My wife has started to really complain about the smell of my primer of choice, Tamiya. I love Tamiya, as it covers and sticks to PE and resin very well.

Question: is there an acrylic and/or less potent smelling primer that works with PE and resin? I have tried Vallejo primer, works very well on plastic, but not so much on PE and resin. Any other choices?

If you're spraying the Vallejo, try brushing it on. You'll need 2-3 coats, but so far I've had good results with coverage and durability. Panzer grey and bronze green seem to work best, the lighter colours are a little more problematic. Also let the paint cure for at least a day. You can see how well the primer preserves detail and sticks on this Leo grill http://i.imgur.com/gpVkskp.jpg

Kimmo

I use Vallejo Primer all the time, no problems with it sticking to resin and PE.

Scott

Do you do anything to prep the PE and resin first, other then wash? What do you wash them with?

Thanks
Kevin

I don't do any prep work other than maybe a light sanding on the gluing surface for etch parts. The beauty of brushing on the primer is that the primer actually helps keep the etch in place as it forms a skin that other paints or primers don't. I have a feeling that airbrushing the primer may not lay down as thick a layer to take full advantage of this property. This stuff truly snuggles down, I was amazed the first time I used it. I've yet to try resin, but I suspect a washing is in order to make sure there are no release agents left on the surface. If you let the primer cure, you shouldn't run into any problems.

Kimmo

Just dish soap to wash the plastic and resin parts....unless the resin seems a bit greasier than normal and I might hit it with a spray cleaner like spray 9, or I have some Castrol SuperClean I use for stripping paint, it is a degreaser and works well on resin parts.

For PE....don't do anything. Just paint.