Privateer's Formula P3 Primer--a casual review

So, upon Eric's (the fellow with all the Golden Demon-level models in the display case) recommendation, I tried out Privateer's Formula P3 White Primer this weekend, and boy was I impressed.

Many of the features I like about my previous favorite, Dupli-color's Sandable Primer were present, while absent was much of that I dislike in many of the other spray primer/paints available.

I'll try to break it down into useful bits of entirely my opinion:

Price: For a 12oz can the price is right around average; above Armory & Dupli-color, but below GW, The Army Painter & certainly Testors.

Availability: Yes, I ran out of my regular stuff at 6pm, the night before a tournament, and yes, my local game store was still open! I now intend to stock this, but expect there to be possible shortages if the recall in Canada causes recalls or similar here. The recall is due to insufficient warning imagery on the label, and has affected Armory and The Army Painter also. I think you can see the missing images, if you look at GW's current design.  I would probably use Testors more if the price and availability were more to my liking. Duplicolor is slightly less convenient to keep in stock than some.

Backround: It's a Privateer product. I like supporting Privateer Press with my wallet. This is a big selling point over Duplicolor--they are not a little toy soldier geek company.

Packaging: The color-coded cap is not attached to the can in the same way as The Army Painter's caps. TAP caps are so hard to initially remove that breaking off the spray tip in the process is all too easy. These come off real easy--good!

The spray tip is of the variety that seems to make a huge difference with paint flow and regularity. It's the same style as the Dupli-color cans, and I love it. The flow of paint is very thin, even & cloud-like. I have not yet experienced any of the splutters, heavy blasts or crazy angles of some spray primers.

Because this stuff appears to come out more in a fog than others, I found a mask (or better: respirator) more necessary. This stuff disperses very well, so taking greater steps to keep it out of your lungs (where it will give you cancer, brain damage and all that crap you don't think affects you when you're 15) is more necessary.

The Quality (the most important part): Here's where it comes down to it. And being an aerosol product used outside in different temperatures, humidities & wind conditions--your mileage will vary.

The stuff goes on really smooth and thin. This is the way primer should go on. I don't really like the way several manufacturers are promoting their cans of paint and paint/primer mixes as primer. Paint is thicker and covers better--bare surfaces as well as a model's fine details. This stuff required a couple coats, which I am happy to apply. It gives me more control over just how much I need to apply and when to stop. Even when I seemed to linger too long or get to close to one model while trying to hit a model in back, the results were still surprisingly sharp, clean & flat. The color, although white, was not as bright as Dupli-color's and certainly not as pronounced as TAP & GW paint/primer mixes. It appears closer to neutral or perhaps a bit more translucent. Again, a plus in my book.

There was no speckling or sandy finish that comes off upon rubbing. (Honestly, I think this may sometimes be exacerbated by humidity & temperature while spraying, no matter the brand.) This stuff laid down good, dried relatively fast and appears to be staying fast on the model, as I paint my first few models. 

I have yet to see how it holds up to varnish coats.

The one adversity I did encounter was just an hour or two after priming, I found that when I was laying down a very wet coat of black inks & washes, some of the white in the chain mail crannies seemed to dissolve a little or at least mix a little. I've often had troubles involving inks/washes and aerosol primer/varnish, so I'm not really concerned with that unless I see it happening a lot and long after fully drying. I've had one or two Dupli-color primed models start to wrinkle a little with heavy washes--quite terrifying.

Overall: Our newest offering in primers is affordable, available, predictable, applies & holds well, while remaining thin & unobtrusive. Plus it's manufactured by (or at least specifically for) gamer geeks like us, and at least for now, here in the US.

For matching my preferences so well so far, I give it an: A+