Hello and welcome back our fellow faithful followers of the lord of decay. Now I will be honest I have been slacking off as late with the hobby, its taken me far too long to finish the 4 Orcs on my painting table and they are literally nearly done (pictures of these will come soon).
Anyway with apologies aside a couple of weeks back when I was browsing eBay for cheap Chaos Black spray I thought, "Who says you have to use GW's spray primer?" Nothing against GW's spray primer, I personally really like it, but let be honest £9.50 is an awful lot for what it is, so I thought I would go on the hunt for a cheaper alternative.
Now I have used Army Painters black spray primer, not too my liking to be honest. I felt it went on thicker and after 3 quarters of the can the spray wouldn't come out properly and I had this with 3 cans of of the stuff. Before anyone asks I shook the can each time for the recommended amount of time and I turned the can upside down and sprayed to clear the last bit out of the nozzle.
I had a browse through a variety of forums and I found a couple of spray that people recommended so I thought I would get hold of them and test them out for you guys. I came across Halfords Matt Black spray, which a lot of people swear by and I saw some good reviews on Simoniz Matt Black Acrylic spray.
To test each product I thought I would use it on a piece of GW's plastic sprue and paint on 5 foundation colours. I opted for Dhenab Stone, Iyanden Darksun, Mordian Blue, Orkhide Shade and Mechrite Red. I watered each paint down slightly and did a single coat in a 'test stripe'. After the paint was dry I would try and scratch the paint off.
The instructions on both seemed to be the usual shake for an allotted time and spray about 15 - 20 cm away in a well ventilated area. After spray turning the can upside down and holding the nozzle until the spray becomes clear. Compared to GW's Chaos Black, the recommended shaking time is doubled to two minutes, so it gets a very good mix up before use.
Halfords Matt Black Spray Paint
OK, first up is the very popular matt black spray from Halfords. This is an automotive store here in the UK and they produce their own range of spray paints. The can itself comes in at £7.49 so we are already saving £2.01 per can of spray, but wait the can is also 100ml bigger. That means you are getting 20% more then GW's Chaos Black. This appears to be a bargain already!
As you can hopefully see from the picture above the spray seems to coat quite well. It does look a little bumpy for some reason in the picture, but it looked smooth to me. The paint went on well and when it was dry there was no sign of any markings when I tried to scratch the paint off.
So this brings me to the conclusion of this fine product. Now as far as I'm aware you can only purchase this item in store, as Halfords do not post this item. This will mean it will depend on locality to a Halfords store. It also says on the can that this cannot be used directly on metal and will require a primer, but for plastics (and I assume resin) it is OK. Because of this and the fact that you can only purchase it in a Halfords store I am giving this product an 8 out of 10. This is still a good score and I would suggest to any hobbyists out there to try it.
Simoniz Matt Black Acrylic Spray Paint
I came across this particular spray searching for sprays on eBay. I put its name in Google to see what some people where saying on the net about the product. It seemed to have good reviews, so I thought I would give it a try. I bought it from a Top Rated Seller, they seem to have a good rep. You can find the item here. This came in at £6.89 including postage and packaging. The can was 500ml again, so an even better bargain then the Halfords Spray.
Similar to the Halfords spray, this spray seemed to go on nice and smoothly. The only odd thing with this spray as it has no 'ball' inside when you shake it up. This spray also says it can be used directly on plastics and metals, but it does suggest using a grey primer for best results. The paint went on well and when it was dry there was no sign of any markings when I tried to scratch the paint off.
Now my conclusion of this product is going to be 9.5 out of 10. This is purely because no product can be perfect in my eyes. Until I have problems with this spray I think this is the black primer I am going to use from now on. It's nearly a third cheaper then GW's spray and contains 20% more inside. Wildly available as it bought and shipped from a seller on eBay. It arrived within a couple of days. It goes on well and foundation paints seem to go on well. The only downside I would say is that the seller does not seem to ship internationally and the lack of the mixing ball inside may cause issues. On a plus side you can sand the paint after spraying, so that shows it should be very durable.
And there we have it a couple of reviews on some sprays. If anyone has any other suggestions or comments please post them below. If you see any spray out there you want to try. Always try on a test mode you don't care about or spare piece of sprue before you spray them on you precious models. Until next time may the blessing of the Plaguefather be with you.
So this brings me to the conclusion of this fine product. Now as far as I'm aware you can only purchase this item in store, as Halfords do not post this item. This will mean it will depend on locality to a Halfords store. It also says on the can that this cannot be used directly on metal and will require a primer, but for plastics (and I assume resin) it is OK. Because of this and the fact that you can only purchase it in a Halfords store I am giving this product an 8 out of 10. This is still a good score and I would suggest to any hobbyists out there to try it.
Simoniz Matt Black Acrylic Spray Paint
I came across this particular spray searching for sprays on eBay. I put its name in Google to see what some people where saying on the net about the product. It seemed to have good reviews, so I thought I would give it a try. I bought it from a Top Rated Seller, they seem to have a good rep. You can find the item here. This came in at £6.89 including postage and packaging. The can was 500ml again, so an even better bargain then the Halfords Spray.
Similar to the Halfords spray, this spray seemed to go on nice and smoothly. The only odd thing with this spray as it has no 'ball' inside when you shake it up. This spray also says it can be used directly on plastics and metals, but it does suggest using a grey primer for best results. The paint went on well and when it was dry there was no sign of any markings when I tried to scratch the paint off.
Now my conclusion of this product is going to be 9.5 out of 10. This is purely because no product can be perfect in my eyes. Until I have problems with this spray I think this is the black primer I am going to use from now on. It's nearly a third cheaper then GW's spray and contains 20% more inside. Wildly available as it bought and shipped from a seller on eBay. It arrived within a couple of days. It goes on well and foundation paints seem to go on well. The only downside I would say is that the seller does not seem to ship internationally and the lack of the mixing ball inside may cause issues. On a plus side you can sand the paint after spraying, so that shows it should be very durable.
And there we have it a couple of reviews on some sprays. If anyone has any other suggestions or comments please post them below. If you see any spray out there you want to try. Always try on a test mode you don't care about or spare piece of sprue before you spray them on you precious models. Until next time may the blessing of the Plaguefather be with you.
Nice review, is good to see there are some quality cheap alternatives out there.
ReplyDeleteNice review, pity I cant get any where I am.
ReplyDelete