Acrylic Paints ?

[Sparky88]

Hello All,
Starting a new build and getting my tool and paints together. After many years out of the hobby.
First there are a lot of new paints out there. My question(s) do the small detailed parts have to be primed?
I got set of Testor Acrylic Paint (brush) set so wonder what the prep work is. I plan on spraying and priming the larger parts with enamel. I never primed the smaller detailed parts when I was using enamel (brush). And I never used acrylic paint before. I guess I need some education from some experienced builders on the painting scene.
Thanks in advance. 

[TransAmMike]

Welcome back to the hobby Mark.  You will get a lot of opinions here. I suggest a search on here for acrylic painting.  A lot of helpful folks on here.

Edited November 22, 2022 by TransAmMike

[Sparky88]

Thanks TA Mike,

I will do that. Lots of good info to digest!

 

[Bainford]

When it comes to small parts,' to prime, or not', is a matter of personal preference. It may come down to how well your paint is covering. If, when brush painting over bare plastic, the paint leaves brush marks or tends to pull away from the high spots and pool in the low spots, primer may help. If you are painting large parts with an airbrush, I recommend doing the small parts with an airbrush, too. Provides a better, smoother finish. For the record, I seldom prime smaller parts, unless I have done some putty work, etc, then I will prime to keep the final colours even. Also, parts molded in black or dark colours can benefit from priming to achieve the desired colour without laying down multiple coats of paint.

[StevenGuthmiller]

My personal opinion?

You’re better off just getting into the habit of priming everything.

Not only that, but you’re going to get much more satisfactory results by spray painting everything that you possibly can.

I brush paint almost nothing, with the exception of very small details.

Not much else says “amateur” more than brush marks all over your finished model.

 

 

Steve

[Dpate]

Really depends on how small the parts are.  Good quality brushes, and good quality acrylics you could get away without priming on small parts especially if you're not using tape(tamiya) to mask anything.  Depending on the color, I'll use tamiya's enamel paints for small parts or detail work because they dry quick and have great coverage.  Depending on the primer if you use a good quality primer like tamiya or mr surfacer 1200-1500 you can prime anything and not worry about the loss of detail.  Acrylics you got to be careful though because not every acrylic paint is a true acrylic i.e Tamiya XF line up vs Vallejo model color line up or just about everything vallejo along with other true acrylic brands.   I usually only brush paint though if it's for fine details or if I'm working on a 1/48 scale or 1/700 scale because sometimes parts are so small it's just not worth loading up the airbrush.

[Plowboy]

42 minutes ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

My personal opinion?

You’re better off just getting into the habit of priming everything.

Not only that, but you’re going to get much more satisfactory results by spray painting everything that you possibly can.

I brush paint almost nothing, with the exception of very small details.

Not much else says “amateur” more than brush marks all over your finished model.

 

 

Steve

I agree with Steve. I primer every single part. It does make a difference on paint coverage. 

[Dragonhawk1066]

I put primer on everything that gets painted, no matter what paint I plan on using. I mostly use water-based acrylics like Createx, craft paints, and Tamiya Acrylics, but I do still use Tamiya and Testors spray paints from time to time.

[TransAmMike]

Well ordinarily I prime most everything using airbrush but my modelling time is pretty limited so lately on occasion  I brush prime the small parts.

Stynylrez primer brushes on pretty darn smooth and drys fast but it does have to be purchased online. Like "Dragonhawk" I use craft and Createx water-based paints.

But of course, all body's are primed with airbrush.

[DanL]

I don't primer the smaller pieces usually but I don't use acrylic paints. Tried them and switched to enamels... they behave much more like normal paint but the clean up is a little messier

Cheers