Primer and glue?

[jus]

Hey quick question folks, whats the difference between Citadel's skull white primer and the Tamiya/100yen store stuff? I've only been using the citadel primers so far, and take pause trusting the tamiya stuff....after I bought some of their paint and was disgusted at how incredibly BAD it was, and subsequently threw out by the pot full. Will their spray paint range, at least, be OK?

Also, where does everyone get good super glue. I mean the premium stuff that doesn't dry up retarded like and not stick properly?

[me_in_japan]

I use Tamiya spray paint all the time. Tamiya paint in general is good, its just not the same as citadel stuff. Its not designed to be like citadel stuff. Their bottle paint range is generally designed for airbrushing, and it does this much better than citadel does. So far as spray paint goes, though, yeah, buy it - you'll have no trouble with it.

Go easy on spray undercoating though. You are not supposed to get complete coverage of a model. i.e. a model spray painted white should not, in fact, be white. It should be patchy greyish-white with metal showing through in deep recesses. This is good. A model which has been sprayed till its white all over will have lost a ton of detail from the paint settling into the recesses. A correctly primed model should also have a slightly grainy texture on it. Again, this is not a mistake. If acrylic paint is on thick enough to form a smooth finish then it actually repels further layers of paint from sticking to it. The grainy texture helps further layers of paint to stick. I dunno if everyone else knows this already, but its one of the fundamentals of painting I get wrong sooooooo often. I just feel compelled to over-spray stuff. I cant help it

superglue: DIY stores are good. You can get loctite (which is what i always used in the UK) or any other brand is fine too. Look for anything that is 100% cyanoacrylate (シアノアクリレート, I think), as this is what superglue actually is. Gel or non-gel types are fine, whichever you prefer.

[jus]

oh cool thanks ok, I shall take your sagely advice to heart when I douse my skeletons with tamiya white...of course now I have to wait for my devlan mud. Is that the whole DIP method approach to painting? spray and wash? tell say good things about it, and from what I've seen online, the finish is quite nice.

p.s what's a DIY store

ta

[Primarch]

oh cool thanks ok, I shall take your sagely advice to heart when I douse my skeletons with tamiya white...of course now I have to wait for my devlan mud. Is that the whole DIP method approach to painting? spray and wash? tell say good things about it, and from what I've seen online, the finish is quite nice.

p.s what's a DIY store

ta

DIY = Do it yourself. Basically somewhere that sells wood, pipes, nails, hammers, that kind of thing.

White models washed with Devlan Mud should be ok for skeletons, but you'll need to do something more for the armour and weaponry.

[me_in_japan]

aaaaah, youre dipping minis. For a minute there I thought you were actually painting minis.

Well, in that case, spray as much as you like. As stu says, a good spray of paint, get into all the nooks and crannies, and then a generous dollop of dip should do the trick.

BUT

if you actually wanna make em look tolerable, I'd recommend the following:

1) spray em (enough to cover em completely) in a bone-ish colour. Tamiya has a huge range, so there should be something suitable. If you have to compromise, go darker rather than lighter.

2) drybrush the crap out of them with white.

3) paint all weapons either dark brown or black, depending on step 4.

4) paint all weapons either goldy-bronze or silver (mithril silver), depending on taste.

5) paint any raggedy stuff, tatters of cloth, etc in a bright colour of your choice.

6) paint em with woodstain. Either use a brush, or literally dip them in the pot. Then shake em, hard. A lot. In a room which you dont mind being covered in woodstain. Maybe painting em is better. Be sure to let it pool in the recesses. This is the point of dipping.

7) repeat 40 times. One skeleton regiment: done.

An example of a DIY store here is Kahma. Thats pretty much where I get all my buildy stuff.

[Spevna]

Drybrushing and dipping/washing compliment each other very well.

[The Other Dave]

I'll respectfully disagree with m_i_J and say that in my experience using the full-on wood stain dip method (which is a bit different from "just" making use of GW's excellent range of washes - you can read my blatherings about here and here), I'd even say dispense with the drybrush - I've gotten what I feel are sufficiently excellent results without it, at any rate. Spray with a convenient base color (bone for skellies), paint on your accent colors (metal and cloth - red looks great with the dip), and dip 'em in wood stain. If you're going the more-traditional route with GW Washes, though, you will probably want a drybrush stage or two.

And Tamiya spray paints are quite nice, but expensive for the amount you get. I just use acrylic spray paint from the home center and it looks dandy - although you have to be sure and find the non-glossy colors. My understanding is that the primary difference in "made for miniatures" sprays and regular ol' sprays is that the former have a finer mist to avoid clogging up details.

Oh, and glue! I've found that the アロンアルフア they have at convenience stores - in the hard plastic orange container with the integral snap-on cover - lasts a relatively long time before drying out and provides a sufficiently strong hold.

[Spevna]

While I do feel that a drybush with a dip/wash will give good results, a solid base coloor, followed by dip, followe by a matte spray will do wonders BUT I reckon the matte spray is needed when using varnish.

It's also important to remember that varnish is not as forgiving as GW washes so have a practice before you go the whole hog.

[Primarch]

Oh, and glue! I've found that the アロンアルフア they have at convenience stores - in the hard plastic orange container with the integral snap-on cover - lasts a relatively long time before drying out and provides a sufficiently strong hold.

I second this. I use Aron Alpha all the time with no problems.