Putting your undercoat on

[valleyboy]

Morning all
I've just had a few thoughts after reading Atheling's yellow paint tutorial mainly related to the question of undercoating
I hate prepping and undercoating
I have always undercoated black (except for some Austrian SYW figures)
I usually use black undercoat by sloshing figures in turps diluted Humbrol Matt black which at the moment I'm struggling to find. This is incredibly quick - I stick the figures in a heap, use a large brush which inevitably makes a pool of dilute undercoat then manipulate the figures by turning them in the heap with tweezers and adding more dilute paint. When they are covered sufficiently I either lie them down or stand them up individually to try

Because of a shortage I'm wondering about using a spray in the next few days
The problem I find whenever I have used spray in the past I find I cant get decent coverage - I tend to undercoat in large batches - I've probably got about 200 figures to do

How do you lot do it
The hassles I find are ...
1 Getting figures to stand up
2 getting spray from all sides
3 getting spray on undercuts and the lower half of figures
4 Getting enough coverage

Any pearls of wisdom?

[Tim Hall]

If it helps, I have always spray primed the figures by laying them down, base pointing in the direction of spray, same for horses. I then spray one side, allow it to dry and then flip them over. It sounds laborious but it isn't really, in your wonderful climate I'd do it in the outdoors, which would speed up drying time. Plastics are the biggest problem as they are too flimsy to stand up to the spray pressure and can fly about all over the place, these I stick on to a coffee stirrer(free courtesy of MacDonalds, other brands are also available), in groups of five or so. This gives them a bit more weight and they don't flip around too much. I have an old card fruit box, (found in the local supermarket for free) I use as a spraying tray, and our local free newspaper is of a nice, stiff and less absorbent paper type. The coverage I get from this method is very adequate. Hope that helps.

[tim.w]

Nope, still a humbrol and thinners guy here too.

[Tim Hall]

Nope, still a humbrol and thinners guy here too.

Watch out Whiskey, there's an asteroid heading your way.

[Jeremy]

I have some 6” bobbins with old 50mm square plastic bases glued top and bottom. Bottom acts as a base and top is for blue tacking (if the figure is stuck to a base) or for wood glueing the figure to if not. Being plastic, I can just prize the figure off when done.

I have a small airbrush carousel, almost like a painting lazy Susan. The bobbins with figures go on that and I rotate the carousel. The rotation, and the fact the figure is raised on a bobbin generally allows me to reach all the nooks and crannies. I spray in the garage which is a 30 second walk from my painting desk.

My spray box is an old pink toy box liberated from the plastic bin when we moved in

[Count Belisarius]

I'm very tempted to try Atheling's approach. A light spray of something 'binding' and then an acrylic primer on top. If the base coat creates a good 'key' then spraying will catch the surface parts more susceptible to handling.

Like VB I spend more time going back over spray primed stuff filling in the gaps to make it pointless. But if it can give a better and stronger surface then I'll give it a go.

A

[Paul]

I have a 2 1/2 foot stick that I blu tack figures to.
I can then hold it at one end and twist and turn it around to make sure I get good coverage with a decent very matt black primer (like Halfords). Over the last couple of years i've started to then give them a zenithal zap with an off white spray. This adds a pre painting highlight which can be useful for most painting but is especially good when using contrast paints for speed painting or when using light spray coats on larger models or buildings.

[RMD]

Yep, thinned Humbrol for me too.

Obvs...

[Spanner]

Tip, VB- do a couple of quick sprays on some scrap cardboard to see how much paint comes out. It will help you judge how far from the figures you need to have the spray can nozzle, or you could "drown" your figures.

I use Humbrol, too, though Tamiya (thinned with lacquer thinners) works well on plastics. I airbrush the undercoat onto the figures, blu-taked onto a cheap, 12" lazy susan I got at a discount shop. Rotate the turntable slowly with your finger and after you've done them to your satisfaction, lay them down- base facing out- and get the bits you missed.

[Willz the Wargamer]

I have a couple of McDonalds food trays I found that I use as spray painting trays, I undercoat in batches of a few hundred.
Using car spray black, grey or white, figures a glued on to lollipop sticks 4 / 6 figures.



Willz.