Leadbelcher Primer - Yay or Nah?

[Lord Asvaldir]

Greetings all, 

 

Starting out a new project, and wanted to hear people's opinions on GW's leadbelcher primer, before throwing it on some minis. For context, I am getting started on Adeptus Titanicus, and I think leadbelcher would be really helpful for making all the mechanical parts of a titan easier to paint. However, my armor panels are going to be purple/white (Legio Damicium), and I am concerned that white in particular would be difficult to paint over a metallic primer.

 

Welcome any other suggestions for priming titans! Certainly not attached to GW primers, if there's a better one for this purpose out there. 

[Grotsmasha]

Firstly mak sure to shake the absolute hell out of the can, like way longer than you think. Then do that again. It seems they need more to mix properly, I've had a couple of cans that once applied, painting on top of them just didn't work, like it was hydrophobic, thoroughly shaking though seems to sort it out. To fix that issue, simbly drybrushing some regular Leadbelcher over it fixed it up.

In regards to painting white over it, go to a grey, like Mechanicus Standard Grey first and you'll have no issues

[Xenith]

6 minutes ago, Grotsmasha said:

I've had a couple of cans that once applied, painting on top of them just didn't work, like it was hydrophobic, thoroughly shaking though seems to sort it out. To fix that issue, simbly drybrushing some regular Leadbelcher over it fixed it up.

 

Came here to say this, same with GW retributor armour, normal paints were ok, but washes and contrasts didn't flow as normal - a quick overbrush with the corresponding pot paint fixed all issues though!

 

Make sure you leave the armour plates off the skeleton and on the sprues at least - you can always spray the skeleton with leadbelcher then prime the plates white, if you like, to get the purple. I'm doing Tempestus and I prime skeleton and plates with leadbelcher, corax white goes over that no issue. 

Pics here:

 

@Olis is doing a purple and white xestobiax, I think with the sme method (pics in the album) and they look great. 

 

[Lord Asvaldir]

First off, thank you both for some very good pointers!

 

25 minutes ago, Grotsmasha said:

In regards to painting white over it, go to a grey, like Mechanicus Standard Grey first and you'll have no issues

 

By going over with grey first, do you mean that I should prime with mechanicus standard grey first, then leadbelcher? Or the opposite?

 

@Xenith yes, everything I've read about painting titans is to keep the armor plates separate so that is definitely my plan. Your titans look sweet, great example to go off of! I'm glad to hear you could paint corax white over leadbelcher without issue.  Do you find it's a challenge to take the armor plates off the sprue once they are painted? 

[Grotsmasha]

19 minutes ago, Lord Asvaldir said:

By going over with grey first, do you mean that I should prime with mechanicus standard grey first, then leadbelcher? Or the opposite?

 

 

Grey over the Leadbelcher to help get to a better white

[jaxom]

Huh, for me Leadbelcher has been the only GW primer I use regularly. I'd never had problems with it and it's picked up washes, shades, tints, etc just fine.

 

Basilicanum Grey used as a wash on Leadbelcher

 

Primed Leadbelcher

 

  

Shaded with Seraphim Sepia

[Lord Asvaldir]

Appreciate the additional example! Really looks like it works perfectly fine as a primer, looks like I'll be using leadbelcher. 

[FashaTheDog]

I personally love it and the little extra care taken when you first get it has already been pointed out.  I prime my 30K Night Lords with it before hitting them with a coat of Nuln Oil and some highlights with two increasingly lighter silvers before using Talassar Blue contrast.  I do the exact same thing on my Blood Angels except the contrast is Blood Angels' Red for armor and a variety of others for the grays, golds, greens, and anything else that could be a metallic surface (so not skin or purity seals, mostly).  My Grey Knights  leave it as is for the bulk of their armor. 

 

Here is the result on the Night Lords.  The flash obscures the highlighting, but when in normal light the extra highlights do show nicely while the Nuln Oil in the recesses give extra dimension, with or without a contrast over it.  I also used it on my Necromunda Spyrers I am repainting the vain hope they will get rules again.  The Orrus needs a slight touch up before I call him done..

 

 

Leadbelcher primer as a spray can, even with touch ups using the paint in the jar, makes for a great metallic base if you use some shading and highlighting as you are putting all the work on perfecting a silver that looks good then coloring it to meet your needs.

[Karhedron]

I used Leadbelcher as primer for my Imperial Knights. Wash with Nuln Oil and then drybrush with Stormhost Silver and it looks great. A caveat is that I did prime the armour panels separately.

 

 

 

[Corswain]

Similar experience to above. Plenty of Iron Warriors who can attest to it's quality and I also use it in one of the steps on my metallic Night Lords with great results.

I also used it on some Necromunda tiles and did som oil washes over the top and they look fine.

 

It does need some (a lot!) of shaking, though. And as always, two thin coats is better than one thick one.

[Xenith]

On 10/18/2023 at 3:44 PM, Lord Asvaldir said:

@Xenith yes, everything I've read about painting titans is to keep the armor plates separate so that is definitely my plan. Your titans look sweet, great example to go off of! I'm glad to hear you could paint corax white over leadbelcher without issue.  Do you find it's a challenge to take the armor plates off the sprue once they are painted? 

 

I've been clipping most of the attachment points off the plates, and just leaving it attached to the sprue by one point on the underside of the plate where possible, which has made the cleaning easier. 

 

If you wanted to keep the whole thing attached, also not an issue to tidy up with your trim colour later - these tiny points of armour are not likely to see wear, so the lack of bonded undercoat isnt an issue. 

 

Re: Grey - corax white is actually a light grey, so this has worked for me, and looks 'white' when next to a black. You can then go over with white scar if you like. Corax is a great base for an even lighter Ulthuan grey. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Xenith

[Lord Asvaldir]

Appreciate the extra context all, really helpful for figuring out how to paint particularly the mechanical parts of my titans. Leadbelcher is very clearly the way to go. 

 

@Xenith thank you for the clarification on painting the armor plates on a sprue, makes sense to work from as few connection points you need to clean later a possible.