A Beginners Guide to Priming Tabletop Miniatures
This tutorial series is for the beginner tabletop miniature painter. It is divided into the six steps I use to get the models to the table quickly with minimal effort with a good tabletop quality paint job. For an explanation of what is meant by tabletop quality read this article.
Note: Even though this tutorial uses a unit of Rebel Troopers as an example the skills demonstrated will apply to any other unit of models that you want to get done in a short amount of time.
The steps I use to paint gaming miniatures to tabletop quality are as follows:
- Assembly
- Priming
- Base coating
- Apply Wash
- Highlighting by Dry Brushing
- Finish the Base of the miniature
Why you should prime your gaming miniatures
Acrylic paint has a hard time sticking to metal, and plastics. But it will stick quite well to primer. My friend James didn’t coat one of his models early in his hobby. He tipped the model over and it chipped a small bit of paint. He tried to clean it up by pulling on a bit that was sticking out. when he pulled a great big piece of paint came off of the model, the paint job was completely ruined. He ended up stripping the rest of the model and starting over. I have never had an experience like this one, probably because I have always primed my models.
Primer establishes the base color for the rest of your paint job. When you paint over primer, bright color layers will be brighter over white primer than they will be over black primer. The reverse is true for painting dark layers. There are definite advantages to both riming dark and light that I will go over below.
What color should you use to prime your miniatures
For the beginning painter I strongly recommend priming with black primer. Yes this will mean that you will need to use more layers to achieve bright colors but it will be worth it. When I started out I had a hard time making sure that I had complete coverage. I was a bit nervous about overlapping paint when I had two colors next to each other. The result was that instead of them overlapping a bit I had small gaps where the primer showed through. They didn’t look too bad on the tabletop but when I tried to take pictures of them, these blemishes were front and center because I was using light color primers, generally gray or white. Had I used black primer they would have looked like shadow areas.
You can see the model that we will be using for this tutorial, a rebel captain from Fantasy Flight Games; Star Wars Legion game line. The parts have been dry fit together to check fit and then the model was primed black. Another approach is to use primer that is the same color as the majority of your model. Primer comes is a lot of colors. Miniature paint companies like Army Painter and Citadel have primers that match the most commonly used colors in their paint lines. This is a great approach for beginner painters because if you leave a small gap it will match the majority of your model and be less noticeable.
The exception to this suggestion is if you plan to primarily paint your model in light colors. It takes a lot of layers to get yellow to show up evenly over a black base. A storm trooper for example will be very difficult to paint if you start with a black primer.
This storm trooper has been primed with much lighter paint in order to make it easier to get complete coverage when painting it white.
What makes primer effective
The primers that are formulated for miniatures will give good even coverage on your models. These primers can be quite expensive though. Some of the brands can be over $30 U.S. per can. There are some brands that you can find at your local hardware store that are formulated for plastic. These primers will give even coverage and work quite well. Just make sure that you get one that has been developed for use on plastic.
The primers that are formulated for miniatures will give good even coverage on your models. These primers can be quite expensive though. Some of the brands can be over $30 U.S. per can. There are some brands that you can find at your local hardware store that are formulated for plastic. These primers will give even coverage and work quite well. Just make sure that you get one that has been developed for use on plastic.
Common beginner mistakes to avoid
Holding the can too close to your miniatures: A common mistake made by new painters is holding the can too close to your models. You should have between 9 and 12 inches (20 – 30 cm) between the spray can and your model. This will allow enough space for the paint to properly atomize and separate before landing on your model. When the can is too close to the model the paint builds up very rapidly leading to runny paint that fills in all of the fine detail that is on your model.
Putting on too much paint: Start spraying the paint before the nozzle is aimed at the model. This will help in two ways.
First, if there is any buildup on the nozzle that breaks free when the paint begins to fly it wont get paint glued onto the surface of your model. Second, it allows you to bring the flow of paint spray across the model quickly. Applying the paint in short bursts like this will help you to avoid getting too much on the model at a time.
It doesn’t take very much primer to achieve the benefits of priming. Thin layers will allow the models details to come through. you don’t need a thick glossy layer of paint from the primer can. If your model looks more like plastic after you painted it than it did when it was bare plastic you have way too much paint on it. All you need is enough to allow your acrylic paint to stick to it.
What are the ideal conditions for priming miniatures
When you are priming outdoors the temperature and humidity play a part in how well the primer will adhere to the model. NEVER prime in the rain. NEVER prime in the rain. In case I forgot to say it if it is raining outside DON’T prime your models, even if you are under an eve and no water is falling directly onto your model. The increased humidity will directly affect the ability of the paint to stick to your model.
Ideally you want it to be a nice moderate temperature
If possible wait until it is warm to prime your models. Cold weather will drop the pressure of your can of primer and may make it spray unevenly. Cold will also make your paint take longer to set up and cure. When the weather is too hot you run into the opposite problem, the paint can dry before it gets to your model and not stick or give a very rough texture.
However, you can prime in either very hot or cold weather. Read my article about priming in cold weather here.
Be mindful of what is behind your model
You are spraying paint at high speed that will fly for several feet before stopping. If you are a couple of feet away from your house because you ignored my subtle advice to avoid priming your model in the rain, you may end up with a patch of primer all over the side of your home, or your landlord’s house. I like to make sure that there is several feet of space between my model and anything behind it. Better yet I will use some cardboard from an old box to act as a back stop behind the model to catch most of the over spray from the paint can.