This is going to be a bit different than one of my normal posts.
What are the main purposes of primer?
1. The flat finish shows kit defects / unfinished bodywork easier than shiny plastic does.
2. Give a uniform finish for your color coats
3. Protect the underlying plastic from chemicals in certain paints and finishes that can damage them.
4. Give the upper color coats something to grab onto so they adhere better.
now i am going to say, i was a long time user of chemical based primers, tamiya, mr surfacer, duplicolor and even rustoleum.
I had concrete reasons to want to give up using them.
1. Odor, the propellants used in these made it near impossible to use indoors
2. Occasional incompatibility with color coats ( mainly the rusto line as they are essentially enamels and lacquer top coats would lift them)
3. Cleanliness of use, decanting the primers to use through my airbrush nearly always resulted in a mess larger than the task at hand.
I have tried on a few different occasions in the past to give acrylic primers a shot. None of which produced satisfactory results.
I learned from my mistakes and now have converted over to strictly using acrylic primers.
The biggest mistake i was making was that i was trying to apply it too thick.
This causes a problem with primer adhesion. Found that out the hard way when i went to mask a two tone paint job , shot the second color and lifted half of the first color along with primer when i puled the tape.....
The next mistake i made was allowing adequate drying time in between primer and paint.
When fully dry, acrylic primer is impervious to just about anything shot at it, enamel, lacquer or more acrylic.
Word of warning , dry to the touch is not 'cured', i either throw the primed parts in my dehydrator for 2-3 hours or leave them air dry at room temp for a minimum of 24 hours.
Just to show how i currently use the acrylic primers, i will use Badger Stynlrez primer in my Iwata Neo airbrush.
This is the donor kit i will use for this article ( not building it, just using as a workhorse for the min)
Different view of the Box
As you might be able to tell, the shiny white plastic makes it very difficult to see kit imperfections that could have an impact on the final finish of the car.
I load it up on my paint stand and turn on the booth.
Full coverage will take between 3 and 4 coats, i wait about 5 minutes between coats and build them up slowly.
This is what coat number one looks like
Topside view of coat one
after 3 mist coats i go slightly heavier on the last coat to ensure full coverage.
after that pass it should look like this..
Now i pop the body into the dehydrator for a few hours to harden things up.
( if you don't have a dehydrator, i highly recommend that you get one. My first was purchased from a thrift store for 5 bucks way back when. It is something i find myself using multiple times a week for curing paint )
once cured we pull it out to see where we might have some bodywork to do....the area by the rear window where it meets the rear quarter panel has a mold line that will need to be sanded away. you could not even see this when it was bare kit plastic and it would have showed up in the finished paint work.
Same thing on the other side....
Front fender areas need a little cleaning, slight flash that was invisible before can now be seen easily so it can be addressed
Upper door edges where the sprue was attached need a little sanding to make them presentable
i will take care of the surface problems and give it another coat of primer to make sure things are all sorted out. then it will go back in the box until i feel like building it.
seems like a good time to rip down my Neo and give it a good clean....
that might be my next article...
cya soon
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