spray paint mess

[LSUedd]

So I went to base one of my models with an army painter primer.

Now let me preface by saying I live in Louisiana, and it is balls hot.

Ok, so I sprayed the model and it did the whole texture thing. It had little bumps all over it. I then used a brush from a gun cleaning kit and actually got all of the bad parts off. So last night I did it again, thinking it would be cooler and all. Nay nay. Same thing happened (actually worse this time). What now? Does this mean I just cant prime models period in this temperature? Does this Army painter have a bad rap for this?

[Fetid Strumpet]

I, personally, haven't had good results with Army Painter brand primers. Temperature, humidity, wind, and other factors can all influence this as well. I know a few people who have never had problems with Army Painter Primer, but I've never personally seen it used with good results.

My personal recommendation for primer is the Rustoleum Camouflage range of paints. I use Flat Black, and at least for me it works wonderfully. I used to use the basic Krylon flat black, but when the switch to plastics came around I wanted advice on the best primer others were using, and one review covered Rustoleum's Camo paint, and I tried it and it works very well.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Fetid Strumpet

[Fenton Crack]

The temperature and the humidity (or lack there of) can both impact greatly the finish you get from a "rattle can". The grainy finish can be most upsetting and you are not the first I have heard of getting this result from Army Painter white/grey primer, regardless of weather. (Maybe their black has/had similar issues, but the guys I talked to had the issue with white/gray)

If you are spraying too far away you will get grain due to the droplets drying enroute, so that may be an issue in addition to the weather. I prime exclusively with an airbrush with Vallejo primers, which I feel give the perfect combination of finish and "tooth", and you can spray inside so the weather never comes into play. Even a cheap ($30) airbrush is fine for priming and base coating and you can just use nail gun compressor or whatever with it so its a much smaller investment than you might think.

[Carasz]

I've had the same experience with army painter cans. I've heard good things about their color versions (red, blue etc) but for me, both of the white cans I bought have had different levels of bumps, regardless of how much shaking I did.

I returned to GWs brand, because it works. Not the cheapest, but easy to find.

[Webmonkey]

go to your local auto parts store and get some cans of automotive grade sandable primer. i recommend duplicolor primers. you can get them in white, black, grey, and a rust red. they lay down quite nicely on the models, and very rarely do the "fuzzy" thing. only when the humidity (or lack there of) is crazy.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Webmonkey

[Cadilon]

I also airbrush on vallejo primers. But before i bought the airbrush, I brushed on vallejo primer and it works very well. Takes a little longer than spraying, but if you can't get good results any other way it's worth a try.

I also second duplicolor sandable primer. Always had good results with it.

[zeil999]

I will tell you right now, you being in Louisiana, it's the humidity, not the paint. If you're going to use any kind of spray paint, it's best to make sure that the humidity level is below 60%. And I'll bet you're gonna have a hard time finding a good day to prime where you are.

[Arli]

You can also brush on the vallejo primer. I have done that before as well.

[Tuttleboy]

I've had similar problems spray priming in high humidity. What seems to happen is the cool paint condenses little water droplets as its coming out of the can and they get encapsulated in the paint on your mini. It's probably near impossible to find somewhere that has low humidity in LA, but you may want to give that a try or at least wait until the humidity is not near the saturation point.

[nagash13]

several years ago i bought a can of black army painter spray primer. i did not like the texture or color of the black. now i use that can only to prime terrain pieces like craters which will get heavy drybrushing later and any "fuzzy" will not matter. I heard they improved their formulas, but I have not tried anything of theirs newer than 3 years old.

GW primers are very nice and easy to get good coverage with thin layers that do not gum up details. however they are very expensive and still suseptible to extreme humidity, dry heat, or cold effects. since moving to long island, I have found spray priming much harder. in winter cold, you get a grainy finish and some of the mist will freeze on the way to the model, in the summer ints crazy humid here.

I have switched to vallejo airbrush primer. but if you dont want to do airbrush, you can brush on the primer by hand. use a older bigger brush, and go to town on a bunch of models while watching tv or whatever. they should be dry by the end of whatever episode you are watching.

[Webmonkey]

Just as a side note,..

sometimes, if you hold your can upside-down, and spray it until no color comes out, there will still be a small stream of clear "propellant/solvent" that come out of the tip. If you spray this clear stuff on the model,... it can actually "melt" the fuzzy, and get it to lay down proper. Though, admittedly, this method has been hit and miss for me.

[Solidus]

Also making sure to really shake up your primer will help. with new cans or ones I haven't used in a couple of weeks I make sure to shake them for a good 2-3 minutes just before spraying.