Is It You Or The Spray? :How To Use Spray Cans Without Fail 

NICE! I designed and sculpted those goblins. So glad to see them appear on your channel, I really hope to see them painted.

You’re my number one weapon against hobby know it alls who get preachy without knowing what the hell they are talking about. Thanks a ton! 99.9% of all spray can errors are user errors.

I’m about to start mini painting again for the first time in twenty years. Really helpful video to fresh things up!

Nothing patronising about this video my friend trying to help people by sharing your best practices and good/bad experiences helps other people and we all as hobbyists should strive to help each other , we all do this hobby because we love and enjoy it. Spray cans were always a big issue for me in certain weather conditions and I watched your previous video on the matter and since then have never had an issue , I use army painter cans 95% of the time but I do like citadels sprays simply because it saves time and effort and people should not be afraid to use them and this video is perfect for shedding much needed knowledge of can usage and performance .

So, just like an M41-A pulse rifle. Short, controlled bursts.

I'm never spraying indoors again... Did it once with an Army Painter red in quite a small room with the window open.... Red dust on everything!! Was still finding it weeks later!

I've been using your hot water trick from when you mentioned it last year and haven't had a single problem since. Top tip!

Excellent, thorough, informative video. Not patronising at all - passing on practical information like this is one of the best things this media can do.

Great video! But still, even with all these tips, you sometimes have bad cans. I just recently had a GW Retributor Armor can that turned out rather dull and bronzy than gold. It looked like the shiny metal flakes were simply missing or something. Shook it 5 minutes, warmed the can, still a bad result. So the most important tip of all is always test the color primer on an old model or piece of sprue and let it fully dry to decide if the result is good or not. Please do yourself a favour and take those extra 10 minutes before spraying your models.

Before watching I thought this video was going to be a waste of time. Honestly this was very helpful. Thanks for the great vid!

Nice to see your advice is the same advice is the same advice as I used to give when I worked for GW. Glad you're giving this knowledge to everyone. Cheers mate

Another very useful informative vid I’ve never tried warming the cans in hot water before but I’m one of those people who have trouble with spraying! Even after 25 years in the hobby lol I shall definitely be trying these tips out. Cheers Luke 👍

Man, Im following your channel since october and have to say you have one of the most interesting channel to learn about DIY and technical infos. Thanks a lot !

Luke just tried this at work and wow what a bloody different mate the paint flows amazing and you get better coverage. Everything is better lol thanks LEGEND

I was struggling a lot, it was always hit or miss and I never understood why. This helped me. Thanks man.

Wow! The things I learned in this video gave me very nice results. I wasn't testing the distance first and I was continuously holding down the nozzle and experienced pooling on my practice spoons. Thank you for the video, it is very educational.

I really appreciate the advice Luke, because I have been doing it wrong/spraying from too far away/holding down the spray and have been so unhappy with the results that I quit using spray cans. I'll have to revisit them for my next models

Thank you so much for these tips mate. It was my first time priming so I was very apprehensive, having bought a mid range make of can instead of one of the well known brands. I followed your instructions to the letter and to my mind, got perfect results. Thanks again. Now, about those eggs....

I typed into RU-vid how to use paint cans for base and you were the top Vid. Perfect tutorial. Thank you!

This is really helpful, cheers mate. I've had some issues with undercoat covering fine detail, I'm going to try these tips. Thanks again. 😊

Absolutely awsome contant M8, loving this content as well as your products. Top value Bruv

I’ve always struggled with rattle can. Thank you so much for this. I’ve never warmed up the cans in warm water. I will try that now!

Tried this method yesterday in North Dakota. It was high humidity and 37°f. I dried them in the basement near the dehumidifier. Worked like a champ with $2 generic flat black spray!

Thanks now I know what to do with the Citadel Spray cans I was given 4 years back and they are still in the bag they arrived in. Cheers Luke!

Awesome tips, Luke!

Thanks for a great info vid! Never knew about the warming the can in water first... and I now know that what I thought was a short sharp burst goes on for far too long. I also fell into the trap of thinking I can just quickly spray the bits I missed on the first pass before anything dries. So it;s practice, practice, practice... and shake

Hey Luke, looks like you’ve had your ears lowered mate. It is great to see you redo your video on this subject with higher quality camera work. I have been following your method since the first video, and it does not fail. Great advice.

Thanks for the good advice, which will save me a lot of paint as I used to hold the button down continuously.

Learnt along time ago to warm the cans up and to leave areas you missed until the rest have dried out and as for the distance they advise on the tins , you’re right it doesn’t work or cover as well especially white but you live you learn

Hi everyone, PLEASE be careful with warming your cans in water. The manufacturer will usually state the max temperature that the can can be exposed to, roughly about 50C. I've been my GW spray cans in a bucket of warm/hot water like Luke said, and haven't had any problems. I've always been able to put my hand in the water, so it wasn't scalding, but probably on the warmer side. Recently, I"ve been using an Army Painter Plate Mail spray can. Today, after placing the AP can in warm water, I noticed the underside of the can bulging noticeably, about 2cm or so in the centre of the underside. I quickly tossed the can. So TLDR; please check inspect your cans each time you immerse them in warm water, and following the manufacturer's guidelines.

Your video helped heaps luke! Thank you

You play Bass too?? Sic! Much fun :)

Fantastic vid! I disagree with you the upside down clearing spray when you are done. I find that ESSENTIAL to keeping spray cans in good order because I live in a high humidity area. If not cleared, paint WILL DRY in the nozzle head.And it really doesn't waste all that much paint. I have used the Army painter cans almost exclusively since they were released. They are mostly fantastic. HOWEVER I have had multiple cases of their white spray clog up IN THE CAN! even after upside down spraying. Also, Something with their metallic spray colors is off. They are SUPER hard to paint over and I have had it create pits in certain resin models. I now always spray black and hand paint metallic when possible. yes, warming your paint can is essential to mixing your paint properly. And spray distance is the number 1 thing printed WRONG on most spray cans. I always test fire my cans before proceeding onto the model. You don't want any surprises shooting out of the can like globs or spittle. Lastly, WEAR GLOVES! a cheap box of nitrile gloves from the hardware store can save your hands from paint, and save your models from fingerprints. Its so much nicer when you can just go ahead and hold something while not worrying about spraying your hand.

Super helpful. Thank you.

Thanks for this video. I'm just getting back into painting and learned what I was doing wrong years ago.

Hahaha I am a total novice, I purchased my first grey knights paladins to assemble which I am VERY proud to say I assembled no problem after repeated berating by my missus haha 😃👍. I bought a black army painter primer to use and after all the horror stories was quite worried I would fail miserably at this stage. After I watched the entirity of this video man I followed it exactly and the results are superb. But more importantly was so easy I won't be worried next time. Cheerz for this one sir keep up the good work 👍

Brilliant stuff very informative mate

My Retributor armour spray came out very watery. Can't wait to put these tips into practice! Cheers dude.

Very helpful. Thanks for this vid! My Riptide is lookin' pretty sharp thanks to a crisp coat of primer.

patronizing....hell. go for it, more of this!

Great tips man, thanks for sharing. Been debating returning some cans because of the crap results I've seen others do.

I like this video - good sensible advice.

Shake until your bored then shake the hell out of it some more

That’s really new to me, will try this thank you

My spraycans always have issues. Ive spent thousands of euros on therapy for them.

This is really helpful. I've been using the hold down the spray error and had previous issues. Turns out it was just me I've not painted for years and got some Seraphon Saurus dudes and don't want to mess them up

Often had problems. Going to try it next time. Thanks mate

very helpful! I’ve just started warhammer and was wondering why my spray prime sessions would give me such uneven results. One week great, next week bad. Will try out these tips!

Thank you very much for this video. I found it very helpful. I am looking forward to trying this out. I have gotten a ton of fuzzy models with the Army-painter cans in different weather conditions and it pretty much ruins the models.

Very helpful - and I'll now look at Army Painter and Paint Factory paint cans - thanks!

This is good, thank you, I've bought lots of kits over the years that are still in their boxes because everything I prime ends up shite!!

Excellent video

Dude your a life saver !!!

Cheers very useful information thanks.

Never warmed the can, shaked the hell out of them but never warmed, thanks for the tip.

Thanks Luke .

Tips are always useful

Great share Luke

Awesome, thanks a lot! I was having some issues with the dusty look... I thought it was the brand, because I never had that before. I'll give the can another try.

You're spraying indoors? Madness! XD XD.

I usually have good success with my cheap white primer. I tried an Army Painter yellow and it turned out all powdery, it was a while ago so I assume I must've followed the 12" instructions. I never knew the powdery result was related to distance I just thought they paint was dodgey. Thanks for the advice I'll give it another go as it'll save me so much time!

great video!

Great tips will try it

Not patronising at all. This was really, really useful information - and as you said, if you don't ask or you don't hear about it, how are you supposed to know? I personally get nervous about messing things up with spray cans, so this was super useful.

Good vid. Only been using them for undercoating wire trees and seafoam, and sparingly and from a distance.

Superb video thank you so much

Patronizing? No way, I'm still getting into painting minis, my primes have been hit or miss, either grainy or gloppy. The short burst tip helps, also the waiting before hitting the missed spots. Oh! And warming the paint up! See, this is all great stuff to increase in my wargaming wisdom! Thanks!

Oi! Where's the hints and tips on egg sucking?! My Granny watched the whole thing and is well annoyed!

Still waiting for this egg sucking tutorial, it was all about spray cans I feel let down 😂

My 1st attempt spraying minis was fine. My 2nd attempt literally ruined beyond saving what I sprayed. After watching your old spray can video I've had zero disasters. This newest one will insure I don't get any more dusty minis. Very helpful luke thankyou.

Thanks for these tips mate. Army Painter 100% of the time I get it chalky/dusty. I am gonna try these tips out and report back. Cheers!

thanks I'll give it ago might actually start use in cans for large areas and save time

Hey Luke, great vid! I'm over in Canada and usually go on priming sprees in the spring and autumn to avoid the most extreme weather. Can you offer any tips for using in high humidity and 25-30+ temps? What about -20 or -25? We routinely see these temps. Thanks

Thanks man

Thanks your video was great help and which colour under coat do you think would be best under the death Guard green base coat paint please

saved my bacon. thanks man!!

You great big lovely red headed bundle o fun you ;-) cheers mate..... saved me a lot of "oh bollocks" moments as Ive a whole army to uc

Hey luke do you have a vid on how to remove frosting or dusting effects from matt varnish? I used varnish for the first time in years and made a right pigs arse of my models. Any help would be appreciated, cheers!

Thank you

Why is it anytime is search some real knowledge, time after time i come to you. What magic is this^^

Thanks for the comments about weather. Other videos had me paranoid about temperatures! One question - if your methods always produce good results, even with cheapo cans, why spend money on specialist sprays [like Army Painter]?

Thanks, mate. I've tried different cans with different type of paint and they all seemed to be shitty as hell. I've even tried short burst of spray but every time I had to press harder than I wanted to so I would get an even spray. And it all ended with a big mess. But maybe I just need to practice even more :) Anyway, thanks for your video. It really helps me a lot. PS! Does it work find to spray like you do inside the house using a box as some kind of shield?

Thanks, I’ve used this method a couple of times now and it works well. HOWEVER, a word of warning - don’t leave the can in the water for too long/have the water too hot. I did this and something inside the cab exploded, and the bottom bulged out (thankfully the whole can didn’t burst). After this it didn’t work properly, and I think I’ll have to throw it out sadly.

Have you got any advice regarding metallic spray paints for miniatures? I've got quite a lot of necrons to paint and I'm lazy. I picked up some Rustoleum titanium silver but I find it's a bit too sparkly/glittery. Is there anything I should look for on a can to indicate that will be the case? Any brand recommendations?

I sprayed in a Gail once, she went nuts lol

Any update on a us distributor for your scenery products?

@Lukes Aps I have this problem that I can't figure out and you might know where after priming a mini with GW Chaos Black spray, parts of the model go white. Whats going on here, because it drives me bonkers whenever it happens?? ........ Also should we be prepping models prior to priming to help the priming process and if so how should models be prepped? .... I've heard some models need a warm soapy bath before priming to get surface oil out due to certain resin types.

Was this the first time you actually said Luke's APS instead of the entire Luke's Affordable Paint Service? :P

thanks Luke very helpful, any tips for getting a really shiny gold i tried cheap 151 gold spray then rustoleum metallic gold spray but both are dull not chrome or mirror finish as the lid would suggest, alll the best ian.

I'm still trying to figure out how to prime my models when it's over 40 degrees. It dries before it gets on the mini.

So basically warm up the can, shake, short controlled bursts and up close and personal.

Every once in a while I do miss a few details that could help the results no matter how many years I have under my belt.

Really helpful. Thanks! The tap water where I live is very hot and it isn't adjustable. What's a safe temperature for the hot water? 40? 45?

I tried army painter anti-shine varnish on some old miniatures. But... now they have a satin finish, not matte :( something happened

Great video👍 Just 1 Question, even tho is not what you showing here. What is the best way to get a Spray Can to always spray the Grainy-Sandy texture. Let’s say it sprays just fine even from distance. But it just doesn’t spit the grainy texture, but you want to spray the texture . Tricks or hacks To do it. Thanks & much success 👊

Hi, Luke! Do you ever have spray paints leaving sticky after spraying?

Nice! Very helpful tips! But can I skip the hot water parts since in Brazil I usually get the average of 25°C on winter and 35°C on summer? Or its really necessary?

Have you had a bash with the Plastic Soldier Company Army Sprays? I've never had a good result over about 8 cans or so now, such a weak pressure and poor pigment content. Night and day compared with other brands. Which is strange since apparently it's Army Painter that do the sprays for PSC. And it's near impossible to get a colour match for the PSC Mid-Late War Dunkelgelb.

I was taught never to use your'e finger on the nozzle unless you wanted to paint it | ;) . use your thumb better control , feels funny but works really well

Question, I bought one of those cheap 2€ paint cans, and I want to follow your advice on putting it in hot water before using it, but in the can it says that I should not let it heat up So do different cans have diferent restrictions or should I try the water anyway and risk it exploding?