Primer...its not that necessary!!

Ive been experementing with differnt parts. I primed one wing, and then painted. Bah orange peal, even tho i sanded it. Than i just painted the same wing (i have two of them) and everything was clean indeed, and reflections where there, not like with primer. So the conclusion is, you can basicaly save those 5 bucks on that primer and buy another can of spray paint. I dunno what do you guys think?

I used primer on only 3 of my kit out of 22..... I only use it when I need to change color (ie black plastic need to be yellow...)

Really up to your own opinion/experience. I like using primer as a safeguard for when a paintjob goes bad and I need to strip the paint. Primer helps to keep the paint from staining the plastic body. I've done a lot of kits without primer and they seem to have more sheen, but I've found that using primer gives the paintjob a more realistic appearance.

i've been trying to tell people this all along..

priming isn't necessary to get a NICE paint job.

but the only responses i ever get are
-oh i used to not use primer and my models sucked, now that i do, they're better.
-pman uses it and his models are great
-it says so in the FAQ.

sure there are great advantages to using primer, barrier coat between hot paints and plastics, filling in scratches, to give a single more neutral color to paint over... etc...

but PRIMER will not give crappy modellers beautiful paintjobs..

and if someone can prove that primer chemically alters paint, then please prove it to me so i don't waste my time spreading false FACTS

Originally posted by djmr2
i've been trying to tell people this all along..

priming isn't necessary to get a NICE paint job.

but the only responses i ever get are
-oh i used to not use primer and my models sucked, now that i do, they're better.
-pman uses it and his models are great
-it says so in the FAQ.

sure there are great advantages to using primer, barrier coat between hot paints and plastics, filling in scratches, to give a single more neutral color to paint over... etc...

but PRIMER will not give crappy modellers beautiful paintjobs..

and if someone can prove that primer chemically alters paint, then please prove it to me so i don't waste my time spreading false FACTS

i agree..i only used primer on cars that had mismatched colour body panels..ie the SAS S2000, and 350Z

I gotta primer my kits because I airbrush acrylics to paint...and acrylic paints NEED primer.

To each his/her own! It's not really a big enough of an issue to argue over!:) Do what works best for you:bandit:

Ok. But i went with 3-4 coats of primer, and it gave a disgusting peal on the body, which procceded to the paint. And sanding didnt help to get the peal away from the primer. Or one coat of primer is enough?

But when you sand the moulding lines the primer fills up the scratches.

Does that mean if you sand and don't use primer then you will see the marks where you sanded on the finished paint job??

That's very true... primer does fill small scratches from putty work and sanding and such.

As a general rule, primer is used mainly for:
1) detecting surface imperfections
2) filling scratches
3) body color uniformity
4) paint adhesion

So, if you're a beginner or intermediate modeler and you don't care much about the above four items then using primer is merely a preference rather than a necessity! ;)

hmm... i never use primmer before and don't know what it looks like... but i'm doing my first putty on my S15.. hope it works well for me ~:sun:

Originally posted by tonioseven
To each his/her own! It's not really a big enough of an issue to argue over!:) Do what works best for you:bandit:

DITTO

This has raged on and on here for ages, so if you think you dont need it, dont use it then

Originally posted by freelunch
I gotta primer my kits because I airbrush acrylics to paint...and acrylic paints NEED primer.

depends on what type of acrylics you use i use tamiya and never used primer and paint are great. i only use primer when ive chopped and filled so i can see any blemishes

this is just a thought, but if you guys are using primer to give the body a neutral colour then why dont you just give the body a light coat of white paint. this way you dont have to worry about orange peal.

personally i dont like primer, i've painted two models using P-Man's guide, one with prime and one with out. the one with out primer looked a lot better than the one with primer. look at my sig i didnt use primer on the R-34 and i did use it on the ITR

uses autoshop primer or GW undercoat but it depends on what colour i'm putting on to which one i use, i always uses the GW undercoat on the engines as its matt finish, but i have found that since i started using primer the coats do look better, used to hand brush the paints on straight from the tins they came in,

Originally posted by tc3house
this is just a thought, but if you guys are using primer to give the body a neutral colour then why dont you just give the body a light coat of white paint. this way you dont have to worry about orange peal.

personally i dont like primer, i've painted two models using P-Man's guide, one with prime and one with out. the one with out primer looked a lot better than the one with primer. look at my sig i didnt use primer on the R-34 and i did use it on the ITR

In my opinion, both can be better.
The R34 still has a translucent plastic look. Real car has a solid deep and wet look of metallic.
The orange of the ITR is dull, because you didn't use base coat, such as yellow or tan. As a result, orange was spoiled by primer. But it doesn't have translucent look of plastic.

Indeed, using primer is optional, depending on the final color, and it's also true that primer won't automatically make a good model.

There is only one thing to say, TRY IT, dont listen to what everyone else says because everyone has their own technique... so try it urself