RSEA

No, I do not have any new primer yet. I will obtain some of the Floquil Polly Scale primer, mentioned by Swathdiver, and will spray that with my airbrush. No more rattle cans for me.

You can see what happened to my aluminum Schumo gun barrel if you look at my "Last Tiger" thread. Removing the rusty metal primer with the Super Clean ate away most of the plating on the gun barrel. Cake like clumps of light yellow stuff grew all over it and I had to scrub it off. The aluminum lower hull tub had a similar reaction but not as bad as the gun barrel. The Rusty Metal Primer and Super Clean combo did NOT like aluminum. The die cast zinc parts came out okay. The muzzle brake was completely unaffected, unlike the gun barrel.

Swathdiver - Speaking of the Floquil Polly Scale primer, does it need to be thinned to spray it with an airbrush? If so, what kind of thinner works best with it?

swathdiver

In my ignorance I have sprayed it straight from the bottle with no ill effects. I now thin it with a few drops of RO or distilled water to economize on the paint, it's expensive!

Curiously I have several bottles that I used as a kid that must be 30+ years old now and still work just fine with a bit more water added.

Tiger1man

Hi, Ipurchased a can of"Red Oxide Primer" from my local hardware store in Brisbane, Australia. I sprayed the bottom hull of my Tamiya King Tiger first . It was out of a spray can. I then tested it on the plastic spare barrel, let it dry and checked for any problems but there was no reaction to the plastic at all. I have not had any problems with applying the top coats with my airbrush. see some sample photos of my KT build. If You want to see more photos go to the "hobby havoc " forum site, click onto Tamiya King Tigers.

thecommander

When you (meaning anyone...) try some new technique, idea or an unknown paint, do a test spray on a piece from the parts tree. Or a part of the model that would be easily seen like the inside, bottom or battery door. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

Tiger1man

Thanks for that, but I have been building models for over 43 years now. I used the plastic barrel of the main gun as it was a spare and of no use due to the King Tiger coming with a metal barrel.

RSEA

I did the same thing, big mistake. I guess I could have made a worse one though, like get married or something like that.

swathdiver

Getting married is one of the best decisions a guy can make, it'll prolong your life! I wouldn't be here if it weren't for my wife, the greatest thing that ever happened to me besides accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior!

four slot

Okay so just incase you have not figured out yet as to what type of primer to use. I have all ways used your basic garden stock rattle can of primer from the hardware store you can find it in gray, red oxide black and white. The only thing that you need to make sure of is that you have prepped the surface buy sanding using scotch brite sanding pad, wash it and let dry and spray, let the primer dry between coats sand if need be. This creates a good barrier, heck if you wanted to you can use automotive lacquer as top coat....I know you would not use that as a finish but I amtrying to demonsrate how durable the primer is. I have used this process for decades and have won several awards for paint jobs on my models. So good luck and spray away.