The Army Painter Colour Primer Base: Gun Metal

Prime and Base Coat in One Step

Gun metal is one of those colours that earns its place on every hobby shelf. Whether you're working through a pile of Skaven Stormvermin, Space Marine vehicles, Warmachine warjacks, or any model that calls for a cold, dark metallic foundation, a grey-metallic primer does double duty — it seals the plastic and lays down a usable base tone before a single brush touches the model. The Army Painter Colour Primer in Gun Metal is a spray primer designed to do exactly that: prime and base coat simultaneously, cutting your prep time and getting you to the detail work faster.

What This Primer Does

This is an aerosol spray primer with a built-in gun metal colour — a dark, desaturated metallic grey that reads as bare steel or worn iron straight from the can. It bonds to plastic, resin, and metal miniatures, creating a keyed surface that paints adhere to cleanly. The metallic base tone works particularly well for armies with a lot of armour, machinery, or military hardware, where drybrushing and shading can carry the model a long way without extensive layering. A coat of Army Painter Gun Metal primer, a pass of Citadel Nuln Oil or a dark shade wash into the recesses, and a careful drybrush of a brighter silver will produce solid tabletop results on even large units. It's a legitimate speed-painting workflow, not just a shortcut.

Who Should Pick This Up

New hobbyists will find this primer an accessible entry point — one can handles priming and initial colour in a single session, reducing the number of products needed to get models game-ready. Experienced painters batch-priming entire units or vehicles will appreciate the time saved on metallic-heavy armies. The gun metal tone is particularly useful for anyone painting mechanised forces, undead constructs, robots, or heavily armoured infantry across any miniature wargame system. Spray primers are always applied outdoors or in a well-ventilated space, and best used in dry conditions above 15°C — this applies to all aerosol primers regardless of brand.

Specifications