Platoon's 12SS HJ Normandy ala Tan: Part 4

(A forgotten update prior to the big move)

Priming and undercoating

Having split the figure into manageable sub-assemblies and cleaned them up, I always prime a figure. There are many different ways to prime a figure, and some folks prime, others don't. As with so much in this craft, it's a personal choice.

One of the reasons I like to prime is that it helps to highlight where I may have missed a seam or flaw, and allows me to rectify it prior to it only being picked out by a dry-brushing which makes it glaringly obvious. Another reason is that I believe it provides the paint something to bite into. Whether this is true or not I don't know, but it works for me.

I prefer to prime my models with Tamiya's Surface Primer. I'm not to hassled whether I use the white or the light grey. After priming, Calvin's technique calls for a second primer coat, this time with black. I should mention that this isn't priming, as Calvin calls it, this is actually an "undercoat". Again, I'm going with a Tamiya product. No particular why, other than it's what my LHS stocks. And that's good enough reason for me.

Prior to priming, I place bits of poster tack over parts I don't want primed. All this really does is saves me from having to scrape the paint away later when I need to glue a piece down. In this case I placed the tack in the arms sockets, collar area and on the hip where the bread bag et al would be located. I rolled sausages of tack as well to hold the parts while they were being sprayed.

Below you see first the primed parts, and then the undercoated parts.

If spots were missed by the primer, or the primer is scraped down where a seam is fixed, there's no need to reapply primer, the undercoat will cover it. If however spots are missed with the undercoat, these should be filled in as the undercoat is essential to Calvin's technique. You can simply brush any missed spots in with your acrylic black paint.

Next up we get into the real painting of this figure: the head! Fasten your seatbelts, this is going to be a bumpy ride. :)