What is an "Auxiliary" product?
This term refers to
products that are not strictly "paint" in and of themselves, but are
instead products which are applied prior to painting, used to shade, or used to
finish a painted model. To obtain the
best results, they are equally as important as your basic paints - and used
properly, they can make even the simplest paint job look even more spectacular!
Step One: Primer
Why do I need to prime a model? Why
can't I just start with the base coat?
That's a question I've
heard frequently from inexperienced painters.
Uusually the question is followed some time later by "Why does it
take so many base coats to cover this bare metal?" or "Why do my figures
all seem to chip and the paint rubs off?"
Primer exists for a
very specific and important purpose. A
bare metal or plastic miniature is very smooth and doesn't offer a good texture
to which we will apply a base coat. Primer
is formulated to adhere to a surface and offer a good "tooth" for a
basecoat to be applied. Furthermore,
standard paints do not offer the level of resistance to wear and chipping that
a gaming miniature will need. Unless
you're sealing your finished model in a showcase, never to be played with, this
is a very important consideration. A
good undercoat will improve the durability of your work.
A lot of people use
basic automotive primer (like Rustoleum) to prime their models. This has the benefit of giving an extremely
durable base upon which to paint, but even when done properly, it can obscure
the fine details on the miniature if you want an even coat. If you are going to use a spray primer, I
would recommend one specifically designed for miniatures. Citadel and Army Painter make spray primers
for this purpose.
What color you use
depends on what you are painting. If
you're going for brighter colors, a white primer is recommended. If you want the overall look of the finished
product to be darker and more muted, a black primer is the way to go. Later on, I'll be discussing a couple of ways
to use a black primer to really bring out highlights and details on a
mini. A grey primer is a good choice for
a "middle of the road" overall hue.
If you are painting a
particular type of model, you may find that the Citadel or Army Painter line of
sprays or the AV line of liquid primer (more on this shortly) have a specific
color that's perfect for your models!
When painting Space Wolves (my favorite), Blood Angels, Dark Angels,
Ultramarines or even Orcs, there's a color primer that's a perfect match. This will save you a couple of layers on the
base coat, preserving the detail of your model.
If using any aerosol
product (primer, basecoat or varnish), please keep the following things in
mind:
Spray outdoors or in a ventilated spray booth - even in acrylic spray, the organic vapors from
the solvents in the spray can cause short-term symptoms like headache and
difficulty breathing. Prolonged misuse
can make these problems permanent, and can literally make you stupid.
Do not spray in times of high humidity - Even if your porch or garage is sheltered from
rainfall, the humidity in the air can become trapped within the spray coating
you are applying. This can lead to a
nasty texture that is impossible to remove, and if it's a topcoat, can become
cloudy, permanently ruining all of your hard work. Wait until it's dry out or use a brush-on
topcoat indoors.
Make sure the temperature is moderate - If it's really hot outside when you spray, the
paint will actually dry before it reaches the model and you'll find the
undercoat has a granular texture. If
it's too cold, the undercoat will take too long to dry and may run on the
model. The closer the outdoor weather is
to room temperature, the better your results will be!
Shake Well! - Shake the can until it starts to rattle, and then continue shaking for
30-60 seconds to really mix the paint with the propellant.
Sweep each spray evenly across the model - Start spraying before the model and end your pass
afterwards. Spraying directly onto the
model will cause the spray coat to pool and ruin the detail. Each pass should be slow enough to evenly
apply the undercoat, but fast enough to prevent pooling.
Several light coats are better than one heavy coat - You will best preserve the detail of your
model by applying a number of light undercoats from different angles, rather
than saturating it in a single go.
Give it time to dry - Allow at least 4-6 hours for your undercoat to dry completely, but a full
24 hours is even better. I know you want
to get right down to painting, but if the undercoat doesn't get time to dry,
your base coat can come out smudgy or you will not get the proper resistance to
chipping and wear. Remember that you are
going to be handling these models frequently.
As you can see, a
spray primer can be a big pain to use.
The weather conditions have to be just right , the application has to be
just right, and it takes a long time to get the undercoat done evenly. Is it worth the one benefit - exceptional
wear resistance?
The short answer is:
No. The long answer is: Hell No, not at
all! There is a product that was
recommended to me a few years ago that really changed how I prepare models for
painting. This miracle product is called
Vallejo Acrylic Polyurethane Surface Primer. It is available in the standard 17ml dropper
bottle or a larger 60 ml bottle. There
are so many advantages to this product:
It cleans up with water like any other acrylic paint.- It is "self-levelling" which means it does not pool in recesses.
- It leaves an extremely thin coating to preserve all the fine detail of the model.
- It dries very quickly - Within 20-30 minutes instead of 4-6 hours per coat.
- It is incredibly durable and when properly applied, will make your model very wear-resistant.
- It can be brushed on or applied with an airbrush.
- It comes in 16 different colors, including black, white, and grey.
This is the product I use
on nearly all my work except for larger models like tanks. I have a large bottle each of black, white
and grey, and it only takes a few drops to prime a standard human-sized
miniature. I wouldn't use anything else
and I guarantee you will be pleased with the results. No other brush-on primer has come close, so
don't waste your time and money on Citadel's "Imperial Primer" or
similar brush-on primers from other lines.
Pro-Tip: Primer Highlights and Drybrush UnderCoat Highlights
As I mentioned at the
beginning of the article, there is a way to use a black undercoat to help
accentuate the highlights on a model or to simulate lighting. After the black undercoat is applied and dry,
you can use a white spray primer from whatever direction the light would be
striking the figure (usually above).
This spray coat should be light and does not need to cover the area
completely. Note that this is a
technique you probably will not want to use until you get some experience with
the more traditional painting techniques (Even I don't honestly use it, but it
can produce amazing results).
A similar technique
that's easy for beginners is a drybrush undercoat highlight. After your sprayed or brushed-on black
undercoat has dried, gently drybrush the entire figure with your white basecoat
or layer paint (do not use the primer for this). Watch as all the detail pops out! It will help you identify specific areas to
basecoat in given colors, and it will naturally help to shade and highlight
those colors as they are applied (assuming that you apply your paint properly,
in thin layers). Give it a try, you'll
be amazed at the results.
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