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With the weather being so cold and not having a place to spray paint, I just gave gesso a try. Bob Ross black gesso I had laying around. Looks good on the 2 test minis I tried. Any downside to this as a basecoat?

I use it all the time, Only downside I have experienced is that you'll have to to touch up's from when it shrinks. But thats nothing different then spray primer.

To prevent the downside Imp is talking about, just put a heavy coating of the gesso on.

No downsides as far as I am concerened. I use spray paint for batches, but gesso for singlemodels and very small groups.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Gesso.

http://thescreamingalpha.com/2009/05/05 ... lic-gesso/

This is the article that turned me on to Gesso. The original site went down, but luckily screaming alpha rescued it!

On a side note, gesso is the product professional painters use to prime canvases, and works great with acrylic paint.

As a tip, don't try to try to prime quickly with this method. Small fresh blob of gesso, prime one at a time- then use fresh gesso for the next mini. I got moving too fast (trying to prime a bunch of stuff at one time) my gesso on the palette thickened and I ended up with one semi blobby gretchin. No big deal, but I thought I would pass that along for anyone who is going try this. SLOW and steady.

I haven't primed with gesso in a long time. If I'm brushing it on, now, I'm using Vallejo brush on primer. I like it more.

Back when i used Gesso, though, I had a problem with it getting thick. I had success with mixing a little water with it to thin it down.
I find that the Gesso rubs off easier, too, if you handle your minis before or during painting.

Eric

MM

Pick up a cheap airbrush... and run your bottled primers through that to prime your mini's its very controllable and you get less waste and virtually no smell.. you can pick up a cheap airbrush for this purpose from harbor freight for under 20.00... i use this to do all my tanks and such... although i have to admit my airbrush isn't a 20.00 one...

I've tried the gesso as a primer and I've noticed the same thing others have.. it gets very thick so only use it for small batches.. and even after it dries it comes off very easily when handling models.. a few i have painted for skirmish games were almost bare metal by the time i played in 10-15 games..

on another note.. i picked up some primed skaven on here.. and found that i loved the primer that was used.. i contacted the seller about it.. and was told it was the from the Army Painter line.. called rat fur... I've sense picked up a couple cans of the paint and find that i really like the results.. although its pretty expensive at 15.00 a can..

i do suggest you paint over the primer though and not try to just use it as a base to wash over.. as inks and washes do not stick well to it directly and flow very blotchy... but you could probably hit it with a coat of dulcoat and fix that issue... Vellejo and GW foundation paints stick very well to the spray primer.. but the inks and washes seem to pool and spot...

Just my FYI..

I do have a cheap airbrush. Eventually, I'll get around to using it.

Spent, like, $50 on it. It's a cheapo Testors aribrush and came with a little compressor (nothing fancy).
I intend on using it for anything large.

Good call on priming with it. Seems like it might be expensive, though. I mean, one of those little Vallejo bottles is about $3. For less than $5, I can go to the auto parts store and get an REALLY GOOD auto primer that works as well on resin and metal as it does on plastic. Just make sure you don't get the expanding kind, and you're set.

Just how much can you get out of a little bottle of Vallejo? Can it really beat out a spray can (for quantity/value)?

Thanks.

Eric

properly thinned.. you can get as many models primed with that little bottle of primer as you can with a whole can of auto-primer... i can base a entire dreadnought with about 10 drops of primer thinned correctly...

remember too.. your not wasting all the primer on over spray either that you will with a spray can when you get used to using the brush.. you can even prime with multiple colors pretty easy..

if i'm mass priming troops or something.. i'm all for using Krylon black/white primer.. that stuff rocks.. nice flat black great coverage on resin / metal or plastic.. but we were speaking of priming indoors in the winter where you really cant spray paint like that without 1/2 killing yourself!

darksoul-
when you had the gesso flake off your minis, was it just gesso
or did you have paint/seal over the top?

Gesso, paint and dulcoat... it was worse on metal mini's than those of plastic...

it wasn't so much that it flaked off.. it rubbed off where fingers touched it.. or chipped easy if models bumped each other.. it seemed to me that it just wasn't as flexible as other primers... i've had the same thing happen with some spray primers too... they are just not meant to handle the constant handling (LOL) of war-gaming..

some of the more expensive primers have a flex agent similar to what they use on cars rubber bumpers in them.. i'm guessing that's what makes them so much more expensive.. other than the fact that they are designed or at least marketed for hobby use so they get a higher markup..

I've never had this problem of paint flaking off, but I do use an acrylic sealant.

I use gesso when it is cold out and for plastic models. A lot of the spray primers often bond to plastic models, so if you find yourself stripping the plastics later on; you won't be able to get the primer off.

As far as what brush I use, I just use a Windsor & Newton 1/4" brush for painting the gesso on. And before you say, "Gosh! That's expensive!", go here: http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount- ... knives.htm

Jerry's has got hella cheap art supplies.

I take it your not using a series 7 1/4 inch brush!

Awesome site... 8.00 for a series 7 miniature brush is a awesome price... mine are wearing out...

Interesting the reports of gesso rubbing off. I've never had this problem on metal or plastic, and I'm pretty hard on my miniatures. The difference is probably that many of my minis are dipped in minwax (nearly indestructible paintjobs) and even those that aren't get a few sprays of matte sealer to protect. Dullcote is supposed to be protective, but I have a feeling that a light coat of dulcote is not nearly as protective as having a layer of matte sealer in between the paint and dullcote