Zenithal priming sounds fancy. It's really just two cans of primer and one extra step, and it's one of the easiest ways to get contrast on a mini before you've opened a single paint pot.
What it is
Zenithal means light from above. You prime the whole mini dark, then hit it with a lighter primer from overhead, the way sunlight would land on it. The top-facing surfaces catch the light color and the undersides stay dark, so every mini starts with built-in highlights and shadows.
The short version
After you spray black, take a white can and do a couple of quick swipes across the batch from above, keeping the same angle each time. That's it.
How I do it
- Prime the whole batch black the usual way: lots of quick, thin passes from every angle (the batch priming guide has the details).
- Let it dry.
- Switch to white. Hold the can above the batch at a consistent angle and do just a couple of quick swipes across it. Don't chase full coverage. You only want the white to land on the surfaces facing up.
- Stop early. Too many passes and the whole mini turns grey, which throws away the contrast you were after.
Grey works as the base coat too. My latest batch was grey with a quick pass of white from above, and the difference was still easy to see on the big flat panels of the Quinjet. Black gives you deeper shadows, grey keeps the colors on top a little brighter.
Same idea with an airbrush
It works exactly the same way with an airbrush: black primer first, then white from above at a consistent angle. The airbrush just gives you finer control over how much white lands where. See easing into the airbrush if you're thinking about one.
Why bother
The zenithal gives you a map of where the light falls before you start painting. Thin paints and washes over the top keep some of that light and shadow, so you get contrast faster, which is exactly what tabletop-first painting is after.
Checklist
- Full black (or grey) prime, thin passes, every angle
- Dry before the white
- A couple of white swipes from above, same angle each time
- Stop before it turns grey
Next: once the batch is primed, magnetize it so it stores and travels easily.