paint-primer adhesion question

[BillK]

Okay LAF hive mind...

In over 40 years of painting I've never encountered my current situation.I have some all-in-one paint and primer I've used a few times... FoW War Paint, particularly Crusader Sand, and some Army Painter colors, to name a few. I've never had any issues with paint adhesion when I went back to paint larger areas like an overcoat or details like gun stocks and boots.

Now I've had an instance with the FoW Crusader Sand, two instances with Army Painter Leather Brown, and one confirmed and one potentially waiting to happen instance with Army Painter Skeleton Bone, all different purchases at different times, where my paint doesn't seem to want to adhere. It almost slips off. I'm finding it takes either a mulit-layered dry brush approach or a type of two-coat scrubbing to get the paint to take.

Whats up? Whats the solution?

Cheers,
Bill

[Codsticker]

I have no experience with FOW sprays but I have found both Army Painter Leather Brown and Skeleton Bone to be  bit difficult. They cover well but the "tooth" is poor.

[BillK]

@Codsticker,


"tooth," the grip, is exactly what I'm referring to with these specific instances. Did you end up just using a multi-layer drybrush technique or is there a paint additive you've found that helps with the paint's adhesion (I know watercolorists and acrylic painters often use soap in their paints when applying color to slick surfaces such as glass)?

Thx
Bill

[syrinx0]

I have never experienced that.  Could the figures have had something oily spilled on them?  I would be tempted to clean them off in simple green and start over.

[cuprum]

There are several ways to enhance adhesion in such cases:
- you need a very thin abrasive (I used powder for brushing my teeth - I don’t know if it is possible to find such a rarity in the West now) and an old toothbrush. You just peel off the micron layer of the oxide film, which may be bothering you. The relief of the figure will not be affected.
- chemical etching. I used high concentration of copper sulfate (means for pest control in horticulture) to prepare for painting metal figures. Dip in a jar with a solution of the figure and watch for a color change. They will either turn black or copper. This surface will be microporous and will hold paint perfectly. But you need to work outdoors and with gloves. Wash the figures after the procedure well with soapy water, otherwise vitriol will ruin the paint layer. The paint holds very firmly after such a procedure, but the metal of some manufacturers does not react with vitriol.
- You can use a car acrylic primer. But we need to make sure that it is sufficiently finely dispersed.

[Codsticker]

... Did you end up just using a multi-layer drybrush technique

Basically I just kept building up the base layer until it stuck. Most of the are of the figures was remaining the primer colour so was not too time consuming. I did consider giving the figures a light spray with a matte varnish to see if that had any effect but I haven't tried it yet.

[BillK]

Guys,

Between feedback here and on Wargamers Forum, and my own thinking, I'm going to try a test fig with a light spray of dullcoate and then painting, and another fig with a thinned down dip and painting, and see what I get.

Thanks for the input.
Bill

[syrinx0]

Good luck.  Let us know how it goes.