[Otto69]

I've looked for Krylon sandable primer, and I've looked for Duplicolor sandable primer (at Wal Mart, in California). I did find some anti-rust sandable primer made by someone else, but i'm not sure if this is ok to use (like, what's the anti-rust component?). My Wal Mart didn't even have Dupli Color, they only a line with an unrelated name, seemingly cheap and slightly more expensive lines, as well as Krylon (but no plain sandable primer.

Tomorrow I'm going to a couple actual paint stores. But in the interim, WTH is up with finding sandable primer, particularly in light grey or white? It seems impossible, yet lots of people here seem to find it easily.

 

[John O]

Best place to find sandable primers is where AUTOMOTIVE paints are sold. If you want it in a cheap rattle can try auto parts places like Pep Boys, Advance Auto, Penn Jersey Auto, and the like. Your not likely to to find auto paints like Duplicolor at Walmart, K-Mart or other similar department stores. I seen Krylon paints at some crafts and art stores, but then you're back to hunting.

If you want excellent sandable primer to shoot through your airbrush, go to your local automotive paint supplier. Buy a quart of Dupont 131 acrylic lacquer primer surfacer and a gallon of lacquer thinner and you'll have more primer than you'll use in 6 months of average model building for way less than you'll wind up spending on lower quality hobby store primers.

John O.

 

[PhilipMarlowe]

Do you have a Michaels? They carry plasti-kote light grey sandable primer which works better and smoother than Krylon imho, and it's about the same price...

Oddly enough though, it's NOT in the model section, but with the crafts stuff.

 

[TAY666]

Your not likely to to find auto paints like Duplicolor at Walmart, K-Mart or other similar department stores. John O.

Kmart here in NE Ohio caries Duplicolor.
It's not in the paint section with the other rattle cans, it's in the automotive section.

 

[JadesDarkHeart]

Pep Boys cant go wrong there. Plastikote Primer

 

[terryr]

If you're going to use professional sprays a lot get a proper mask.

A real unit costs a couple hundred bucks but a surplus gas mask works great. As someone told me, a commercial mask is designed to clog (so you buy more), while a miltary unit is designed to stay breathable.

 

[sbaxter]

Your not likely to to find auto paints like Duplicolor at Walmart, K-Mart or other similar department stores.

Wal-Mart here carries Dupli-Color, including their sandable primer. Oddly, they seem to have stopped carrying the gray version, and have started carrying the Rust-Oleum gray primer. That may have been the stuff Otto69 mentioned, but it seems to work about the same as the other sandable primers I've used. Name brands haven't given me any trouble.

I've also found Dupli-Color out the wazoo at Advance Auto Parts, and Home Depot carries a good selection of other brands, including a sandable primer (can't remember which brand).

Qapla'

SSB

 

[Big Daddy Dave]

Now I don't feel so crazy. I have not been able to find the Krylon white sandable in a couple of months. I wonder if they have taken it off the market?

 

[sbaxter]

Now I don't feel so crazy. I have not been able to find the Krylon white sandable in a couple of months. I wonder if they have taken it off the market?

Given that most other companies offer similar products, I have wondered if maybe it was being reformulated. Seems strange that they would take the existing version off the market first, though.

Qapla'

SSB

 

[Big Daddy Dave]

I just emailed Krylon. I'll let you know what they say. It's not listed in the product guide on the Krylon website either.

 

[Vaderman]

Rust-Oleum makes a sandable primer called Painter's Touch. It is good for wet or dry sanding. Dries to the touch in 20 minutes and to handle in 1 hour. Can put a second coat on after 1 hour. Stuff is great.


Scott

 

[MangoMan]

Rust-o-leum (I think) also makes a "Plastic Primer". Picked up some white at Home Despot, and used it on my Bonehead Fighter. It did a great job of holding on to the resin as I masked and re-masked that puppy.

 

[Big Daddy Dave]

Krylon emailed back and suggested the general use white primer. It seems the sandable has been discontinued. The sandable white worked very well on all media and had minimal build up in thin coats. The Dupli Color I have tried does not seem to have as fine of a pigment and there is a lot more detail lost due to build up. Oh well. Time to shop around for brands.

 

[Cougar184]

Go to a automotive paint store and get 2 or 3 part primer. This stuff is the BEST! I use it to fill seems, pinholes in resin castings, and The Enterprise A to get rid of the aztec pattern.

 

[star-art]

Does anyone know of a good replacement for 131S "Fill 'n Sand" automotive lacquer-based primer? I'm not crazy about those newer two-part formulas that have to be mixed. The 131s is discontinued and I can't find it anywhere (not even online).

While we're on the subject, what do you guys recommend for a regular (i.e. non-filling) primer that can be shot thorugh an airbrush and won't obscure fine surface details?

 

[david merriman]

Does anyone know of a good replacement for 131S "Fill 'n Sand" automotive lacquer-based primer? I'm not crazy about those newer two-part formulas that have to be mixed. The 131s is discontinued and I can't find it anywhere (not even online).

While we're on the subject, what do you guys recommend for a regular (i.e. non-filling) primer that can be shot thorugh an airbrush and won't obscure fine surface details?

Star-art,

Are you in The People's Republic of California ... you know, the left coast, where the issuance of Illegal Driver's licenses is a much more important government concern than the maintenance of a robust, prospering automotive refinishing trade?

Though the DuPont Lucite brand has all but been banned in California, you can still secure the Lucite gray automotive lacquer primer, 131S and its associated thinners there.

Check out the Yellow pages and look for 'automotive refinishing supplies'. Be on the lookout for one distributor in particular: Mattos. They carry 131S.

David D Merriman lll

 

[star-art]

Thanks David! I'm not in SSCA thank goodness (the Socialist State of California), but I'm in Washington State which has become almost as bad. All the automotive supply shops here keep telling me that you can't get 131S anymore and they keep wanting me to try a new 2-part primer instead. Are you saying it is now available under the name "Lucite?" I'll check and see if I can find that.

I did a search on Google for 131S and surprisingly little came up. No links to any suppliers that carry it, and all the MSDS links came up as 404 (i.e. page not found).

I'll look for that distributor you mentioned. Thanks again for your help!

 

[Brent Gair]

Here's what I do for a thin, non-filling primer:

I start with a spray can of regular, auto lacquer primer. Those are often too hot to use straight from the can on plastic.

I decant the spray into a container and cut with about 25% paint thinner. Note that's PAINT thinner (white spirit) NOT lacquer thinner. The paint thinner will "cool" it down so it doesn't attack the plastic. It also has the effect of making the primer even thinner than normal. I airbrush the mixture.

That's the mixture use on aircraft models when I need to preserve panel line and rivet detail. Used it on this 1/48 scale Corsair:

http://groups.msn.com/WorldAccordingtoGair/models.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=80

 

[david merriman]

A note to 131S acrylic lacquer primer users:

This primer can be applied by spray gun or spray brush, piled on wet, directly to styrene, ABS, Acrylic, and Lexan plastic; cured epoxy, polyester, and polyurethane resin; the 'machinable' industrial tooling plastics ... without any fear of solvent damage to the substrate. Period.

In the twenty-five plus years I've been using 131S primer -- sometimes in near mud-pack thickness - I've observed no ill effects to the substrate.

I've read too many ill-informed posters over the years suggesting that this primer attacks the above materials; the horrible effects 131S has if applied to unprotected plastic surfaces. Those posters are wrong: the miss-informed spouting authoritatively miss-information to the unknowing. I'm tired of it.

131S is the holly grail of primers: It can be cut to water-thin consistency to preserve surface detail. Or it can be shot mud-thick to contour surfaces. Great flexibility of use, quick flash and dry time, tenacious adhesive property, and the primer won't chemically attack most substrates. If you can't find it, find it! You'll never go back.

(Oh ... those of you singing the praises of Mr. Surfacer as a primer substitute: What do you think Mr. Surfacer is, anyway? That's right: a 131S equivalent, repackaged at exorbitant markup for the not-too-bright hobby store and on-line shoppers).

Find, buy and use 131S primer. Let this be the last word on that.

David D Merriman lll

 

[Brent Gair]

Hmmm...I just want to add a bit here. I hope I'm not being too sensitive and I know that Mr. Merriman's last message was specifically about 131S. But in the off chance that any of those comments were triggered by my post, I do want to make a couple of clarifications.

For several years in the 1980's I ran the paint shop at Standard Aero Limited which is the one of the worlds largest independent overhaulers of gas turbine engines (about 1200 employees here at the Winnipeg plant...branches worldwide). I wasn't "just" a painter...it was MY shop. I held two sets of government qualification stamps for the job: one from Transport Canada and one from the Department of National Defense. I probably inhaled more paint than most modelers will spray in ten lifetimes . People came to my shop from Portugal, Greece, Singapore...even from Cooper Airmotive in Texas to learn how to paint specialty material.

When President Reagan sent those F-111's to bomb Libya, I'm proud to say that the nozzle actuating cylinders on the TF-30 engines were painted by me personally. And they were painted by me because another aerospace company which had the afterburner contract for TF-30's didn't have anybody qualified to paint Sermetel.

Following my stint there, I went to a start up company called Advanced Composite Structures. My job there consisted entirely of finishing composite materials made by the Boeing factory. The composites came to us from Boeing (fairings, doors, etc) and my job was to spray them with an electroconductive coating, prime them and supervise the other painters in the correct process of doing so. The days were 12 hours long and I spent almost ALL of those days in full body chemical suit spray painting.

In my "spare" time, I've sprayed more than a few gallons of 131S at home...including on my '59 Corvette (which I COMPLETELY stripped down to bare fibreglass, inside and out...a full frame-off job).

Again, I only felt compelled to mention that in off-chance that my own post may have raised questions about my qualifications to comment on primers. Apologies if I'm being too defensive.

As I said, most automotive spray can primers (with the excpetion of the scratch-fillers which have a higher percentage of solids) can craze plastic. My comments were specifically about that. It's a subject about which I'm eminently well qualified to speak about.