Primer for painting miniatures

I primarily use water based acrylic paint for miniatures. Most of the time I tend to use a grey car primer, partly because I already have lots of it that I use for other things. Some paint schemes lend themselves to a darker base.

I have used hand painted primers on miniatures in the distant past, but that was never as satisfactory as a spray finish. Up until recently I tended to use Vallejo airbrush primer for models and miniatures. It has a good finish but it is very time consuming to apply. Recently I've been experimenting with rattle can primers as a quicker alternative.

I've selected a few from Amazon. I'm in the UK, so the paint vendors are likely to be different to those found in other countries.

Hycote grey is the one I've used for years on larger projects. It is the best value that I can find in the UK, followed closely by the Motip black. The Army Painter black is more than twice as expensive. The Citadel Chaos black costs so much more that I have not bought any to try.

So far I've established the following;

Drying time: I established a long time ago that primer needs to be allowed to dry thoroughly to ensure reliable compatibility with the top coat paint. To that end, I let primer dry for at least 24 hours.

Temperature: My experience is that all commonly available paint has poor adhesion when applied to cold surfaces and it dries with a better surface if the first couple of hours of drying are in a warmer environment. This may be academic for those who paint inside their home but I usually paint in my shed.

If it feels cold to me, I run a small heater to warm up the model and the paint before use. Not in any scientific way. I also keep the area warm for the first hour or so of drying time.

Ventilation: I am sure that anyone who has tried using a paint spray can inside knows the problem with the solvent smell. Even though I have a spray booth, my preference is to use rattle cans outside when the weather is suitable. It does not really matter what the temperature is because I'm only outside for a minute or two, but it needs to be calm and dry. Wind makes the surface finish uneven and frequently rough rather than a nice smooth coating.

If I have to spray a rattle can inside, I'll use my spray booth and then leave the room until the worst of the solvent smell has dissipated.

Vallejo airbrush primer

• Adhesion: Good on plastic but not robust on metal.
• Application: Time consuming but a smooth result.
• Cost: £, the bottle goes a very long way.

Hycote grey primer

• Adhesion: Good on plastic and metal.
• Application: Quick, slightly thick but a good result.
• Cost: £

Motip black primer

• Adhesion: Good on plastic and metal.
• Application: Quick, fairly liquid with a smooth result.
• Cost: £

Army Painter black

• Not yet used.
• Cost: ££

Citadel Chaos black primer

• Not purchased. 
• Cost: £££, noticeably more expensive than the others.

As I try them more, I'll update this page with my conclusions.

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Hot rod bits

I spent a day machining a few more bits for Dean's hot rod.

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Public domain and creative common media

A proportion of what I do ends up on this blog in the public domain. I restrict some of my work to non-commercial use but much of it is freely usable. This has the limiting factor that when I create something, such as a circuit diagram, chart, manual or 3d model, I have to only include things that I have created myself.

There are times when it would be a waste of time recreating things that others have already done. This would be for common icons, signs or symbols. I've previously mentioned standard components, such as nuts and bolts, for 3D models and some sources for those can be found on the following linked page:

https://blog.discoverthat.co.uk/2019/12/sources-of-components-for-3d-models.html

At the moment I'm working on a car circuit diagram and wanted the standard ISO symbols for the dashboard warning lamps. Too many of the top results from searches took me to sites with a pay wall where the alternative free version required each icon to have separate attribution, which just does not work on some documents that I want to share.

If I was creating documents commercially then the nominal fee needed would be well worth it, but I'm not, I give my stuff away for the benefit of others.

Here I will list those sites where I have found creative common and more importantly public domain images that can be downloaded for free:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Dashboard_SVG_icons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:92/58/EEC_style_emergency_exit_signs

I'll add more sites as I find them.

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Painted in the style of

I've finished the first alien creature that I have painted in recent times. I'm using a paint scheme inspired by the popular Warhammer 40K Thyramid colours.

I airbrushed a beige underlayer and hand painted the armour. The shadows are a black wash then I've dry brushed the highlights. With hindsight, I think a brown wash for the shadows on the bone may have been more appropriate.

For the claws, I used a watered down brown over the beige under layer, leaving the upper edge and the end the lighter colour. The brown getting darker towards the join with the body. 

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Everyday Wonders

Work is holding a photography competition. The theme is "Everyday Wonders". This photo is my entry.

The Wheel

Update December 2025: this photo has reached the shortlist. 

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Weber adapter for a Rover V8 manifold

The SU carbs that came with the engine, destined for the hot rod, have seen better days. This led to the idea of replacing those with a Weber carb.

This is a common adaptation and already modified manifolds for the Rover V8 3500 are readily available, at a cost. However, Dean picked up a damaged manifold from an SD1 at a bargain price and I have a mill :-)

The carburettor is a Weber 38 DGAS. Dual 38mm bore with synchronous operation. It has an automatic choke, but most likely we will replace that with an electric one. The Weber carbs, spare parts and upgrade components are all readily available in the UK, making this a good choice.

I'd already managed to hold the manifold on the mill table to clean up the cut off top. I've now milled an adapter plate.

I'm using M8x40mm set screws as mounting studs. On top of that goes the thermal insulating spacer and then the carb.

The adapter will be attached by someone more experienced with welding aluminium.

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Hydraulic leaf spring spreader

We are now on the third version of adaptations to use my pre-existing 10-ton body repair press as a leaf spring spreader for use on Dean's emerging hot rot.

This latest version has an adjustable length. This solves the issue that none of the combinations of tubes supplied with the 10-ton strong arm were quite the right length to get the spring eye's where we needed them. Prior to this, full extension was not quite enough but we could not get the next longer tubes in between the eyes when under no compression!

I turned up an adapter to slide into the strong arm tubes. This is simply to keep the M24 threaded bar central. A nut at the interface and flat faces for a spanner on the threaded bar allow the length to be adjusted, even under load.

Worked but not ideal

Our first attempt used a combination of whatever we had to hand to deal with the reverse eye on the spring. This did not always work out. The picture shows the lifting shackles overhanging the holes that we need to get the spring mounting shackles into!

The second version used some plates to push against. They avoided anything obstructing access to the spring shackle mountings. Although these brackets worked, and still do, the plates and the M12 bolts bent significantly.

The current version works well and it is relatively easy to fit and remove the spring. If I make another version it will be to strengthen the brackets that are used to push on the spring eyes.

Scientifically tested :-)

To get the tension right, the spring has been on and off the car a few times. Using the best measuring techniques we have to hand, it now feels about right :-)

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3D model download sites

I realised today that I always use a search engine to try to find 3D models but they do not index the multitude of maker sites very well. I get better results by going to the sites individually to see what others have produced.

These lists are a reminder of the sites I should probably go to first.

3D Marketplaces

https://www.turbosquid.com/

A veteran of sites catering for professional modellers as well as people sharing their hobby creations. A lot of what is on the site is for games or for creating visuals and they are often not suitable for 3D printing. 

https://cults3d.com/

A relatively new site aimed at makers. Much of what is on the site is suitable for 3D printing, with some CNC and laser cutting files.

3D Print Specific Download Sites

Bambu Labs - https://makerworld.com/

Creality - https://www.crealitycloud.com/

Prusa - https://www.printables.com/

Ultimaker - https://www.thingiverse.com/

3D Modelling Components

See my previous article for where to get things like nuts and bolts to include in CAD models:

https://blog.discoverthat.co.uk/2019/12/sources-of-components-for-3d-models.html

I rarely print finished models made by other people. Not because there is anything wrong with them but usually because I have a specific design in mind and end up creating my own version from scratch. I also don't always find time at the moment to share my creations on any of those sites. I do try to put them on this blog.

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Organise the workshop

One of the exciting things about planning my new workshop is to have a place for everything, so I do not have to hunt through loads of boxes and move things about to find what I need.

I want the materials and the tools to be easily accessible. My commonly used tools are all on the walls, using Bott wall boards. These have been brilliant.

For everything else, I've been through an evolution of various ideas, starting with shelves, movable shelf units and finally movable drawer units and roller cabinets.

I find that shadowfoam works well for some tools but to compliment that the latest improvement is to add custom 3D printed trays to fit each of the drawers and the tools or stock within them.

Not everything lends itself to being completely organised but much of what I use regular, does.

I've opted for the very popular Gridfinity system. This uses a 3D printed grid that aligns all the trays and makes it easy to swap things round. There are loads of articles and YouTube videos going into detail about using Gridfinity, so I won't repeat that.

I've designed a lot of my own custom trays to fit the exact tools that I have as efficiently as possible. The photos give a good idea of the solutions I've used.

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