Primary file must be at least 3 MB to accommodate a copy of the model database.

Today I have spent some time fighting with this this error:

Primary file must be at least 3 MB to accommodate a copy of the model database.

If you are getting the error above when deploying your database project in Visual Studio 2008 to a local SQL Server 2005, you might want to enlarge the size attribute. You can do SIZE parameter here in Visual Studio Solution explorer under database project node:

• Database
  • Schema Objects
    • Database Level Objects
      • Storage
        • Files
          • DATABASENAME.sqlfile.sql

Hope the tip saves your time!