Priming Metal Miniatures; a Product Review of Tamiya Metal Primer

So, i'm sure everyone here has had this problem. You get a beautiful metal miniature to add to your collections; the Jumppack Chaplain. Captain Lysander. Brother-Captain Stern. Abbadon. Zoanthrope. And you try to prime it in black, or white, whatever your choice of undercoat to start your masterpiece may be. And then it starts; that annoying chipping or flaking on the edges where try as you might, the paint never wants to stay.

This topic is less Tutorial, and more Product Review.

I had recently purchased a spray can of Tamiya's Metal Primer to work on some classic 1940's pickup trucks i got for xmas, assuming it was meant to make metallic paints look more metallic on plastics. What i got was a pleasant surprise. Firstly, i noticed the acrylic paint i was coating on after using the spray was going on smooth and consistently in far few, thinner coats than usually needed for a metallic paint.

So i experimented on a GW Metal miniature of the Jump Pack Chaplain. Turns out, this is a clearcoat primer meant to be used on metal miniatures to make paint stick better. And boy does it work great! As i've already said, it did wonders on the smooth-sheened plastic that Revell Model Kits come in; to the point that not only did the Tamiya paints go on nicer, but i was even able to do the exhaust lines and engine parts in Citadel paints with a single coat and have the result look like a smooth thin coat of Testors or Tamiya paints.

This stuff made the paint i coated the Chaplain in go on in a thinner single coating and did not chip or flake like the metal miniatures usually do. I should note now, that before i paint miniatures made of metal, i usually prep them in a bath of Heavy Duty Simple Green, undiluted, for a day to help wash off the Mold Releasing Agent before painting. Even with the bath, the metal still gets the odd chipping on really sharp angular areas, though not as badly as before. This time however, there wasn't any of that.

I really suggest buying a spray can of this stuff if you plan to paint any metal or resin miniatures, as it certainly helps with getting that basecoat on in a thinner smoother coating.

"This is the Spray Can of Tamiya Metal Primer. This Primer is used to undercoat metal parts before the final finish is applied.
FEATURES: Synthetic lacquer formula cures in short period of time (i found this to be 5 minutes or less).
Compatible with acrylic and enamel paints.
INCLUDES: One 3oz (100ml) Spray Can of Tamiya Metal Primer.
DIRECTIONS: Apply to clean metal surface in a well ventilated area prior to applying paint."