Having been on site for a while now, I read everyone seems to apply undercoats.

I have never undercoated...yet! I realise an undercoat throws up defects, so they can be seen and fixed before the real paint goes on...but are there any other reasons?

I only model in 1/72nd scale and I have always thought an undercoat would fill in detail.
Not having a good airbrush, I would have to resort to aerosols.

Any advise would be most welcome....thanks

Cheers
Peter

Another reason for "priming" is, in my view, to have a better grip for the camo paint, specially on the many coppr/brass/resin parts I use to add to my kits.
Ciao

I also use the undercoat as a pre shade. OD does look slightly different over a dark color then over a light color.

Hi again...
scoccia



Mr Roo



Are you guys referring to either acrylic or enamel or both?

I use enamels because of the climate here...and so far have not had problems with not undercoating....and there's only Humbrol available in rattle-cans.
For non -standard colours I use the single action Humbrol basic...very...airbrush.
Not the most professional way this building on my knee so to speak.

Roo ...ignorance time...what is OD?

Thanks again....
Cheers
Peter
me :-)

All paints can benefit from a primer coat underneath.
- Gives the color coats something better to bite than the plastic
- gives an even color base for you to paint on, allowing YOU to control any subtle color variations you want.

OD = Olive Drab

I don't have easy access to the Humbrol line, but most rattle cans should not fill in details even in 1/72 if you don't have a heavy finger on the trigger. If you are doing a multi-color camo you may want to mask off the colors and paint them seperately if you use a primer coat just in case, but I have done a 2 color camo after primer with no loss of detail even by spraying the whole model color one and then just maksing off color 2. This was a 1/72 scale kit with Testors enamel in the rattlers.

Thanks Twisted Fate...
I do all you suggest anyway...except for the primer that is.

I do have a couple of cans of Humbrol rattle-can primer.

Anyone used these before...Humbrol primer that is?

Thanks again.
Peter
:-)