introduction

Vallejo Acrylics is well known in the modeling community for their Model Color, Model Air and Panzer Aces range of paints. Just about a year ago, Vallejo released a new acrylic-urethane primer in three colors: white, black and grey. Applied with either bristle or air brush, these leave a smooth, durable base on a variety of modeling materials such as styrene, photo etch, resin, putty, etc.

new colors

Very soon, Vallejo Acrylics will be releasing a new range of colors in the form of acrylic-polyurethane Surface Primers. As I understand, these new primers are meant to mimic the original primers used, provide a color coordinated primer eliminating the need to saturate the surface with your base coat to cover an 'unnatural' color, and provide a contrast to weathering techniques such as scuffing and chipping.

The seven new colors coming out are as follows:
• RAL 7021 German Panzer Grey
• RAL 7028 German Dark Yellow
• RAL 8000 German Green Brown
• RAL 8012 German Red Brown
• 73607 U.K. Bronze Green
• 73608 US Olive Drab
• 73609 Russian Green

Like the original three colors, these come in 60ml flip-top bottles with a squirt spout making it easy to add the primer to your color cup. The very low odor (almost non-existent) and quick drying times that are common with the Vallejo range of products make these a pleasure to use.

Coverage seemed to be very good on the colors I tried, and provided an excellent base for Model Air top coats. Where I applied it too heavy in my test runs, the paint leveled itself out and formed a nice tight skin that still retained the fine details of the model. In two of the images, I used the German Red Brown and the Dark Yellow as primers with a Model Air topcoat of Dark Yellow to show the contrast with chipping. The last image shows the contrast between the Surface Primer and its corresponding Model Air color. Clean-up is the same as with other Vallejo acrylic products, I rinse the cup with tap water and flush with Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner, which not only cleans but lubricates too.

conclusion

Until Vallejo released the original acrylic primers, the only models I used primer were auto's that needed a gloss finish. The highly offensive (to me) odor of lacquer primer forced me to use them outdoors. Now I prime everything, and my quality of paint finish has dramatically increased by doing that.

By using a color coordinated primer may mean applying less paint to the model, allowing more detail to show through and more vibrancy to the top coat. By using a contrasting color, new and/or easier weathering possibilities open up.