Priming Miniatures

Priming your miniatures takes only a short amount of time, but is one of the most important steps of painting your miniatures. Without a solid and smooth base coat, your models will come out looking clumpy and paint will have trouble sticking to them.

Before priming, it is often a good idea to wash your miniatures under water and lightly go over their bases (after the glue has dried of course) with an old tooth brush. This ensures that extra flocking that is not sticking to your base comes off and rinses away, rather than coming off during the painting process and ending up where it shouldn't be. Let your models dry, ensuring that there is no water in any crevice before proceeding. If you are in a hurry, note that this step is optional.

When choosing primer, I highly recommend sticking to one brand of paint for the entire model. I only use official Games Workshop paint from start to finish to ensure that the textures of paint go together. Under no circumstances should you EVER use spray paint from a store, or anything that is not intended for miniatures as it will often damage or seriously ruin your models, in addition to making paint unable to stick to it.

A solid method of priming is to lie each of your miniatures on their backs, about two or three inches apart, in a straight line like this...

Make sure you prime on something you do not need, such as an old piece of cardboard or a box in a well ventilated area (I always prime outside for safety purposes). The method I use is to spray the models from each corner of the box (or from each 45 degree angle if you aren't using something square), holding the can about a foot to a foot and a half away. Then, after a few moments of drying I flip the models on their fronts and repeat. Then I stand each model up on their base to ensure I did not miss a critical spot, and then leave them to dry. The models are able to painted about twenty minutes after priming, but I usually wait at least eight hours so the paint can fully set and dry.

I cannot stress the importance of being careful during this step. It is better to have too little primer on your models than it is to have too much. Places you missed can easily be covered with a touch of paint, but when too much paint is applied detail can be lost. Your miniatures should look something like this.

Next time we will cover the painting and drybrushing of bases.