Color Spray Paint

[Son of Carnelian]

Can I use color spray paint directly onto unpainted models or does it need a black/white undercoat first? For reference, I am planning on using Army Painter's Daemonic Yellow for my Imperial Fists. 

[Kriegsmacht]

What you have is a primer and a color in one so you don't need to undercoat the miniature. I've used Dragon Red on a bunch of my miniatures and turns out great.

 

Word of warning: The primer won't come off if you're trying to strip the miniature with simple green. I tried it and all I get is the layers come off, primer stays on and there's a green film on the miniature. It's not serious I've painted over it but it's kind of annoying.

[GhostLegion]

extra warning....demonic yellow can go on very VERY thick if youre not careful.  my first few experimentations with that spray in particular resulted in some lost and confused detail.  I find I cant work with the army painter system sprays in the same way I would with gw, Tamiya, or mr hobby.  a little extra distance from the model surface, and a shorter spray duration did help this as I kept working with it.

 

oddly this same issue did not occur with the blood red, angel green, metal, or blue primers....only the yellow.  maybe its just me though.

[Kriegsmacht]

extra warning....demonic yellow can go on very VERY thick if youre not careful.  my first few experimentations with that spray in particular resulted in some lost and confused detail.  I find I cant work with the army painter system sprays in the same way I would with gw, Tamiya, or mr hobby.  a little extra distance from the model surface, and a shorter spray duration did help this as I kept working with it.

 

oddly this same issue did not occur with the blood red, angel green, metal, or blue primers....only the yellow.  maybe its just me though.

 

I never had that problem with dragon red or black sprays. I did spray red on a terminator thick and lost detail but I think it was because of my impatience(I didn't let it dry fully before going over again with another light coat) than the spray.

[Kaedes Nex]

Army Painter sprays are primers. However since the sprays are colored, many painters without an airbrush like to leave the primer layer as a base coat as well to save time.

 

GW's Citadel colored sprays require an actual primer before using the colored sprays, however.

[Jeff Newton]

For my Imperial Fists I prime in black then go over in white to get the shadows then 2 light coats of demonic yellow sometimes a third depending on how light I went with the first 2 coats. I ruined the first few models I tried by doing the yellow too thick. It will take some practice to get light coats but it is possible.

[Kaldoth]

 

GW's Citadel colored sprays require an actual primer before using the colored sprays, however.

Not true at all ^_^ That's how I paint my blood angels. I spray the Mephiston Red primer directly onto the plastic and it works just fine.

 

However, I've noticed the pigments in the colored sprays don't match the color of the potted paint. Mephiston Red spray is slightly darker than the paint itself, even when sprayed over a white base coat. Keep this in mind when spraying your marines!

 

-Kal

[WingsOfTheFalcon]

I'll second the warning on thick application, with Army Painter Daemonic Yellow less is definitely more, be careful and you also definitely don't need to undercoat before the AP primer.

[Gurth]

Not true at all That's how I paint my blood angels. I spray the Mephiston Red primer directly onto the plastic and it works just fine.

Pretty much regardless of what type or brand of paint you use, painting plastic doesn't require any primer. Try the same on metal figures and you'll find you'll either get poor coverage or paint chipping, if not flaking, off easily.