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HELP! white tamiya surface primer almost ruined my newly acquired lothern sea guard. I don't know if it has a used by date, but the can of tamiya primer seems to have lost its "priming" quality. The models sprayed with it are all smooth and crap and paint doesn't adhere to it . Its bizarre since the same can primed 3 regiments of skeleton warriors and they all had a perfect prickly finish. I went and bought another tamiya white primer just today, and THAT doesn't prime properly either, after testing it out, its just as bad.

I think I'm through with tamiya, where can a guy get some decent primer in japan (around nagoya) I'll like to get some asap, and don't want to wait for shipping. HELP!

Ive been using Tamiya for about 5 years, and never had a problem with em.

If the same can primed your skellies fine, then the problem is not in the can. When you prime, how much do you do it? I mean, you shouldnt be able to get a smooth finish at all, if youre doing it right. Shake the can for a good two or three minutes (time this: its a lot longer than you think) then spray about 12" away from teh mini. Not in a "pssssssssssht" kinda way, but in a "psht. psht. psht" kinda way, turning the mini as you spray so that each surface gets a wee puff of paint. If you do this, you will end up with a coated-but-not-really-painted effect that looks a wee bit grainy. This is correct. You should never be able to use your primer as a base coat. The technical term is "dusting".

Ive heard spray primer is less reliable the older and more used-up a can is. That could, possibly be your problem, but I suspect its not enough shaking, or maybe overspray.

Or, possibly, the minis are greasy? maybe they need a wash? Ive heard of this for resin models, but not plastic. I daresay its possible, though.

ps - if you really, really want to try a different brand, ive heard Army Painter is very good. Full Metal Planet stock it. If you decide to put in an order, I would very much like to order some of their Matt Varnish. Yes, this is a blatant attempt to get you to pay for shipping (nah, I'll go halfers with ya )

shake shake shake and psht psht psht, with mutiple test models and still a bad finish. Could it be the weather, or a bad batch of tamiya sprays?

The rain could a factor - humidity screws up spray paints something awful.

Any progress Jus?

Not really much help to the J.Man but I spray painted a bunch of models on the same day as him and had no problems. In fact, I regularly break all the supposed rules when it comes spray paints. I spray on humid days. I spray closer than 30cm or whatever. I don't shake the can less than 2 minutes etc etc. The only 'bad' thing that I don't do is inhale the fumes.

By the way. I used Tamiya Greay primer for all my Eldar stuff and it came out pretty good. Otherwise, I use Tamiya flat black TS-6, or GW Black (when I can get it). No problem with any of 'em.

Mike the Pike wrote: I use Tamiya flat black TS-6, or GW Black (when I can get it).

I just use GW Black for almost everything. Is it difficult to get down where you are?

getting any GW stuff is difficult where we are. grumblegrumblegrumbledangcityfolksgrumble

Seneschal wrote:

Mike the Pike wrote: I use Tamiya flat black TS-6, or GW Black (when I can get it).

I just use GW Black for almost everything. Is it difficult to get down where you are?

Not in Nagoya. Sadly, most of the regulars on this site dont live in Nagoya. E.g. Me_in_Japan

Speaking of what to spray with, I just use black or white spray paint from the home center, personally, and it does the trick as long as you're careful about overspraying (that'd be MIJ's famous "psht. psht. psht" advice). Even in humid or dry weather, I've never had problems with too-slick or too-grainy covers like you sometimes do with miniature-purposed primers, and I haven't noticed any loss of detail even on my 6mm-scale models - but then I'm also not going for a top-shelf paint job. Might be worth picking up a can for 600 yen and seeing if it suits you.

Weird. I'll second the comment that humidity can screw up a priming job.
I usually use the "Mr." series (Gunze?) for my white prime and seal. For black, I just get a can of flat hardware store paint, never had a problem.
For priming black, if you want to take the time to brush prime. You can use Black Gesso. No really. Ennui was priming his Warmachine pansies with it and it works. The stuff shrinks to fit and you don't lose any detail. I could not believe it. A viable option for priming on humid or don't-want-to-breath-fumes-days.