My buddy Bob is an amazingly good figure painter. His house is full of amazing creations, the likes of which I can only hope to achieve. He told me once a while back that the only primer he uses is Touch ’n Tone Primer, available at auto parts stores.

For some reason, that recommendation went in one ear and out the other. I was probably thinking “Hey, the small, expensive spray can of Tamiya primer just has to be the best…right??”

During a figure painting lesson recently, he repeated this recommendation. By now, I’ve learned to listen to Bob, so I ordered a can off Amazon (link). It showed up a few days ago, and I headed out to the garage tonight to test it out.

Wow.

For half the cost and three times the quantity, this stuff is great! Lays down very smooth, no problems with spray control or pebbling, and looks great on both highly detailed resin figs and my old painting test hulk. Heck, it even smoothed out some cleanup I’d done on one of the previously primed figures!

My models and my wallet thank you, Bob!