As most, or even all, hobbyists than want to end before they even took the time to think out how proceed wisely, I used to have built hundreds of models before painting them. Thousands in facts. And I end up with stuff taht sometimes was impossible to paint in a "satisfying" way because many parts of the model are uneasy to access to. and so paint can be applied except at high cost of contortions, stains and retouching. Which most of the time is worse than the issue it is meant to solve.

Anyway, I only recently started to apply this trick (I really wish someone would have told me this before, but they were probably too busy doing the same mistakes as I did or laughning out loud on people commiting this 1o1 mistake of building the models without taking into account the painting step). No acrititud there.

So, how it works and why would one paint models before assembly?

1. because otherwise it will be too complex to access some visible enough areas to be painted

2. because you cannot stand the idea that the back of the bolter should not be shaded (I can live without this one but, sometimes, it is necesary to get a proper access as part of the back of the weapon is visible enough to be like a wart on a witch nose if it is left unpainted or not detailled enough)

3. because you read/watched a tutorial saying it is a way to go and believe everything you see on Youtube.

Can we agree not talking about bullet 3?

Otherwise the 2 first options are still valid. I my case I will be dealing with AdMech miniatures, that are so gorgeous and full of details and character. Sometimes so much details and character that painting stuff separatly ceased to be an option. I just give as a precision that I am NOT painting bellow the robes of these TechPriests...

Main things to take into account whem painting models before assembly/by parts:

1. Follow the manual (The assembly manual, not my step-by-step wanabee list of stuff)

2. Follow the manual AND track the parts numbers - I use small labelled bags so that I am sure I am not going to button up monday with tuesday

3. Paint some preassembled block that make sense - for example Front and Back torso on the Skitarii example, But it might be Legs and Torso plus arms on a SM, Decide on basis of the complexity of the model

4. Paint heads but glue them last. Why do you think GW made this tool to gather heads and paint them separately? It is NOT only to sell you another expensive tool. I has a purpose... (Which is basically that the model looks in the right direction once painted and waving his gun)

5. You can paint directly on sprue. In that case I find useful to tag the parts I need to paint. Of course it has two disadvantages: a) do not forget to paint heads and tails (obvious? I am sorry, not always, I pledge it) and b) you will need to add spot paint to correct unclipping marks. Yet the key advantage is obvious if you once tried to paint a small arm holding it with your thick fingers. Think about it with part 45 of the picture below in mind.

As last advises:

6. you do not need to paint everything in details at preassembly step: some parts of the model will remain hidden once assemblied; so focus and keep effort and energy for what´s worth.

7. you do not need to prepaint everything at preassembly step: some parts of the model may be better painted once glued in postion. Especially if you are using cements with solvent that disolved paints. It sucks having worked to see that everything is now dissolved by acetone... As an example for the Skitarii, I do not paint shoulder pads at this stage, I wait for the arms to be glued... Alternative is not to use liquid cement with solvent and use Superglue... Should it be a topic for a future entry???

 See? No paint on shoulder pads...

8. not all details are needed at this stage: for example, turf glueing on bases can wait for the model to be in position...

Hope you will find this useful. I has been of great help to me to "discover" this obvious trick. I wished I knew it before. But, hey, I could have used my brain too? Apparently not. Or it is a very recent evolution. 

So I paintd my Skitarii by parts so that I could wait for the new Codex to be released. Technicaly it is not, but as Youtuber already reviwed it... I have enough info to decide on how to tool my Vanguards. As I alredy own an illegal Vaguard squad (thanks to ruel changes from 9 to 10th) and as we now know that (for a while) Vanguards can get all special weapons at once, I will assembly the 10 guies od my second patrol box with 2 purpose in mind:

- get a shiny new squad completed fitted with haywire, plasma and sharpshooter radiactive longgun

- redistribute with my existing squd so that it can be fully tooled witht eh same. so once of the haywire and radium carabine model already painted in era of 9th will be swapped with a plasma and transuranic from the new squad. I will have to see if body B2-B3 can fit properly with this long gun...

See you once squad will be completed.