White Dwarf Basing Article

That's awesome. I wonder why they don't put articles like this on their app? It seems like it's only help them sell their stuff.

I suppose I really only matters on what material your working with. If I'm painting up a pewter model, primed models are usually a must, but if it's a simple grey plastic, I will sometimes go ahead and paint right on it. I don't notice any difference since I paint every square inch of the model. That's really the only argument I've heard people use for priming plastics. "They don't want any unpainted areas to show." That's not me.
As for bases, I'll give the base a good coat of dark brown (Rhinox Hide usually) so that it looks like dirt beneath the surface showing through any cracks.

EDIT: It bothers me that they don't tell people to prime first. How well do these paints work without primer?[/quote]


I think that these articles done state such because it's really not necessary. Only 1 percent of the time do I ever have trouble with my paints not sticking and "oiling up". Most of the time I simply assemble the plastic model and them get right to painting. The only times I prime plastics is when I have a big model (like the DE Black Dragon) and a black primer will actually help with the dark coloration, or if I simply don't care about being all that careful with my painting (like 100 Skaven Slaves, 100 Night Goblins, or 100 TK Skeletons). That just helps with batch painting. Now, that being said, I also very rarely water-down my paints. Just straight out of the bottle.


I think you don't see more articles on priming because they don't want people questioning if it's really necessary. Selling primer paints is money for them. Why stop it if people will be willing to spend more money without questioning why they're doing it? When I started this hobby (eons ago) I asked everyone I knew, as well as message boards like this one, and I NEVER got a straight answer. I'm not talking about four or five people, literally hundreds. Nobody seemed to know why they were priming their models. That's why I just started painting straight to the plastics.


Pewter models will show shiny spots the more they are handled if you don't prime them. This might be where a lot of the priming spawned from. Pewter models used to be used all the time. Thus, priming was necessary. I think people just kept with the method after everything started switching to plastics.

Yeah, I don't wet blend very much. You really have to be on top of painting uninterrupted. It does look good though when done correctly.

I'd like to see it if you get a chance. I probably need to make something like that too.

I'm unsure actually. I've always been of the opinion that 100% of the time, you prime all the time. Hence my question; I was curious if these paints work ok without primer.

I prime because it gives a nice surface for future coats of paint to adhere to. In my experience painting over a model without first priming makes more work for you as the paint tends to not stick well to the surface of the model, forcing you to put more coats on. It also seems that if you don't prime then the paint chips easier (I've had entire sections of a model flake off) as there isn't a good bond between it and the layer underneath.

But if others have had a different experience and can get by without priming then more power to them! 

Admittedly I haven't tried applying paint sans primer to a model for over 10 years, and the chemical composition of the paints could have changed in that time. I also imagine that the model you're trying to paint matters as well (as mottdon pointed out with his metal v plastic, although there can be a difference even between different plastics).

Which is why I was wondering about these paints. I'll probably prime anyway; I'll use a grey airbrush primer as a base for these and then work up from there.

EDIT: I thin my paints. I have a wet palette but haven't used it yet. Maybe I'll try it tonight?

Here you go, looks like some of those aren't even completely dried up and I broke my hand 5 weeks back. Bit if medium and they will mix back up.

Damp kitchen roll on the bottom. Keep it in the fridge