Painting with yellow - primer or no on white plastic?

[Bill Anderson]

I've got a second 1967 Corvette to build, this one representing what my Wife drove "back when".   It was yellow with a black stripe (and 4 speed).

So I have the Revell kit (#2491), which is molded in white plastic.  Since IMO painting with yellow can be a bit difficult, I wish to ask the question.

Should I paint the yellow directly on the white body shell, or should I apply grey primer first and then the yellow?

Oh, the paints are all Tamiya rattle can.

Thank you!

[Shark]

Personally, I would use a white primer under yellow, the grey primer may dull it.

[StevenGuthmiller]

Just my opinion, but I would never skip primer for a number of reasons.

You could open yourself up to all kinds of problems depending on the formulation of the paint.

 

 

Steve

[Fat Brian]

I second the white primer.

[Bucky]

I tend to use primer for every piece in the box. Having worked in a number of automotive factory paint departments in my days as a pipefitter, I have to say that I've only ever seen gray primers and sealers applied to the bodies, no matter what color paint was to be applied. In our hobby, however, I have used black, red, white, dark gray and light gray primer, depending on how I wanted the color to stand out. 

[DJMar]

Primer. It allows you to check for surface flaws (mold lines, dips, sanding scratches, etc.) before color, and allows for better adhesion of topcoats. 

Under yellows, oranges and reds I tend to use a white primer, while under darker colors I use a gray primer. Not a hard and fast rule but a general guideline. 

[Bill Anderson]

THANK YOU ALL   !!!

Seems pretty unanimous, so white primer it will be.

No matter what my problem, you folks always come through.

Thank You!

 

[jaymcminn]

White primer will make yellow POP. 

Tamiya Camel Yellow over white primer...

 

Tamiya Chrome Yellow over white primer...

[Bill Anderson]

WOW !!!  Those are some really outstanding models!

FYI, I ordered the Tamiya white primer yesterday, so it is on its way.

[peteski]

If the paint you are using is plastic-safe (not "hot") and the plastic is white that I would skip the primer. Just prep the body and shoot the yellow paint.  If you have to use primer with yellow body, use white primer for the reason mentioned in the earlier post. I avoid using primer whenever possible because it just adds another layer to the overall paint thickness (which, since model paint does not have "scale thickness" is already out-of-scale too thick).

[mcs1056]

I'm with Pete on this. If I don't HAVE TO use a primer, I don't. I've had pretty good luck prepping bare plastic for paint only. I agree with him in that; Every layer of anything diminishes detail. Emblems on these things are small enough before we start.

Having said that...sure looks like many here who do spray primer get better results than mine. I realize that this is, in no small part, due to my "newbieness."

I defer to the experts. 

[espo]

I suggest the use of gray primer to find any and hopefully all imperfections on the plastic surfaces. Should you be working with say a risen body an automotive primer would be a better choice. Only after the imperfections are corrected and before color coats is the time to decide which color primer you should use. This will depend on the finial color and remember the color of the primer can have an effect on the color shade of your finial color coat as everyone else has point out. 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Well, I wasn’t going to express the “number of reasons” to use primer, but I suppose someone should.

As has already been stated, it helps A LOT, with prep work, making it way easier to tell if additional body work needs to be performed prior to paint.

Personally, even if I plan on using white primer, I’ll still use sometimes several coats of gray primer first to ensure that body work is to my satisfaction.

Primer also promotes superior adhesion.

Many paints need something to “bite” into to adhere properly to the surface, and believe me, if you’re paint is just a little on the hot side, it’s going to bite into the plastic, which sounds great, until you realize that biting into the plastic usually equals crazing the plastic, which isn’t cool at all.

And if it’s not “biting” in, well, that means that it’s just sitting on top, which may not cause any issues, but then again, if you have any masking to do…….😖

The primer also acts as a barrier to those hot solvents that can damage the plastic, so it’s doing double duty.

Just my opinion, but I find very little compelling evidence in most cases that painting bare plastic has any real advantages over using primer, other than expedience and saving a little money.

The “paint thickness” theory only holds water if you’re using thick paints, such as enamels, which I rarely have much good to say about anyway, but that’s just me.

I’ve said this probably hundreds of times, but if you’re using the right materials, paint thickness is pretty much a nothing burger.

Using lacquers, I routinely use as many as 15 coats of primer, color and clear all together.

As usual, I’ll avoid expressing the reason for that many coats, (and yes, I do have reasons) but the point is, it’s entirely possible to use that many coats with virtually zero detail hide whatsoever.

I’ve seen many models with 1 or 2 coats of enamel that exhibit much more hidden detail than one of my 15 coaters.

 

 

Steve

Edited Monday at 10:09 PM by StevenGuthmiller