Testors enamels directly over plastic, without primer?

[kerc]

I'm currently assembling an AMT 1977 Mustang II. I already did all flash and mold line removal, and it needs zero putty anywhere (I wonder if I got lucky, but I digress)...Anyway, I'm gonna paint it with plain ol' Testors enamel, the stuff from the square bottles.

Since the plastic is pretty silky and smooth, I could skip throwing primer at it, right? Whaddaya guys think?

[Harry P.]

I've always felt that if you're painting a clean styrene body (no putty or anything besides the plastic the kit was molded in), you can spray the paint right over the bare plastic. In fact I do it all the time. Of course, you wouldn't want to spray white over a black plastic body without primer, (or any color over a bare body that's a contrasting color) because you would need too many color coats to get a pure color...but if you're spraying color on white styrene, why not???

However, do yourself a big favor and make your modeling life easier: ditch the enamels and use either acrylics or lacquers. Believe me, you'll be amazed at how bad enamels are after you've tried either acrylics or lacquers.

You'll thank me later.

[kerc]

Thanks for responding. I've had experience with lacquers, and I like them, but also have used enamels with great results...Especially those little humble Testors square bottles!

[diymirage]

with the testor enamels , yes, i would say you are safe without primering

with the water based acrylics (found in the same square bottles) i would say no

i've tried it but with disapointing results

[carrucha]

If you very confident that the body is perfect, then paint directly over bare plastic. I primer before painting a car body because I need a coat of primer to discover tiny little flaws that would ordinarily go unnoticed without primer.

carrucha

[bobss396]

I have dedicated all of my enamel paints to protecting my snow shovels from rust, but you should be ok with it over bare plastic.

Bob

[Olle F]

I'm one of the dinosaurs that still use enamels, and I use it on bare plastic all the time. If you thin the enamel with lacquer thinner, it will dry quickly and stick like glue.

As already mentioned, there are cases where a primer is needed (extensive bodywork, color issues etc) but on most my builds I just prep the styrene and spray the enamel straight onto it. I prefer this method as I want to keep the buildup to a minimum in order to leave trim and emblems as crisp and well-defined as possible.

The most common objection to this (Hi, Bill Geary! ) is that it can leave the body slightly translucent, which will show under certain conditions. I solve this by priming or painting the inside of the body instead, and it works well for me.

[GMP440]

Always primer the model car body prior to your topcoat. I like using laquer based primers such as Duplicolor or Plasticote when I'm using imron,

centauri and other types of paint. If you just spray on bare plastic body there will always be a chance for adhesion problems with the topcoat.