Why I hate Armory Primer

I really do not enjoy criticizing ANYTHING that has to do with the miniature wargaming industry. Unlike some others on the Internet, I feel that in a tiny niche like this, encouraging competition,  innovation, and value can only be good for the hobby. This is why I only like to emphasize great products instead of calling out bad ones.

But this is ridiculous, and I'm angry enough to disseminate my experience into the ether.
More after the Jump...

Let me just say first that this experience is anecdotal, but it is far from isolated. At the end of this post, I will link to others who have shared my experience with this brand.

I have purchased 3 cans of primer and 1 can of sealer of the Armory Brand. This brand has no website, although their distributor does. Even they don't really describe anything about these sprays. Each one was purchased at a different game store. The grey primer was purchased at Critical Effect in Hobart, IN, the black at Lightspeed Hobbies in Portage, IN, and the white at Games Plus in Mt. Prospect, IL. They were purchased over a span of about a year. I'm stating these details to emphasize that these were not from a single "batch" or shipment. Each cost roughly 6 dollars.

For reference, I have used primers from GW, Krylon, and a bunch of cheap store brands from Ace Hardware, Meijer, Home Depot, and Wal Mart.

These primers, in a word, suck. They are so incredibly sensitive to humidity and age that they are essentially unusable. I tried to use them in bone dry summer, moderate autumn, and in a controlled auto spray booth. I have tried to spray in a basement stairwell, where my humidistat tells me that I would turn into a husk if I stayed there too long.

In every case, my minis turned into tiny flocked stuffed animals.

The primer goes on fuzzy, and most of it can be removed with the pad of your finger. It's so grainy that it hides any groove or detail smaller than a purity seal.

Click to Enlarge

The model on the right was primed with some cheap black spray paint. Notice its shoulder pad on the left. It's smooth and has some sheen to it. The model on the left was primed with Armory Black Primer. I painted it anyway, to have an apples to apples comparison. Look at the shoulder pad, it needs a shave! And look at the sword blade. Although the limited depth of field of my camera in macro mode blurs it, you can still clearly see the terrible texture of the primer.

Nasty Primer...(click)

Nice Primer...(click)

I tried using Armory Primers on literally dozens of termagants, and I have to say that I had a 100% failure rate. This again was over the span of a year. "Luckily", the primer adheres so poorly that very little time in Simple Green will strip it away.

I would wholeheartedly recommend AGAINST purchasing or using products labeled "The Armory". Maybe in the east coast, these work fine. Maybe I just happened to get 3 separate very old cans of primer. But when a cheap Krylon rattlecan trumps three cans of stuff made specifically for gamers, that's enough experimenting for me. Others agree:

When Armory white works, it works very well, and would be one of my favorite primers. The rub, however, is when it WORKS. I have yet to buy a can that works right off the bat, and although a few cans could be saved, most couldn't. The problem is that the stuff comes out often very, VERY grainy. I'm not sure what their problem is (poor quality control I guess, or poor shipping/storage techniques) but I won't buy another can ever again... Reaper Forum

I can't count how many times it ended up going on fuzzy, instead of smooth during the Spring and Summer months. The fuzzy effect is nasty too. It looks literally like fuzz, and once dried a lot of the primer comes back off like chalk, or as a powder. It's messy, and it's really next to impossible to fix, or to paint over too. The only alternative is to strip the models right away, and re-prime them again when the humidity is lower. The problem with Armory is that it's less tolerant than most other primers when it comes to humidity too...Wargame Guru

Yeah, I'm now seeing that I didn't get a bad can, its just a bad primer. Truth be told the only reason I bought a second can is because when you get it right (You know, between 70-71 degrees, no wind, 0% humidity an an angelic choir singing my praises), the primer just feels so darn good to the touch. Oh well. I picked up some rustoleum grey spraypaint as well as some much needed bluetac and a fancy spray head to try out. Powder, BEGONE!...Warseer

Oh, but why am I angry?

Well, it's because I sprayed the rest of my Death Company (and Lemartes, not pictured) before I realized what was happening. Arrgh.