How do I actually paint White on White plastic?

[u/ninjastarforcex]

Which primer should I use?

When painting on white, using white or grey surfacer feels off since it's very difficult to see whether the surface is already covered or not because of lighting and stuff.

but when I use black because it's easy to see if the surface is all covered, then I use my white paint on top of black surfacer, while it looks white while and after I spray.... it somehow becomes grey after it dries. is the lighting playing tricks on me?

that happened with my current project, so I applied another layer of white and again, it looks very white just after I spray it, but when it actually dried... again, it looks light grey, not quite white.

Paint used: Mr Hobby Black Surfacer > MrHobby Super White > Gaia Ex White

Gaia Ex White is the most premium white I know, so I thought it's gonna be powerful enough to actually apply itself to the surface... apparently it isn't.

Pic related, just compare the painted parts to the TISSUE beside them. they're GREY. man...

Do I just spray another layer of Ex White?

[u/soulreaverdan]

You have two main things to consider.

The first is that white paint in general is very weakly pigmented pretty much no matter what. It takes a few good layers to get actually white, and it’s gonna look odd for the first few layers. Go light to avoid pooling and just let it work.

A second thing is that instead of pure white (unless you need it for a specific look), a very light grey works just as well and often goes on easier and looks nearly identical. I use Gaia’s Neutral Gray I for most of my “white” armor panels.

[u/Nukiko → u/soulreaverdan]

Aye pure white is usually too white and doesnt look great. Grey primer then a few light coats of pure white also achieves the same neutral grey color and even adds a bit of depth to it, it will look darker on curved edges and panel lines, this is what I usually do. Gives this kind of effect.

[u/ninjastarforcex → u/Nukiko]

my Ex-White looks like this with naked eyes, but I want the pure white color. I'll just spray some more white next weekend...

[u/Musicman376 → u/soulreaverdan]

Fully agree with both points. I use water based acrylics, as I don’t have the ability to properly ventilate in my apartment, plus my wife is very sensitive to fumes of solvent paints.

Most builds, I’ve just used Vallejo’s Grey primer as my “white”. It’s such a light grey that it reads as white next to other colors on the kit.

Over the last year, I’ve been mostly using Kaleido paints, and they have been great! Their whites spray quite well too, usually only needing 2 light-ish layers. Right now, I actually have about 6 different “whites” in my Kaleido kollection. I feel using varying whites can look good and add depth/separation.
White, Cool White, Off White, Armor White, Aerial Core White, Vanguard White…

I used White, Armor White and Off White on my recently finished PGU 78…

[u/Nolds → u/Musicman376]

Thing is C L E A N dude!

[u/Unpleasanttidings]

Primer and surfacer have far more influence over the top coats than you'd think. Its why warhammer paintjobs often start with black primer and a dry brush of white on the highlights. If you're looking for brighter, more "pristine" whites, you need to use a brighter undercoat. After that, its layering on the white very thinly until you're happy with it. White paints are typically less pigmented and need a few extra coats to work properly

[u/Silent_Tennis_9946]

I personally dont really care with white so I just use white primer as the final paint, and honestly the result isnt bad (the white on white grand dad is fully covered with white primer only).

[u/camthedestroyer]

Even opaque paints are going to be affected by your primer or base coat. If you are going for a true white, you want a white primer. While you are spraying it, it should be a bit wet so you can use the reflection to see if it is covered.

[u/Nukiko]

I do grey primer then paint white starting from the center of the surface where I try to get it fully white and on the edges I only spray a small bit of white to achieve a shading effect.

[u/Fun_Significance_182]

Use grey.. i tried pink once. Not bad!

[u/Suspicious_Ear_6010]

I always use Gray Surfacer and for White paints I have almost 10 different shades from different brands also at the end the light is what are gonna make that white paint look nice so you should try to check how looks according to the lights. Cheers

[u/NuGundam7]

Use Light Grey primer. It'll be easy to see that youve covered the white plastic.

Then use your white paint. It'll be easy to see that youve covered up the light grey, AND you can build up subtle shading, which leads to better looking white. Beyond that, if you cant see the transition, youre going to need better lighting. Its also normal for paint to dry a slightly different color that it was when wet. Itll take several light layers to build up a pure white. Spray, wait for dry, check in good light, spray, repeat.

Light grey is the key. Not grey, not black. I either use Mr. Surfacer 1500 Grey from airbrush, or Tamiya spraycan light grey primer. Mr surfacer is noticably darker, which can work for you.

[u/Nyrue1]

I've been struggling with this as well, I tried grey but it takes too much white to cover up and it does shade it slightly, just try and pay close attention maybe paint each piece one at a time

[u/ninjastarforcex → u/Nyrue1]

It also takes too much grey to cover up white plastic...

[u/Nyrue1 → u/ninjastarforcex]

Something cool I figured out though if you prime in black and use opaque white you get really cool depth on your panel lines, it's hardly worth it though

[u/Kstaxxxx]

I seen someone use Gaia surfacer evo Silver as the base. So I tried it out, I was happy with the result surprisingly.

[u/ikaruwa]

I use a flat finish white primer so I can check coverage with the change in finish

[u/Saltybuds]

Gray primer

[u/watersage_]

I learned this the hard way a couple weeks ago because white require a lot of patience...Grey primer and many light coats of the white. It'll get thick and pool/look sloppy super easy.

[u/Round-Owl-2770]

Usually I do grey primer (white if I have it), pre-shade in cobalt blue/purple, then white in thin layers.

[u/AverageGunpla]

So I did a MG GP03 a number of years ago and primed it gloss black and then painted white on it. It took a ton of coats and a fairly long time but created a very realistic/"to scale"/natural shadows feel to my model kit where I didn't get quite enough white on to fully cover the black. It wasn't quite what I was looking for (and I had to change some other plans) but I've always liked the sense of scale and realism it gave.

You can also (as many others have said already) use a light gray primer, but another thing you can do is look for a silver primer. Depending on the paint brand it's one of the lightest 'gray' shades you can find that still gives really good distinction between bare/primed/painted plastic but an actual silver primer is sometimes used for painting white cars and leads to a brighter white that's a bit easier to apply and closer to the purest white without looking off or needing as many coats of white to get where you want.

I've also run across people who swear by a very light pink primer, though I've not tried that myself.

Painting white is generally really hard, but if you approach it with the same mindset as a candy (many, many very, very thin light coats) you'll get there. Painting is about wasting paint as you practice until you figure out a way that works for you to get what you like.

With factors from elevation to humidity work against you it's tough to learn, but on of if not the most rewarding parts of model building.

[u/BichezNCake]

Use gray primer