Undercoating....

[Digger]

Hey Chaps

So a simple one, but I am sure we will have MANY different responses.

What is your favourite undercoat and do you brush, dip or spray???

Pete

[has.been]

do you brush, dip or spray???

Yes! 
I try anything to get an effect.
As well as the normal (?) methods I have tried:-
Inks, felt-tip pens, coloured pencils, wood stains,
shoe polish to mention but a few.
I have adulterated 'paints' with:-
sand, talc, oil & dust. All to get different results.
Sometimes I even get the effect I wanted . More
often I squirrel the information/formulae away for
another project/time.
Effects can often be achieved with little work,
e.g. Undercoat (the horses, soldiers, buildings, whatever) with different colours,
then 'overcoat' with a uniform colour (this has the advantage of being quick).
The 'overcoat' colour can be applied thin (as a wash) or thick (& rubbed off).
either way the undercoat will show through. Give it a try.

I am looking forward to hear what others do.  

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

For figures, I usually brush on black acrylic Gesso (slightly diluted so that I get a thin coating).
I wear a nitrile glove and hold the figure. I paint with a brush and can get into all of the undercuts.
This has no smell, covers well and I find is quicker and better coverage than spray painting.
Afterwards, I drybrush white to bring out the details.

I do often spray vehicles using Vallejo coloured sprays or Citadel Chaos black.

[OSHIROmodels]

Generally Halfords camo brown for figures, occasionally Humbrol matt colours depending on what's being done. Terrain can be any colour but usually sprays (Humbrol, Tamiya, Halfords).

[Daeothar]

Undercoating; cheap spray paints from Action all the way. It's rare these days that I would undercoat by hand.

I usually undercoat in either white or grey, but for many years, I only used black.

Recently, I gave zenithal undercoating a try, and I'm pretty pleased with how that turned out; also with the aforementioned cheap spray paints.

[Ruire]

I brush on the Vallejo polyurethane surface primers (so far Panzer Grey and German Dark Yellow) for my undercoats. I've never really had any trouble with it but do find I often need two coats on white metal.

I don't have the space or money for setting up an airbrush and the weather here is constantly humid and cold (and usually very windy) so spray primer is too unreliable to be an option.

[vexillia]

Brush on:



Full review - https://blog.vexillia.me.uk/2016/06/painting-tips-8primer-update.html

[robh]

Brush on Humbrol matt enamel as combined surface primer/undercoat and basecolour. On all figures except Reaper Bones or HaT 1/72nd due to the likelihood of reaction with the cheap plastics used.

[Silent Invader]

Brush on Vallejo black primer

[Blackwolf]

I wash in detergent first ,airbrush Badger black paint,then a dusting of white or whatever light colour is close to hand. I do not varnish unless I’m using oil paints.

[Hobgoblin]

Black Pebeo gesso, undiluted and brushed on.

[Fitz]

Most of the time, I airbrush Vallejo surface primer in a variety of colours. I'll occasionally brush it on too, usually diluted about 1:1 with airbrush thinner.

For porous substrates like wood, canvas or sintered nylon I use acrylic gesso, brushed on undiluted.

[Digger]

This has been very interesting so far.  We have many different takes and ideas for the process.  Let's keep it going.

Pete

[Wirelizard]

For figures, spraypaint after washing with dishsoap and water. Usually regular cheap grey primer, whatever was on sale last time I needed a new can, but I do also keep black and white spray primer around.

I've started doing a bit more zenithal priming - grey or black over the the whole figure, then a spritz of white from directly overhead. Nice easy low-effort preshading.

For scenery my undercoat is usually a mix of cheap black acrylic craft paint, bought in big bottles, and regular white glue for a bit of extra strength, durability, and wargamer-proofing.

[Johnny Boy]

Brush on Humbrol matt enamel as combined surface primer/undercoat and basecolour.

That's me too, all metal and plastic figures, vehicles etc. Always very thin but still gives a key to Acrylic paint I find.