Reddit reviews The Army Painter Color Primer, Matt Black, 400 ml, 13.5 oz - Acrylic Spray Undercoat for Miniature Painting

Most painters have their preferences. I prefer Citadel but it's pricey. I've been using it ever since they were the only ones to offer spray primer and at this point I'm just used to how it reacts and know how to work with it well and IMO it's better quality. Army Painter spray primer is fine too though.

To my surprise, when researching primers on Amazon, I found that the Army Painter primer is only one dollar cheaper than the GW Citadel primer so in that case I would definitely go with Citadel. It has two negative reviews by people who haven't bought it and think it's too expensive even though the AP primer costs basically just as much, but I guess that's the anti-GW circlejerk for you.

Use spray primer not paint.

I use this stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-CP3001-Base-Primer/dp/B005WH3LVG

It's generally fine.

You'll want to use a primer! Don't worry, it took me forever to figure that out. Basically acrylic paint isn't made to stick on plastic, and it'll come off super easy. Primers are paints made to stick on things like plastic. That means that you're coating your model in a material that accepts your acrylic paint better than plastic. You can get primer from any home improvement store, but here's some links to some on amazon. They all work just fine, you just need to make sure it says "primer" somewhere on the can.

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https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-249846-Painters-Purpose-12-Ounce/dp/B002BWOS94/

https://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-CP3001-Base-Primer/dp/B005WH3LVG/

https://www.amazon.com/Citadel-Colour-Chaos-Primer-Undercoat/dp/B000A5CHHE/

Thoughts on this? The Army Painter Color Primer, Matt Black, 400 ml, 13.5 oz - Acrylic Spray Undercoat for Miniature Painting https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005WH3LVG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_BGyRDbSSZ88E8

I'll second "use a hobby primer", though I am much less specific about it than /u/DathNader26. I use Army Painter primer, though I've used Citadel and Privateer before too. The only real rule is that if you use a color besides black or white, you must use a matching color to touch up any exposed areas. Citadel Dawnstone and Army Painter Uniform Grey are different enough that I can notice them if I change greys over a model. If you spray with Dawnstone, that needs to be your only grey paint for that model.

As far as other paints, once again the rule of consistency applies. I started painting with Citadel paints, so I mostly use Citadel so that my army looks consistent.

Since you're starting new, I may recommend Army Painter. I use a couple of their paints. They are as good as Citadel and substantially cheaper. The only Citadel product that I would strongly recommend is their ink washes. They are kind of pricey, but they are great and have awesome effects. It took me years to discover the magic of ink washes, so let me strongly point you in their direction right now.

>EDIT 2: I haven't yet ordered any primer. Any advice on what colour to use (White/Grey/Black?) and what brands would be best?

Army Painter is a common spray primer that a lot of people use.

Another tip that I have is to not forget the model base. You will often see photos were people didn't even bother to fix the random blotches caused when painting the figure, which is distracting and makes the whole model look worse. It's very easy to just paint the base black, but it's also very easy to glue some junk on there and take your model up a level. Even just some dirt/sand, bits of leaves or bark & small rocks. You don't need to buy stuff. Just go outside with a couple baggies. Get some glue put down and stick the stuff on, maybe with some tweezers. The stuff won't stick where you didn't put glue. Here's a good example of basic sand & rock basing which is very achievable by a novice.

If you're not into painting - the first bundle is fine if you're willing to put the money into it, the other bundles are too much for a beginner IMO

Something like:
https://www.amazon.com/Miniatures-Highlighting-Miniature-Army-Painter/dp/B01MTXRU2L/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1518146756&sr=8-4&keywords=army+painter+kit

Is a cheaper entry point - look for something in the same category as this, the primary colours + a few extras, a shade and a standard sized paint brush

This way you can try out painting and if you enjoy it, you can add to it from there, while not investing as heavily as the suggested bundles in the link are asking


Another option ~

https://www.amazon.com/Games-Workshop-60-22-Base-Paint/dp/B00KOCXDT4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1518147023&sr=8-2&keywords=citadel+paint+kit

Any paints from Army painter/Citadel/Vallejo are great places to start, just get whatever's got the best deal on at the time.

Only other suggestion would be to get a spray undercoat such as

https://www.amazon.com/Army-Painter-CP3001-Base-Primer/dp/B005WH3LVG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518147186&sr=8-1&keywords=miniature+undercoat+spray

Undercoat sprays make painting a mini MUCH easier and MUCH quicker, however, if you are only painting the bases and not any detail on the mini, you can get away with no undercoat spray
(You can get cheaper sprays but I find when you're new, picking one model paint brand and sticking to it to start with makes things easier to manage)

I've just grabbed links from Amazon, but you can find these products all over the place