Priming space marines

[DandyPandy]

I'm trying to figure out the best way to prime my first squad of
space marines. I've seen people recommend several ways of priming, but I
haven't seen anyone cover how to prime the bits not attached to the
rest of the model.

 

For my squad, I've magnetized the arms and backpacks
and have yet to glue on the heads and weapons. Should I prime them with
the arms on or off? What is the best way to prime the heads, weapons,
and backpacks? I'm just imagining heads literally rolling when being
sprayed.
I will also point out that I paid way too much for the GW Macragge Blue
spray and plan to use that for my basecoat. Perhaps that changes the
scenario some.

 

I'm just getting back into 40k after about
ten years and I had an Eldar army before. They were no problem priming
fully assembled, but SM's are more crowded and I want to make sure I get good coverage.

[Grotsmasha]

I prime legs/torso/arms/backpack glued in one piece, then heads, shoulder pads and weapons still on the sprue. I do trim away as much excess sprue and sprue attachements as possible to make it easier to get good coverage.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[ninjasuperspy]

I'm with Grotsmasha, usually I glue, prime & paint Legs/Torsos/Packs then glue, prime & paint arms/head/weapons separately. I stuck the heads on with some I'm working on now & I regret it. Hard to set up sight lines without the bolters attached and the head gets in the way of the front part of the backpack. OH WELL.

[Forté]

Depends on your painting really. My most recent have been body and legs plus an arm and pad. Back pack. Other arm with gun.

 

But it depends on how much you want to get to areas really.

[Brother Captain Sirus]

I normally have legs/torse/1 arm/ back pack glued together then have weapon + arm, shoulder pads and head sprayed seperately.

[Subtle Discord]

Beyond the miniature itself (I prefer to assemble the Legs, Torso, Arms, and Head, and then add the Should Pads and Backpack after painting) consider the base as well. I used to prime paint and base after it was done. I've since gotten into the habit of trying to get the base as complete as possible so it can be primed with the rest of the model. More up-front work that seems to save time in the end.

[Jamafore]

I glue the head, torso, and legs that I have blutacked to the Terminator bases the GW gives you, the arms and backpacks I drill holes in far enough to stick them on paperclips with the other end stuck into some of that foam board you can get at the megamart folks use for fake flowers, the pads I clip off the sprue and set them on the bottom of the box I spray into with the resin bases I use.

[DandyPandy]

I ended up getting some T-pins to stick the heads, arms, and backpacks on. I punched the t-pin through some cardboard and the piece onto it. So far, so good.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I ended up getting some T-pins to stick the heads, arms, and backpacks on. I punched the t-pin through some cardboard and the piece onto it. So far, so good.

 

For heads, sometimes I drill a little hole and insert a toothpick. Then I tape the toothpick to a long bit of sprue-frame so I can spray it. After it dries I can hold the toothpick and paint the head, and when it's time to remove the toothpick it either breaks out, or snaps off and can be trimmed flat.

 

For arms or weapons that I've magnetised I have a long piece of sprue-frame that I've glued a magnet to. I use this to switch out magnetised parts when I'm priming them, enabling me to spray them without getting it all over myself.

[Gurth]

If these are plastic models you’re talking about, there’s no need to bother with primer unless it happens to be in the base colour you want to paint them in anyway.

[Kaedes Nex]

If these are plastic models you’re talking about, there’s no need to bother with primer unless it happens to be in the base colour you want to paint them in anyway.

 

I would recommend priming models regardless of what material they are. Even the Bones figures that "don't need primer".

[Gurth]

If it makes you happy, sure, prime them. Primer, though, is mainly used to make subsequent coats of paint adhere to the material and so prevent the paintwork being damaged by rubbing or flaking off. For the hundreds of plastic 40K models I’ve painted over the past decade or so and have frequently packed tightly together into a box for transport (you’re reading that right: not all neatly packed in their own little niches but just thrown together), damaged paintwork has never been an issue.

Now, metal models are a different beast altogether. You do want to prime them and pack them so they won’t rub against other models, else you’re likely to get paint flaking off on every edge and raised area. Resin models, you’re probably best off priming as well, for similar reasons, and you need to be more careful packing them anyway to avoid breakage. Plastics, though, I consider a waste of primer

[Warsmith Aznable]

The Reaper models really don't need primer. They come in a stark white colour by default, though, so any colour you put on top of them will come out nice and vibrant, even if they're watered down. I don't know that the GW grey plastic has that benefit. The GW plastics that I've put paint on without any kind of base coat, the grey has shown through and dulled down the resultant colour, requiring lots of layers or a less watered down paint (which I don't like because of the thickness of the layers.)

 

I'm not as experienced at painting as most people, but that's been my experience.

[Subtle Discord]

I'll agree Gurth that this is personal preference and everyone should find what works for them, but I can't agree with your opinion of Primer. Several years ago I got so tired of all of the debate on primer I did my own tests. I took the brands of paint and primer that I had amassed over the years and sprayed several sections of plastic sprew, sheet styrene, metal, and pieces of resin. Products from GW, Krylon, Dupli-Color, Rust-oleum, and a few others I can't recall right now were all in the tests.

 

After spraying and letting the primer dry for 48 hours I painted some of the test areas with acrylic paints (GW and Vallejo) and left some just primer. After that dried I used the oh-so-scientific method of scratching and scraping spots with my nail, a plastic tool, and a dull metal edge to see how well they held up. I found the following...

 

• Let the primer dry: if you paint too soon on primer it's not 100% stable and can rub off easier then it should.
• Any spray is better than none: no matter what the surface, a coat of Primer or Paint made it harder to scrape the paint away and gave a good matt finish to paint on.
• Actual 'Primer' is far better then Paint: Paint will do ok on plastic model kits and styrene, but struggle with metal and resin; proper Primer sticks surprisingly well on all surfaces.
• Not all products are created equal: just because it's called 'Primer' doesn't mean it will work as well as you'd like; my current favorite is Krylon Dual.
• Primers tend to be a bit trickier to apply: a little goes a long way and technique matters; Primer or Paint, you don't a thick layer, and you want to apply it under the right conditions for a smooth surface.

As I said, any surface that was sprayed with anything held up at least a bit better to being simply scratched away with a finger nail. With no Primer acrylic paints simply scratched off with very little effort. I'm sure a top coat of some sort would help, but I would much rather have the added grip the Primer adds even with a varnish to lock the final paint job down.

[Gurth]

Actual 'Primer' is far better then Paint: Paint will do ok on plastic model kits and styrene, but struggle with metal and resin; proper Primer sticks surprisingly well on all surfaces.

That, indeed, is most of the point of using primer, and why primer is not simply another colour of paint. Primer is formulated to ”bite” into the surface and so adhere much better than paint does, which mostly just forms a layer on the surface.

Not all products are created equal: just because it's called 'Primer' doesn't mean it will work as well as you'd like; my current favorite is Krylon Dual.

That goes for everything. For example, Tamiya acrylics airbrush very well and brush-paint OK, but most colours are awful to drybrush with; GW acrylics I find harder to spray, but good to brush-paint and drybrush with.

With no Primer acrylic paints simply scratched off with very little effort.

That’s not been my experience, with either brush- or spraypainted models