Army Painter is a product that’s been around for years, but that I’ve never had the pleasure of using. Recently I picked up a can of their coloured ‘Desert Yellow’ spray primer from Mighty Ape to try on a bunch of plastic Cadians that I started assembling in 2004. So here’s a quickie review!
This first shot shows the squad of plastic Cadians, assembled and based with some Polyfilla and model railway ballast. The figures are a mix of the original GW plastic Cadians and some home-cast resin parts for detailing – extra backpacks and a crate for the Heavy Bolter. The mix of different materials should be a good test for a primer.
Following the instructions I gave the can a good shaking and lined the figures up in an old shoe box resting on its side. I’ve primed for years using old shoe boxes, because I find they’re just the right size to catch and control the over-spray. They also tend to cycle the paint around the back of the figures for some extra coverage too – no point wasting that expensive can. The figures were hit on one side, then rotated 90 degrees and sprayed again, until every side was covered. I was generous with the spray on each side as I wasn’t sure how well it was going to cover. The 10 figures were primed in two batches of 5 figures each.
Here’s the figures post priming. The coverage is excellent, although as I was spraying assembled figures there’s a little shadowing of course. I’d never be organised enough to prime on the sprue though, so this is how all my figures get primed. The colour has covered well and obscured no detail, despite being applied fairly heavily. It dried quickly too, with the figures being touch dry after say around 5 minutes – mind you it’s summer here currently so the ambient temperature in my garage was pretty warm. You can see the black base edges have also been entirely covered by the primer, despite the fact I was concentrating on priming the figures rather than the bases. The primer also had no problem covering the resin and Polyfilla either – not really a surprise, but you never know.
Army Painter do their own ‘Desert Yellow’ paint which is a 100% match to their spray primer and comes in an 18ml dropper bottle. Army Painter Desert Yellow spray primer is also a perfect match for Games Workshop’s old Desert Yellow paint as well. However I believe this colour has since been renamed ‘Tallarn Sand’ and might no longer be an exact match (thanks Games Workshop, screwing with my hobby as usual). Fortunately I still have a 12ml pottle of the old Desert Yellow on my paint station. I’ve also ordered some of the Army Painter paint for when my GW Desert Yellow finally gives up the ghost. Honestly folks, just don’t buy GW paints – they’re never worth it.
In conclusion, Army Painter Spray Colour Primer is a superb product and I’ve since primed up the remaining 15 or so Cadians I have assembled (a mix of heavy weapons, plastics and metals) with no difficulty at all. The can still feels pretty full too which is nice. If you’re looking for a good base colour for speed painting, definitely check out the Army Painter’s Spray Colour Primer as it’ll save you a bunch of time. Comes in a great range of colours too!