You can use anything as a primer, but you do take a chance of lead rot with any solvent based paint. With the improvement over the years of "lead" it's pretty much gone. Years ago when I started in the hobby it was an every day worry. Now the so-called lead is a lot different. Remember Enamels are all solvent based paints. With a spray you get very little of the solvent, mostly pigment actually hits the figure. Another thing I might mention, a lot of people use dyes to paint their figures over a base coat of paint. Al dyes are considered fugitive. That means they will fade in color over time. Sunlight will fade them faster than any other light. But any light will fade the dyes. It may take a long while if your figures are covered when not using them, but it does happen. The original reason for priming a figure was to prevent lead rot. This was a condition caused by the solvent and lead creating a chemical reaction, thus "lead rot". When using water based paint there is no reason to "prime" a figure. Years ago most gamers were using solvent based paints and it could become a major problem. Since many gamers now used water based paints it's no longer a factor. Undercoating is a different problem. Adding an undercoat provides a base to apply the paint to. Sometimes the paint doesn't stick to a metal or even a plastic surface because its so smooth, especially using water-based paint. By adding a "primer" it leaves a surface that is not a slick. The second reason for an undercoat is since most paints are not opaque the undercoat shows through somewhat. For brighter figures an undercoat of white will brighten the surface colors. Yellow is very hard to cover with most paints, therefore an undercoat of white will not only brighten the color but ensure that in most cases only one coat is needed. Why anyone would undercoat with black is beyond me. Black would make the figure look dingy and dark. I was commercial artist for 30 years before I retired and paint and color was my business. I have been using Cartoon Colors for painting figure now for years. I stumbled onto them through work. They are totally opaque and do not flake with age. I undercoat with white to add to the brightness of the colors. Works for me. Back to Table of Contents -- Game! # 9 To Game! List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by George Phillies. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com