| A primers main job is to provide a key for the top coat to adhere to. Some primers are "self levelling" and so also help with surface imperfections and they all give an even coat of one colour to enable any blemishes to stand out easily.
Another significant use is to better prepare the colour of the surface for the topcoat colour. i.e. a red plastic model may show through a blue gloss top coat so a grey primer would make the red effect considerably less.
I have not used primers very much for static models and if I was to it would probably be for such things as a gloss coat where I was looking for perfection. For tanks it depends on the surface and if the model is to be a static model or be used as in RC.
If it is static and the colour is low key such as grey I wouldn't bother. If you are going to RC the model or if the plastic base is very different you may want to. Don't forget that the primer is another coat so it will have a slight effect of hiding detail.
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“Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days" |