What are the best undercoating options at the moment?

aelfwine · **Joined:** Sat Aug 22, 2009 12:23 am **Posts:** 508

Hi all!

Soooo, I've not really been painting LOTR figures for quite some time. The fact a whole bunch of them were stolen this year, and the general unappealing nature of the figures from the Escape from Goblin Town box. Morale was low.

I've also concentrated on painting Dungeons and Dragons plastic miniatures and some reapers, mostly for RPG purposes, where really nice paint jobs weren't super important. Which was good, because finding a nice spot to paint has been a constant challenge for quite some time.

With the possibility of some new and interesting Middle-earth miniatures on the horizon, and with still something of a backlog, its time to talk undercoating.

I used various things with the D&D and Reaper figures: the "imperial primer" from GW, Army Painter spray paint, Vallejo white undercoat (useless stuff, and I say this as a huge vallejo booster), Abbadon Black (Chaos Black, mk2) and, uh, some other thing I can't remember.

The Army Painter spray isn't bad. It's not great, but not bad. I wonder if its an incompatibility with some of the D&D plastics? Abbadon Black is a bit thicker version of Chaos Black, so it works pretty well. Imperial primer is not much cop.

What else do you recommend, for plastic and finecast? The GW spray primer has always been a bit hit or miss for me. Is the Army Painter spray the best of a bad lot? Are there other options? Help!

Gavin

Imladris96 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 05, 2013 7:08 am

The GW spray paint has never failed me. As for Imperial Primer, once you water it down it gave an almost identical coat to the spray, a very nice thin matte black finish. Abaddon black I didn't like, it's more of an actual paint them primer, I little too glossy for undercoating.

Bilbo · **Posted:** Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:04 pm

I use the GW standard Skull White and Chaos black sprays and they have changed my life. 7 or 8 years ago I did all the undercoating by hand, which took forever. And if skilled you can coat the miniature with a very fine layer minimalising and chances of obscuring the detail.

cereal_theif · **Posted:** Thu Dec 05, 2013 6:05 pm

Depends on the colour you re painting.

Gw black
gw white
Halfords plastic grey matt

Leonardis · **Joined:** Wed Oct 05, 2011 4:06 pm **Posts:** 891

cereal_theif wrote:

Depends on the colour you re painting.

Gw black
gw white
Halfords plastic grey matt

I used to use GWS... but the price is ridiculous! Now I get mine from the £1 shop, works perfectly and comes in black, grey, gold and silver! (just spray slow and steady and only put a light coat on)

Dagorlad · **Posted:** Fri Dec 06, 2013 5:43 am

For resin, I use an etching primer from my local DIY store. It cuts through the mold-release and actually sticks to the resin.

But for metal and plastic, I use Army Painter undercoats - better than Citadel paints in my opinion and generally a bit cheaper.

madfrog2000 · **Joined:** Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:07 am **Posts:** 179

I just tried out this brand Plastikote Black Primer and worked like a charm and costs half the price of the GW spray can which is $30 here in New Zealand!!!

abcdefg · **Joined:** Mon May 28, 2012 3:52 pm **Posts:** 273

I know this is a very old thread but I don't want to start a new one when my question doesn't really need a thread of its own.

Anyway, I've recently got hold of this through non-hobby related activities and was wondering whether it would work for undercoating? Any advice?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Purpose-Acr ... aft+paints

What are the best undercoating options at the moment?

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