Primer for Laquer Paints

[busmechanic87]

I'm about to start building a Monogram Black Widow pickup. I decided on painting the body with Testor's One Coat Laquer Inca Gold. The body tub and fenders of this kit are molded in black plastic. What would be a suitable primer to lay down first that won't react with the laquer? Would any of the regular spray primers work? IE: Duplicolor, Brite Touch, etc? Or is a hobby primer better?

[crazyjim]

I always use Plasitkote sandable primer available from Car Quest.

[Kris Morgan]

I use Dupli-Color for the most part myself. I have also used Tamiya fine white primer.

[Ace-Garageguy]

My personal favorites at the moment are Duplicolor's "High Build Formula" sandable Gray primer for checking and finishing bodywork, sanding the last coat with 600 grit wet, and then a final primer coat of Duplicolor's White Sandable primer, sanded with 1000 grit before the color coats.

The lighter Testors "one coat" lacquers take up to five coats of some colors to get even hiding. They are transparent (one reason they look so good is that they have depth, where you're actually seeing down through the paint) and the finished color is influenced by the primer color too. That's why I use the white primer under them. It makes the final color brighter.

As far as the Duplicolor Gray high-build primer goes, I just shot some bodies and parts this morning and was again amazed at how well the stuff slicks out, and how well it fills minor imperfections. It sands exceptionally easily too.

Duplicolor's White sandable primer is NOT high build, and will slick out fine enough to color-coat without sanding if you spray it right. It almost always takes me just a little touchup with 1000 grit wet paper to get the last dust nib or small orange peel out, where my spraying technique wasn't perfect.

I also strongly recommend scrubbing your bare plastic model with Comet and an old soft toothbrush to get any mold-lubricant residue off, and to get into all the crevices. It scuffs the surface down in areas there's just no other way to get to. It seems like overkill, maybe, but it's worked very well for me.

This car was painted with the two Duplicolor primers I mentioned above, and Testors one coat Flaming Orange lacquer. It took 4 coats of the orange to get complete hiding, and one for good measure, followed by 3 coats of Testors lacquer clear, sanded and polished. I had a problem on the decklid and had to strip it, was in a hurry to make a contest deadline, and skipped the final white primer coat. Everything else was rthe same, and you can definitely see that the decklid isn't as bright as the rest of the car if you really look at it in the right light.

Kenny is right that most primers SHOULD work fine under Testors lacquer, and he's also right that you should definitely test what you want to do on scrap pieces or plastic spoons BEFORE you paint your model.