hunter101 wrote:....Black. Always Black. Even if it is going to be white. Black is a stronger shade than white. So Black first and then 1 or 2 LIGHT coats of white. You will get Shading that will help you determine what is light and dark. Some say Grey is ace. But look at the model and 9 out of 10 times its always grey already. Grey has no shading or depth of field.
A great idea for a Thread Hunter. However - Sorry pal - gotta call you on this one. Hope you don't mind, but if it's about good advice for other painters and modellers I feel that there is more to be said on undercoating:
Black:
Black is generally, as Hunter says, the best colour for most purposes. It gives a better base to metal colours, and helps bring out the depth of stronger colours and any deep recesses that get missed remain black. Black is cool! I have yet to find a spray better than GW's - perhaps somone else might have done?
White:
Almost never use white myself. However, white can be useful if you are doing very pale colour schemes like pale fleshes, or models painted mostly with washes or ink glazes. Bit of an arty method, but it can work. White also brings out brighter colours under most colours. Reds and oranges painted over white become more vibrant. It's also much easier to paint yellows over white. A good tip for patch colours is spray the models black or grey, then hand coat an area white before painting over it with your yellows. Again I have used
GW white, but someone out there may have found a better or cheaper one?
Grey:
hunter101 wrote:....Grey has no shading or depth of field.
That's kind of the point. Grey is neutral. This follows the photographers idea of using a neutral grey card for getting good light balances when setting up a studio camera. It neither darkens a colour scheme, nor does it lighten it like black and white do. The colour you get over the model is then exactly the colour you put on it, giving the painter greater control (or finer control) over the pallette. I tend to use grey a lot for neutral colour schemes like greens and browns. (Halfords grey is fantastic, it even leaves a slightly rough surface that takes paint beautifully.)
Overall:
All in all then the best advice to to consider what the models majority 'finish' will look like. Dark evil characters or lots of dark or strong colours or mettalics - go with black. Bright finishes or 'washed' looks, go white. Mid-tones or natural colours - go grey.