First Time with Grey Primer

[Dashwood]

The last time I painted a model, it was MkI, and I was still using black primer on everything. I'm returning to the hobby with a couple of friends in tow, and I want to upgrade my skill as a painter, so I'm giving Tamiya's Light Grey Primer a shot.

My problem is that I've tried white primer in the past with disastrous effects. Trouble with the crevices and such. Are there any tips on how to deal with the crevices on lighter primed models?

[toxiczebra]

The last time I painted a model, it was MkI, and I was still using black primer on everything. I'm returning to the hobby with a couple of friends in tow, and I want to upgrade my skill as a painter, so I'm giving Tamiya's Light Grey Primer a shot.

My problem is that I've tried white primer in the past with disastrous effects. Trouble with the crevices and such. Are there any tips on how to deal with the crevices on lighter primed models?

Paint the crevices first. If you're painting from the inside out, you can really get your brush in there and get the paint into the crevices without any fear of ruining the higher areas (since you'll be painting over them in due course anyway). By the time you're ready to do the surrounding higher areas the crevices should be dark and/or covered enough that you don't have to put your brush in deep.

[Dashwood]

So on all surfaces I should be liberal with my basecoat to cover all the grey, let the washes or my shades do the work in the crevices, and paint from the inside out to avoiding mucking up paint jobs on the easier to reach areas and to let me be messy in the difficult areas while everything is still reversible?

I'll give it a shot with a Warpwolf first and maybe on a couple of Arguses. Exciting but apprehensive. Been a long time since I last handled a brush.

Arguses? Argii?

[thedrake]

Or basecoat, then wash. The wash should run down into the crevices and take care of them.

[ChristopherY]

I brush prime everything white first and then do a darker ink wash using my "predominant" or "theme" color primarily to make the details easier for my old eyes to see, but with the side benefit that it darkens all the crevices.

[Warcaster Feiss]

I've started using grey primers too recently. With that said, I still start from black primer, let me explain.

Black primer is *very* easy to ensure that you have solid coverage on the model, whereas I've struggled with grey primers to spot at a glance that I've caught all the crevices. Once you've got a solid black primer coat on the models, I then 'dust' them with grey primer from parallel with the mini.

Once you get the hang of it, you'll leave the deepest recesses black (as you've experienced, primer doesn't easily go into the recesses) whilst still having a grey primed model to work from.

If you want to get artsy, you can try zenithal priming (taking it a step further with white from overhead), but my painting skills aren't sufficient to be able to make good use of that so I don't bother

[Dashwood]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I began painting last night and followed the inside to outside paradigm and it worked! No problem with the crevices, either. Kind of like it better without the black too.

The best part was realizing that my brush control hasn't atrophied, but everything else was kind of a mess. I didn't photograph for light and shadow, and my blending was a mess. New climate, new rules, I guess. Ridiculous humidity here.

[jmswillow75]

I always grey prime. It is a midtone...easy to lighten or darken. As far as hitting the areas on priming try to hit from underneath as your first run. Let it dry then prime as normal. Krylon is the best primer i've used so far. Even coverage, thin coats, quick dry even without a fan and zero overspray.

[Mifsuud]

I switched from spray primers to tinted gesso. Great coverage as it brushes on amd dries really thin leaving great detail. Black or white gesso is the most common but you can find it tinted. I use Victorian Grey personally, but you could get one to match you pain scheme.

[KamenRiderNecro]

The best gray primer I've tried thus far has been Board To Pieces brand, and it is fab. Goes on smoothly, with none of the fuzziness I've experienced using the Krylong gray I have (maybe I'm laying it on too thick?), and paints up beautifully. But the bottom of my can went FOOM and swelled out recently and I had to pitch it in the interest of avoiding potential hazard. I actually have discovered I prefer gray primer to lay bright colors over, even though my trusty can of P3 white primer comes in handy at times still as well.

[kc7sbp]

I've upgraded to using an airbrush to apply primer. Vallejo makes a great primer specifically for airbrush (but can be applied by brush as well) that goes on quite thin, obscures no detail so far, and with an airbrush it goes on very evenly. Since it's formulated for airbrushes it's already thinned and flows into all the nooks and crannies with no problems, at least that's been my experience so far. Regardless of weather or not I decide to try and develop any further skill with the airbrush, I'll certainly never go back to using a spray can.