections, nice clean plastic), you can use a light coat of flat paint instead of actual primer, if you're just looking to get a good surface for your top coat to stick to. I used flat white and flat black testors spray enamel for years before I discovered a decent model primer. I found that Tamiya and Gunze acrylics adhered really well to the flat enamel. Just make sure the primer paint uses a different solvent than the actual colour, naturally.

Always prime resin and vinyl kits. I've gotten lucky once or twice without, but more often unprimed resin just doesn't take paint well. I did a resin VF-4, got lazy, and just sprayed it FS36375 grey without priming first. The paint just peeled right off afterward. I had to wash the kit again and prime it before I could get a good coat. Plastics you can get usually away without primer if you clean the kit well before hand (to remove any chemical residues), and the plastic is already in a suitable colour.