Hello forum,
I have recently moved to China and did not bring any primer with me. I meant to bring gesso but I ran out of time. I could try ordering to China, but the post might take a long time. I could also try ordering within China and having it posted.

The other possibility is that I could just prime with chaos black or another base color. Any input on chipping and damage if I use only paint for primer?

Thanks!

Flat black paint will work fine as a primer. In the 25+ years I have been painting I have used nothing except spray paint for primer (Except in the very beginning when I used nothing as I had no clue or internet ). The only thing to remember is to use a flat paint (there are only a few differnet techniques that dont use flat). Hope that helps.

I've primed many models with simple black acrylic paint. It's not as resistant as spray paint and you may need a few layers... but if you put some varnish on the finished model you should be fine.

Arachas is right. I like Krylon Fusion for plastics. You could prime in COLOR!

As long as it is acrylic... it is good. Also, I had success with AUTO PRIMER... yes, the one for body-work. It is ultra-fine mist.

I have some cheaper acrylic slate grey from Americana that I think I will use to prime. My renegades will have many greys as well, so I may as well prime in grey. Then I just have to find something to seal with after!

As an aside, I am planning a grey clothes, silver-ish armor, darker look for my renegades. Any tips for how to spice it up with a tiny dash of color? I was thinking about a little bit of OSL scorpion green on light sources...