Tamiya Liquid Surface Primer

Serendipity seems to make frequent visits to my hobby. Something I will be working on will make its way to the various lists that I follow, wholly unrelated to any activities or prompting by me. Such was the case within the last couple weeks. I recently purchased a bottle of the Tamiya primer shown in the photo above and within a couple days there was a discussion about primer and priming models on the Steam Freight Car list (my thoughts on that debate below). It is a rather thick surface preparation mixture, similar to the Mr. Surfacer products from Gunze-Sangyo (I am a raving fan of these products). When I looked at the bottle shown here, it noted that it could be thinned with Tamiya Lacquer thinner. I decided to give it a shot. I thinned it heavily with Dupont Lacquer Thinner, a premium thinner that I had purchased in a gallon container many years ago from an auto body repair shop. The ratio I used was about 60% thinner to 40% primer. I used it to prime an undecorated Rapido NP double sheathed box car. It sprayed beautifully, with excellent coverage and a flawless surface finish. It will be a go-to primer for my efforts.

On the subject of priming models, I fall decidedly into the yes category. A coat of primer does two things for me. It creates a neutral base that eases the coverage of the final color, be it freight car red or brown, some flavor or reefer yellow or orange, or even plain black. The other benefit is that it makes all details "pop" or stand out. This helps to reveal any and all surface defects and imperfections that need to be addressed prior to applying the main color(s).