Also, when using humbrol, does anyone use a primer? Or a light undercoat like white for dunkelgelb etc on panzers?

First of all a warm welcome aboard cokes! Coming to your question I personally I always use lots of different materials, on top of the ones coming with the kit, to scartchbuild extra detail (copper, brass, aluminium, plasticard, ecc.) so I prefer to prime the model to have an homogeneous "grip" for the paintjob. On top of that priming allows me to spot the most part of the little problems the kit has still to fix before start painting. I think that one of the best primers available comes from Tamiya, but also the one for automotive use it's ok. I personally hate painting in general and specially from spray cans so I use some acrylic primer I find at local art crafts store because: it can be thinned with water, it can be airbrushed, it's almost inexpensive and, last but not least, it works very well...
Ciao

Welcome, Cokes.
You can use a spray-can primer. Tamiya is good (best to spray in the garden if you want to avoid the family complaining about the smell). A cheaper solution (price/quality) is to buy a can of primer for car paint repair. Some are extremely good and shrink into every nook and cranny, leaving no thickness on your model. Find a shop with car repair stuff and discuss it with the shopkeeper. He might have just what you need. Good for both metal and resin models.
These primers are generally white or light grey.

Hi Cokes, welcome
I always use auto plastic primer, either grey or white. I smooth it off with 0000 grade wire wool. You just have to be carefull not to spray it to heavily, but it works very well and dries very fast. :-)
Mal

Hi there Cokes!

Just to be different from the other guys :-)... I've been using Humbrol No1 prmer - thinned with Cellulose. This sprays on really fine, dries quickly and is pretty robust.

As with most things, this is a question of experimenting to find what works best for you...

Glad to have you aboard!! :-)

Rowan

Thanks for all the replies gents,

I got a can of Power Plus Plastic Primer (probably goes by hundereds of different names) and sprayed it on a few of the smaller components - being clear is more of a hassle than anything, and it seems to give the surface a slightly wrinkled texture.

I think I will give the Tamiya primer aa go - just one question though - do you prefer the fine white or grey primer? What are advantages of these?

Cheers,

Cokes.

I use an automotive white primer called "VHT". It shrinks to even the tiniest detail and sands like a dream. Not a bad bargain at $3 a can!