AK acrylic primer, any user ?

[Zero77]

Hi,

 

For a few weeks, i've started to build 1/350 submarines, as they are very cheap, pretty fast to build, and damn cool (i love submarines !).

 

last week, between 2 aircraft building operations, i've primed a class Akula, with AK grey primer. I had the bottle for some weeks and wanted to try it (i'm more used to Mr Surfacer, but wanted to try something new).

 

So i tried it. it looks like grey paint, a bit thick, anyway too thick to be airbrushed directly from the bottle. So i thinned it with the dedicated AK thinner, and sprayed it. It looked very good, with a very neat and smooth finish. However, i've made a few finger prints as it wasn't dry enough. No problem, i'll just have to sand this later.

 

Ok, later is just last saturday. I take the Akula, a piece of 1500 sandpaper, and start to sand it. And it was just a disaster.... The whole thing was scratching as i just tried to sand it. I tried with water and it was even worst, as some dry primer get stuck on the sandpaper and act like small gravels. I was not able to correct anything, and did not have any other solutian than stripping it all.

 

Then it was disaster part II. Impossible to disolve this primer. I first tried with plain water, then windex, then alcohol and nothing worked. I had to do this with the AK paint stripper, but this was messy (this product is pretty good, but damn messy, i think anybody who has already used it know what i mean) and it made all my putty all along the seams to go with the primer.

 

I finally suceed to get it clean, but i have to restart all the puttying and sanding, and this time, i've glued all the small parts everywhere so it wont be very easy. Yes i'm a bit upset. I am really an AK Interactive enthusiast and i love their products. But this one is definitely not in my top ten list. Very good looking result, but absolute fragility which is not good at all for a primer.

 

 

So, does anybody use this primer, and have i done something wrong?

Edited July 27, 2015 by Zero77

[Totalize]

I haven't hear good things about their primer. In fact one guy on another forum was giving his bottles away and asking if anybody wanted them they were that bad.The AK paints are nice but i don't think their primer is any good. I stick with the tried and true Japanese stuff like Tamiya or Mr. Hobby/Color.

 

Dave.

[Guest Peterpools]

I haven't used AK primer at all. I've been using MIG Acrylic Polymer Gray Primer and it is by far the finest primer I have ever used. Thin 50/50 with Tamiya X20A at shot at 16-18 psi working presure. Dries super fast, sands beautifully and a treat to use.

Peter

[Zero77]

Thanks guys.

So other people already had issue with this primer.

 

I may do another try on a scrap model, just to check if i did something wrong. I've just read on different places that the "satisfied" users spray it directly from the bottle without thinning. Pretty strange as i found it very thick to be airbrushed, but i'll just give it a try.

[Dave Williams]

Tried both the white and black primer from AK Interactive, and wasn't impressed. It scratched pretty easy. In my experience, the Vallejo primers are the way to go.

[TonyT]

Halford car primer in a rattle can, brilliant stuff and acrylic

[wunwinglow]

Plus 1 for Halfords......