Colour Primer Fur Brown: Basecoating Fur and Hide on Minis
By The Army Painter: all you need for miniature painting | Published: 2026-10-31
Category: How-to Guides
Use Colour Primer Fur Brown to basecoat fur and hide in one pass. Follow these steps for clean coverage, crisp detail, and fast horde painting.
Quick answer
Use Colour Primer Fur Brown as your basecoat whenever the finished model should read as brown fur or hide. Shake it thoroughly, spray in thin passes from about 20–30 cm, and let it dry before brushing on details.
Why Fur Brown earns a place on fur-heavy armies
Fur Brown is a coloured acrylic primer, not a neutral undercoat. That means the primer layer itself becomes your base colour, so you skip the step of brushing a brown basecoat over grey or white primer. For Skaven, Beastmen, or any creature with fur, that saving multiplies across a horde.
The trade-off is commitment. Because the primer is the base colour, you cannot easily shift the fur to a cool grey or pale cream later without extra layers. If your scheme calls for a different fur tone, choose a different Colour Primer rather than fighting this one.
When Fur Brown is the wrong choice
Skip Fur Brown if your model is mostly skin, cloth, or metal with only a small fur patch. A neutral primer lets you choose the fur colour with a brush and keeps the rest of the model flexible. Also avoid it in very humid or cold conditions, where any spray primer can dry rough and obscure fine detail.
Step-by-step: basecoating fur and hide with Fur Brown
- Prep and shake: Wash resin or metal models, dry them fully, and mount them on a holder. Shake the can for at least two minutes after the mixing ball rattles freely. If the can feels heavy and you hear no rattle, the pigment may be settled; keep shaking before you spray.
- Test the spray: Spray a spare piece or the underside of a base first. Check that the coat is smooth and even, not gritty or watery. A gritty test patch means the conditions or distance are wrong; adjust before touching your model.
- Apply thin passes: Hold the can 20–30 cm from the model and spray in short, overlapping passes. Start the spray off the model and finish off it to avoid pooling. One light pass is better than one wet coat; you can always add a second pass after it dries.
- Check coverage and dry: Let the primer dry to the touch, then inspect recesses and undersides. Add a second thin pass only where bare plastic or metal shows. If detail looks soft or filled in, you sprayed too close or too heavily; stop and let it cure before deciding whether to strip.
- Move to brushwork: Once fully dry, paint fur highlights, skin, and gear directly over the Fur Brown base. Use the matching Warpaint for touch-ups. Keep the first brush layer thin so the primer colour still shows through in the deepest fur recesses.
Product facts
- Colour Primer: Fur Brown: Colour Primer Fur Brown is a fast-drying acrylic primer with a precision nozzle and a colour matched to the Warpaints range. The matched colour means you can touch up or layer with the corresponding Warpaint without a visible shift in tone.
Colour Primer: Fur Brown - Colour Primer: Fur Brown: It is designed to leave every detail on the miniature in excellent condition. Thin passes help preserve fine fur texture and small features instead of filling them in.
