GW white primer has been my go to spray primer for about a decade. I use past tense because GW has seen fit to replace their spray primer with spray paint and my can is about to run dry. Paint is fine for all the plastic kits GW produces these days, but primer makes a world of difference on metal figures. A bit of research turned up a number of discussions on the subject: ReaperMini forums brought me to a test site on Maximusinminimis for various primer products. TMP and Dakka also added their 2 cents to the topic. Be sure to check out the scratch test results for the rather popular choice of Krylon black.
The top recommendations were:
- Plasti-Kote White
- Floquil from Testors
- Duplicolor – automotive primer
- Krylon Ultra Flat Black
I wanted a product that I could buy locally – no need to pay more for shipping than the product. After a bit of shopping, I found Plasti-Kote white sandable primer at Micheal’s Arts and Crafts for less than $4.00 per can. Perfect! Now to try it out.
Primer Test: Plasti-Kote left and right. GW center.
The Plasti-Kote primer is as smooth or better than the GW primer. Drying time is similar and plasti-kote was able to spray clean dispite the humidity of July in Chicago. The only test left is to see how well the primer takes paint. Short of some sort of disaster with paint – I think I’ve found my new brand of primer.
Chicago Terrain Factory 
#1 by Arjan on July 30, 2008 - 8:32 am
I normally use Revell white paint (matt) in an airbrush. But this sounds as a good alternative..I’ll have to look into it.
#2 by Brian Kito on August 8, 2008 - 11:58 am
I’m a big fan of the DupliColor Sandable primer. I’ve only used the black, but it goes on smooth and doesn’t gunk up detail, even if you get a little over zealous with the spray. I’ve not tried their white though…
#3 by Dane of War on August 30, 2008 - 12:59 am
I started using Plasti-Kote, as well. It’s a lot less “powdery” than GW’s – and I think that I got a good clean spray in our rather rainy weather here in Denmark.
#4 by malonlabe300 on August 15, 2012 - 7:51 pm
Plasti-Kote is a close second to Krylon matte primer I like and use both. Krylon has a little better ‘tooth’ in my experience. Your mileage may vary.