Vallejo Surface Primer help

[PetrolGator]

I picked up a bottle of this on a recommendation from a hobby store I frequent. The guy insists this stuff dries tight and is some of the best in the business.

Well, either I suck at air brushing (likely), have not used it properly (also likely), or it stinks (unlikely.)

I don't thin the stuff. It's supposed to be airbrush ready, according to the hobby store owner. I've tried tweaking my compressor pressure to get it to cover more uniformly, but haven't had the luck. Has anyone used this stuff? Advice would be helpful. I need to prime a IPMS show build which is due in a month.

[alang]

I'm in the UK and was told exactly the same. I had the same result so next time treated it as normal paint and thinned with about 1/3rd thinners (water or vallejo thinner) - great stuff now and wouldn't use anything else!

Alan

[EJFoeth]

I also failed at getting a good layer with Valleje primer. Lots of tip dry, it doesn't adhere too well on metals and runs too much at close range without thinning (modest pressure). I now forgo priming and just use Humbrol. Humbrol adheres to everything, is very scratch resistant, and comes in great colours too.

[PetrolGator]

Thanks guys. I'm going to try thinning this down and will spray something I don't care about. If it works, I'll let ya'll know. Worst case, I guess I'll be making a drive to New Orleans after work tomorrow to pick up some rattle can Tamiya primer.

[Hallis]

I've had great luck with the rattle can testors primer. But Tamiya should work excellently as well..


sorry don't have any airbrush experience...... yet.

[TheMadCap]

hmmm...I have had mixed results with this primer.

I am as new to airbrushing as they come. I have used about a bottle's worth of the grey surface primer, and as you said, it will tend to dry quickly, ususally clogging your tip, if you are not careful to release the trigger on a dual action brush in the correct manner. I tend to just let go completely, instead of rocking the trigger forward to stop the paint flow, then releasing the trigger to stop the air. This is where I ususally have trouble clogging up my brush tip. I have to be very careful about doing things in the correct order.

I use it right out of the bottle with no thinner, and if I pay attention to what I am doing (as stated above) it looks really good using ~20 psi. I had ZERO luck applying this with a brush. I tried to prime some styrene using a brush and it looked terrible. No coverage at all, very streaky and sticky.

All in all, I'd say if you are careful you can get some decent results. Very soon I will put up some pics of my CV-6 I am working on and you can see the pics for yourself. Good luck...

[PetrolGator]

I'm hoping to mess with this stuff again this weekend. I'm TRYING to get this Indianapolis off my desk so I can work on a ship I actually want to. The Indy was a review I volunteered for, and it feels like it's time to be done with it.

I'm going to grab an old kit and hit it with some primer to see what happens. If I'm satisfied, I'll prime up the Laffey.

[ComfortablyNumb]

Hi Petrol! I used this exact paint (Vallejo primer) on a recent destroyer..its also the finishing coat! Diluted 1:1 with distilled water, added one drop of liquid dishwashing soap and a few drops of Future into the mix and I used two coats. Rubbed down the first one lightly with 1000 grit and applied 2nd as a mist, diluted 2:1. Turned out to have a good texture that could be manipulated by a light hand rubbing (I used my right thumb mostly lol) to have a smooth look or left untouched for slightly rough (hatches, doors, anchors). Final coat was a light mist of vallejo clear flat 1:1, with a couple of drops of Future added. All the light grey you see in the 2 pics below is vallejo primer:





Cheers and hope that helps....and good luck with your experiment! -Tim

[PetrolGator]

Tim,

Thank you. I think I may give this a shot on some scrap plastic and see how I manage it.