I gesso

[pyxl]

I did a search to see if anyone else has brought this up and came up empty...so at the risk of attack...

Do any of you use Gesso (the slightly thick, textured material artists prime canvases with) on your models?

I admit there aren't many occasions that it's appropriate, but in some cases it seems to really add something.

I was doing a M. Falcon a few years ago for a nephew and decided to give it a try...I thought the "grit" and flatness would be great and would help give it some "scale"...Here's a pic:

http://home.mchsi.com/~dhaffner/falcon1.jpg

It took the acrylic airbrush colors really well and was great when compared to some other "flat" whites I'd tried in testing.

Thoughts? Laughter?

[Lt. Z0mBe]

My first instinct is to say "that's a nice model," even though I'm not a big fan of the Falcon.

First, is it expensive? Second, does it obscure fine detail?

It sounds a little like Duplicolor filler primer, which is great stuff you can use to level different media out, fill scratches, etc.... It'll even fill scratches up to 1/16-inch deep; I used it on my last project before I scribed panel lines because of a lot of surface imperfections.

Also, welcome to the boards.

Z0mBe

[Tony Agustin]

.....Thoughts? Laughter?

My immediate series of thoughts were: HUH? WHAT? WHY? and 'Is this guy a ........?'
But seriously, it looks like you got it to work, but I don't think that stuff is permanent on styrene.
You are right that some people use gesso for priming canvasses for oil painting. I use the same stuff too but for priming cold press illustration board.
Here is a sample of one of my older paintings with a gesso primer on illustration board.
http://agustin.net/pictures/tony/LexSam.jpg
It's got a really nice texture especially when you apply it with a course wide brush.
If I used gesso on a model project it wouldn't be on the model itself but on the diorama base iteself such as ground work. The texture might work well there, but then again there are other materials that are available that work much better than gesso.

[Shinnentai]

I've used it to seal styrofoam, but never on a model kit before. With some thinning it might make a good sandable primer.

I'm not sure how well it'd bond to styrene or resin, but I'll bet it'd be fantastic on vinyl.

The texture of it is interesting, I'll bet it would make an excellent flat white for NASA inspired stuff.