Saturday, April 21, 2012

A to Z: Spray Primer & Smoothie

So what does Spray Primer and a Smoothie have in common?

Not much if you're lucky.  They're both a liquid, but that's about it.
But I thought I'd give you two different suggestions for S in lieu of a big long article.
I had thought about writing about Sin, and how silly a concept I think that is.
Or maybe Sudak, on the Black Sea where I spent a month of 2010.
Or a diatribe against Sales-calls.
Or my theory on the Sasquatch.  OK, I don't have a theory but it'd be fun to create one.

But this time I'll keep it simple. There's always next year.

Spray Primer! 

Most people have their favorite, but if you haven't tried mine, I'm going to suggest you give it a try.

A lot of people use the GW primer spray paint. Strike that 'primer'.  Unless they changed their formula recently, and looking at their website it wouldn't appear they have, they don't make primer.

On their website it is found under 'spray paints' and nowhere on the can does it say primer.
Because it isn't: it's just paint.
The description says it "acts as a primer." But doesn't say it is a primer, so I'm guessing it isn't.
The difference is primer has a very subtle 'tooth' to it, a fine texture that helps paint stick to it.
It's why you use primer before paint.
Will GW spray paint work? Sure. But not great.  And the price? $15.75 US for a can.
For those of you in Australia, it is $26.00AUD for a can! Holy crap you Aussies get screwed don't you?
Even though the difference between the two dollars isn't as much as it was a couple years ago, it's still $27US!

Well, no need to get screwed. It isn't worth $26 AUD or $15 US.  You have a better option:

Dupli-color Sandable Auto Primer.  

Price: My local Auto Parts store sells it for $4.95 per can.  
It is a true primer and has a really nice 'line' nozzle that gives a better dusting coat than typical round nozzles.

I've heard this is actually the same primer used by Privateer Press P3 Spray primer, just repackaged.  
It may be.  The nozzle is the same.  But the cost is half what Privateer Press charges. 
I don't know about you, but I don't care about labels or packaging, especially for an item like this.

I have heard some say they've had problems with it, but less than I've heard about problems with the GW spray or Krylon or others.  It is typical for any product: there will always be someone who doesn't like something and using it resulted in his divorce and the death of his dog.  
It's the 'country music' factor. 

But in my experience this is great stuff. I have never had a problem with it and I prime a lot of minis. 

Highly recommended. 
.................................................

Smoothies!

Not related to hobby at all, but everyone has to eat, and summer is here: it hit here today in a big way.
Personally I don't tend to like weather over 78.  Give me a San Francisco summer. 

I like to make smoothies.  Some people like Jamba Juice, but I think mine are waaaaay better than those. 
It's not 1/3 ice for one thing.

So here's how I make a smoothie.. secrets of the Laughing Ferret Lab: 

Items you'll need:
1 Banana
1 Large handful of strawberries: fresh is great, I tend to use frozen so they don't go bad and I don't have to worry about when they're not in season. 
1 Small handful of raspberries
1 Small handful of blackberries
2-3 heaping tablespoons of plain yogurt: I use the fat free natural stuff, since most food in America is poison.  'Vanilla' tends to have high fructose corn syrup & other crap that isn't needed and/or will kill you. 
Orange Juice or OJ blend, depending on other juices you like. 

Next, Blend it.  Don't forget this step or you may choke when trying to drink it.
Start at the slow speeds then work up to blend.


Like a radio-active world!  


Makes one really big smoothie (that's a big mug!) or add more juice to make 2 thinner ones to share. 

In the mood for desert?  
This may sound odd, but a handful of dark chocolate chips in there before you blend it is amazing!

Enjoy!

My favorite song about a smooth fellow...



____________________________________________________________________
This has been an A-Z Challenge post. 
For the month of April there will be an update for each letter within the theme of: Things that influence and inspire me, or the converse: things which I find distressing or make me want to rail at the world.
Some of these will pertain to the miniatures hobby, but many will venture off to atypical territory for the duration of the challenge, then it will be back to normal with mostly minis and an occasional blithering.
You can find out more about the A-Z challenge my clicking the logo at the top left of the page. 

10 comments:

Spacejacker said...

I used to go through a lot of spray primer. Now that I only paint a handful of 15mm minis per session, I have found that brush undercoating is actually faster and cheaper. Mainly because I dnt hqve to go back over the bits the spray didnt reach.

Nice smoothie recipie!

Amanda Heitler said...

Agreed on the primer. Our mini-painting friend recommends Halford's for this for those in the UK. Costs very little, lasts for ages and is an actual primer.

Also - smoothie recipe looks wonderful and will use it to reduce the frozen fruit in freezer. Even though summer has not yet arrived in North Yorks nor looking likely to.

Paul O'G said...

Firstly, smoothies are awesome. My Lass has been well trained :-) Thanks for your tips for new styles and flavours!

Secondly: "Holy crap you Aussies get screwed don't you?" Yes we do. It stems abck to the Aussie dollar exchange rate being poor up until about 3 or 4 years ago, and so GW prices reflected that. Fine. Whats not fine is that they didnt change their prices when the dollar went up, even when it went above the USD. Not fine, but there were good options for purchasing overseas and getting it shipped free.

Then more recently GW banned such retailers for doing so. I dont want this to become yet another GW rant so I'll just leave you to draw your own conclusions from that and the fact that No, I dont use GW primer!

Laughing Ferret said...

Spacejacker: i can see if you're doing not a lot of 15's that would work fine. But for the amount I do and larger scale spray primer is the only way to go. I had to prime by brush when I was in Belarus and it nearly drove me crazy ;)

You're lucky Amanda! I could stand to delay summer a couple more months.

Paul: yeah, I've heard about the woes there- just horrible. Well I won't start down the rant either, start in on the illogical choices they make and you'll never be able to stop ;)

Gunrunner said...

Thanks for this post LF. I find personal recommendation pretty important, so this helps me enormously! oh yes, smoothie recipe good too!

Rusty Carl said...

Thanks for both tips. I'll probably use one of the two quite soon.

kriz said...

LOL.......I was just telling someone about this brand of paint (been using it for the last 14 years)

Great stuff....I am gonna share this link at some of the forums I belong too.

Cheers.
Kriz

:)

S. L. Hennessy said...

I actually used that same spray in my art class a lot. It had such beautiful colors and results. And that smoothie makes me HUNGRY!

Alfrik said...

Now for your article on spray on smoothies? ;)

Laughing Ferret said...

Happy it was helpful Gunrunner!

Just don't get them mixed up Rusty :)

Alfrik.. well if you have some spare minis you'd like to donate and an airbrush I'll give it a try ;)

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