Lacquer-safe primer I can airbrush on?

[SteveK2003]

I want to airbrush primer onto certain parts, IE a Tamiya rally car chassis, because you can never hit all the little nooks and crannies with a can. Is there any primer in a bottle that will work for lacquers? I don't think decanting regular primer and airbrushing it would work.

I checked my LHS and the only bottled primers I saw were acrylics (Which work well for that).

[freakmech]

Originally Posted by SteveK2003

I want to airbrush primer onto certain parts, IE a Tamiya rally car chassis, because you can never hit all the little nooks and crannies with a can. Is there any primer in a bottle that will work for lacquers? I don't think decanting regular primer and airbrushing it would work.

I checked my LHS and the only bottled primers I saw were acrylics (Which work well for that).

See if they can order you Gunze bottle primer, 1000 and 1200 are great. Ask if they use Stevens International as a distributor cus they have it in stock. Horizon does too, they probably use one of those two.

[RallyRaider]

If you've already begun priming with Tamiya spraycans, I'd recommend sticking with the same type of primer. It is just safer to avoid any compatibility problems. In most cases you'll be right (if you know what you are doing) but it will save the odd disaster.

Decant some paint from the can into a jar and use it through your airbrush. It is pretty easy to do, just fit a straw over the nozzle and spray into a jar. Wait (up to 24 hours) for the gasses to bubble out and go to it. Thin with lacquer thinner if needed.

Of course if you are starting form scratch there are several lacquer primers available. Like Freakmech I use GSI Creos (formerly Gunze Sangyo) Mr Surfacer 1000. But There are others, including one from Tamiya.

[MPWR]

CobraColors makes a terrific laquer primer for airbrushing.

http://cobracolors.com/Merchant2/mer...ory_Code=CC-PT

Thinned a bit with good quality laquer thinner, it goes on like Tamiya spray without having to mess with spray cans.

[SteveK2003]

OK, thanks. I figured some kind of automotive primer but I didn't want to go to the hassle of finding an auto supply place (Don't know if it's available at Pep Boys or whatever).

If you can decant primer, I might just do some of that huge wonkin' can of Krylon I got. It should make the Tamiya stuff last a bit longer as well.

And no, there won't be any compatibility problems; I'll probably still use acrylic primer under acrylics only (I only paint bodies and chassis with Tamiya lacquer). Unless decanting canned primer turns out to be more economical.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

Tamiya now sells bottles of primer "liquid surface primer" and lacquer thinner. Works quite nicely when you need to airbrush it. Or you can decant the stuff from the spray can. Or use Gunze from a bottle. I prefer the hobby stuff from Tamiya/Gunze vs. automotive primer, it goes on thinner and smoother, and if you're only using hobby paints over them...

[SteveK2003]

Yeah, I'm sure the 'hobby' primers are better, but cost is an issue as well. I looked, and the Tamiya bottled primer is $5 for an ounce and a quarter, and the cans are $8 for about 6 ounces (Of primer, propellant, and who knows what else: I'd like to know exactly how much paint/primner is in those cans). A giant 12 ounce can of Krylon is about $4.

I might just stick with Tamiya primer for the bodies and use the cheap stuff for the rest of the parts.

[bvia]

A flattened verison of the primer color can be used to overspray the areas that the primer may have missed...BUT, if you're using Tamiya spray laquer and the chassis has not had any modifications done, and the surface is nice, smooth and clean, a primer is really not necessary as the Tamiya spray lacquer will actually bite into the bare plastic surface.

hth,
Bill