Your primer preferences?

[badun]

I'm sure that all of you have experienced issues with obtaining supplies given the pandemic, political unrest, alien visitations, etc. Zero paints have been especially difficult for me to obtain without paying unholy shipping fees and as a result I'm now facing two repaints because mixing and matching primers and paints didn't work very well. I'd like your opinions on what works best for the following materials in your experience, regardless of how easy it is to obtain the item these days. Let's assume the paint is lacquer in each case. I used acrylics all the time for military subjects but for autos I stick to solvent-based paint. Although this is about primer, feel free to state your paint/primer combo preferences. And any surface prep you do before priming.

Plastic - Good ol' parts on sprues. What primer do you prefer?
White metal - Etching primer? Rattle can, even for 1/43? Airbrush only?
Resin - As seen in multimedia kits, such as MFH. This material broke my heart and wallet because the Tamiya primer I used caused the Zero paint to flake off and now I have to repaint using a different brand because the Zero color is on eternal backorder.
Photo etch brass - Gunze Sangyo metal primer works great for me just brushing it on. But I don't have enough on hand to airbrush it on larger white metal pieces.
Photo etch steel - Ditto with the GS metal primer.

[stubeck]

Mr Hobby works really well for me. I've tried some of the pre-thinned primer from Gravity Europe and I had issues with crazing on plastic no matter how thinly I sprayed it.

[lvndeva]

I use tamiya surface primer over plastic. Rattle can works best, but it is pricey. These days i buy tamiya liquid primer in a bottle and mix with tamiya lacquer thinner. Ive sprayed all types of colour brands over them, like zero paints, my hobby, alclad, and of course tamiya paints, so far no issues.
Before priming, i sand using 600 grit, followed by 1000, then dip in water mix with detergent and brush away usign an old brush. This cleans the surface well before applying primer.
Not much experienxe with the resin or etched, but tamiya primer in rattle can does state that its for metal and plastic.

Hope this helps.

[ah100m]

I get the big spray cans of Dupli-color lacquer sandable primer in gray or white from Amazon, decant some into a cup and spray using my airbrush. I've been doing this for ten plus years - effective, cheap and the coverage of small scratches is good. Light sanding with 400/800 and shoot topcoats. Works on metal, plastic, resin, wood.

[BMW]

I sand body parts with 800-1000 grit, then Tamiya white primer, and then sand with 2000 sand paper afterwards. It works ok, I think, but the Tamiya from a can is a bit of a thick coat, I admit.
For resin, Its the same process, but there is usually a whole lot more sanding going on.

[PeteJ]

I also use Tamiya White primer, but I decant it out of the rattle can. I wish they sold it as LP paint, but they don't. When I decant it, it will pretty much fill two of Tamiya's 50ml mixing jars. I then thin it about 2:1 with their thinner to blow it through my airbrush. The airbrush gives me much better control of the thickness and reduced overspray. I think the stuff sprayed from the can is very wasteful and hard to control and get into tight spaces. An airbrush is a much better way to get it down.

[dgwoodward2]

I typically always come back to Mr. Surfacer (1200 or 1500). I usually buy the bottles and then thin 1:1.5 with Mr Color Leveling thinner. Has usually worked well for me no matter what it is going on or what is going on it. I usually use either white or gray depending on the final color. I also use the black Mr. Surfacer on suspension parts, etc. As far as etching primer, I have been hit or miss on the success. Lately has been a miss. I have used Tamiya primer periodically when I just want to spray something quick using a rattle can. As far as white metal, lately I have been keeping the surface a bit course to lay the primer down. And when I say course I mean only to 400 grit. It seems to allow the paint a bit more bite to the surface.

[eyckles]

My favorite primers to use are Tamiya white and grey primer, Alclad white, grey and black primer microfiller and Zero Paints 2k primer. I tried UMP/Stynylrez primer and Vallejo, but didn’t like it. Stynylrez clogged up my airbrush within 5 minutes and was very hard to clean out again. So am never using it again.

[Seema]

When I started with Zero colors, I also used the primer from them. Unfortunately, I can't handle the Zero Primer and I'm back to Tamiya primer white and gray. I either decant the cans or take the 40ml square glasses and dilute them with the Tamiya Laqua thinner. I also use Mr. Hobby cans or glasses every now and then. With these primers I haven't had any problems with Zero colors. Provided you build it up with light layers. I start with 2 light layers, let it dry for 10 minutes in between. Then a covering layer and 15 minutes later a wet finishing layer. Dry, sand and polish after 2 days. With this combination I achieve very good results for myself.

[badun]

I'm a bit strapped for cash right now so I tried decanting an older can of automotive etching primer and used it on a 1/43 white metal body. Ewwww, gross! It came out green and lumpy. Thankfully, a thinner bath fixes all white metal paint issues so it was good as new shortly after. I sprayed the tiny bit of Gunze Sangyo metal primer that I have left and I am pleased with the result. I'm using Splash paints so I'll put their gray primer on next.

I really should keep notes of what works best with each material. It would save me a lot of time and frustration!