Future as a primer and other primer questions.

[foxbat426]

Hi, I see people on here talking about future as a barrier, i suspect they mean using it as a primer - does it work?? also when choosing a primer, is it necessary to make sure the primer is for plastics?? Can primers be "hot" like paint too?? I have some rust oleam primer, but it says its for wood and metal. The last paint i used said only for wood and metal and it orange peeled the plastic. Thanks again.

john

[brad4321]

My thoughts on primer. The Tamiya stuff is awesome. If you have a LHS or Hobby Lobby, get some and be done with it. Future can be a barrier, but I would never think of it as a primer. The main role of primer in my opinion is to show flaws. Plastic can look perfect.... until you put some grey primer on there. Gaps and sink marks and all kinds of uh-oh's appear. If you're painting a lighter color, make sure to use some white primer over the grey primer. The Tamiya stuff is easy to spray. I've never seen it attack anything. I've never come across a type of paint you can't use over it. Occasionally on military stuff I airbrush Vallejo's primer. I never use it though if you will be doing any masking as I've experienced lifting after using it more than once. Maybe my fault but...

[Roncla]

My thoughts on primer. The Tamiya stuff is awesome. If you have a LHS or Hobby Lobby, get some and be done with it. Future can be a barrier, but I would never think of it as a primer. The main role of primer in my opinion is to show flaws. Plastic can look perfect.... until you put some grey primer on there. Gaps and sink marks and all kinds of uh-oh's appear. If you're painting a lighter color, make sure to use some white primer over the grey primer. The Tamiya stuff is easy to spray. I've never seen it attack anything. I've never come across a type of paint you can't use over it. Occasionally on military stuff I airbrush Vallejo's primer. I never use it though if you will be doing any masking as I've experienced lifting after using it more than once. Maybe my fault but...

I think Michael sums it up well. You would never use Future as a primer. i have used Future as a barrier but its done as separate step after I've primed.

I then place another light coat of primer over the Future before the color coats.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Roncla

[Modelbuilder Mark]

Barrier vs Primer,

Primer gives you a "surface" to work with. SO you can make it nice and smooth.

A Barrier "seperates" surfaces. So if you have a red molded plastic body that you wanted painted say yellow, and not turn orange in the process, you would need a barrier. A good primer usually does both, but in SOME intances, some plastic is stuburn for some people, then they use a barrier. The barrier again can also protect the surface from somthing like hot paints. I have personally never used future as a barrier, and have never had luck shooting it as clear. I use it to dip windows to make them look better, and to treat tires.