Paint first or assemble first?

[maartendp]

Just a question,

 

at the moment, I paint my parts, then assemble them, then paint them up a bit again,

 

This makes it easier for me to reach certain details, but has the downsite of not being able to field everything since it's not assembled.

 

What do you guys think about this?

 

 

[Black Cohort]

It is really a matter of personal preference. I fully assemble all my kits before painting them, but have friends that range from the same as me to painting stuff completely disassembled. My rationale is that if I can't paint it assembled, chances are no one can see it.

[Mike Zulu]

I think painting the parts before you assemble them is just making it harder on yourself. It's also a risk to your paintwork when you eventually glue the parts together.

 

I assemble my models to the point that, if I assemble them further, certain parts will interfere with my brush while painting.

 

A common example is any infantry model holding a rifle to their chest; it is difficult to paint the chestpiece with that gun in the way - so I do not attach the rifle and arm, and paint the model and his weapon separately. At the end, I will glue the parts together.

[Jakbal]

I think it is better to paint last.  It takes so much less time, but there are bits of the painting process that can be more complicated. 

[A Son of Sanguinius]

I assemble and paint in lots. For example, head, torso, and legs get glued together then painted. Next the backpack gets painted then attached. Same for arms and weapons, painted then attached, finally the shoulder pads. Not a perfect sequence but it works well for me.

[maartendp]

And how about larger kits like a landraider or stormraven?

[ElectricPaladin]

For me, it varies depending on the model. I prefer to assemble, then paint, because my enthusiasm for painting models that I can't actually use on the tabletop swiftly wanes and they end up languishing in pieces, sometimes for years. On the other hand, there are some models where it really is an enormous pain in the ass to paint them properly once they're put together. I make a careful assessment when I begin a project, assemble as much of the model as I can (with an eye towards creating a playable version, if possible), and go from there.

[KaosRaptor]

Regarding your standard marine, I usually glue everything except the head and the arms/weapons, depending on what sort of weapons they're wielding. Head is mounted elsewhere (on a toothpick for me!) and painted separately.

 

Never had experience with Imperial vehicles other than the Rhino & Land Raider, but for those I painted the insides first, then assembled and painted the rest. Of course, if you're going to glue the hatches shut (which I know some people do) then you can feel free to glue the whole thing.

[Seathal]

It's a matter of preference. I assemble first and paint last because several reasons:

 

1- Plastic glue and super glue will mess up paint, washes and anything in its way

2- That way I can airbrush some zenital lights very rapidly

3- I don't risk losing pieces or bits on the way since everything is grouped on a single model instead of dozens of little pieces

4- I can kitbash, remove or add pieces and re-pose the model better that way andhave a better idea of how it will look once finished

5- So I don't paint or put a lot of time/detail in a zone that is later going to be obscured or not the focal point
6- Less time consuming and more organized/fast overall

 

I don't think I lose any details like that, but there are other people who like to paint them first for their own reasons.

[maartendp]

Thanx for all the reply's,

I'm going to go for partial assembly in the future, got a lot of marines on the table waiting to be painted.  I recently discovered blu-tack (the belgian variant, cause the actual blu-tack isn't sold in my country)  It's great for temporary assembly, using that stuff I can also wait to magnetise till everything is finished.

[Rob451]

For marines I assemble everything except weapons and heads (only if the helmet is a different colour or they aren't wearing one). I then base coat with an airbrush and paint the Aquila or other chest details as well as the heads and weapons. Then I assemble everything and paint the rest of the model.

 

A top tip for pre-painting parts is to use liquid mask to coat the areas where two parts will join. Then you can paint as normal and come assembly time you can just rub the mask off with a toothpick and glue the parts together easily.

[bmcgrady2]

I basecoat and shade with an airbrush before assembling. Then I hit the details with a brush after its assembled. This way you get the really fine paintjob and can start to play as soon as its basecoated. Details can come later.

[Kaedes Nex]

Just a question,

 

at the moment, I paint my parts, then assemble them, then paint them up a bit again,

 

This makes it easier for me to reach certain details, but has the downsite of not being able to field everything since it's not assembled.

 

What do you guys think about this?

 

Best way to do it, IMO. Fielding unfinished models always feels a bit bad anyway, doesn't it?

 

The only other alternatives to this would be fully assembling, which has severe, obvious downsides in reaching certain areas, and fielding partially assembled models that are missing heads or arms or weapons, which is even worse than fielding unpainted models.

[Tranc]

For the most part, I paint first, then assemble. Aside from the benefit of being able to get at all of the nooks and crannies, I like to paint the pieces separately because it allows me to focus on just one small area and not leave it until it looks as good as I can make it. Obviously, if you're batch painting to get troops on the table, this approach is probably not for you.

 

I get a sense of accomplishment when I can finish a shoulder pad or torso, and have it look really finished and stunning, which inspires me to move on to another piece. The only draw back is when I'm painting lighting, or glares, I have to imagine the final assembled miniature in order to get the lighting consistent.

[Teetengee]

I assemble as much as I possibly can without severely impacting ease of painting. This is in no small part because I do a lot of kitbashing/scratchbuilding including sometimes substantial greenstuffing. But it also means for instance my Heldrake had to be painted almost entirely unassembled because the few parts I could have glued together without affecting painting could not be glued without being able to see the whole composition.

[Firepower]

I assemble the torso and legs, and typically the backpack as well.  I leave the head, arms, and especially the shoulders separate.

 

Suuuuper important to dry-fit everything first though.  Sometimes you do all that work and then find out that some pieces won't fit like you wanted.  Shoulders with big rims (like in the Sternguard box) and outwardly extended arms are notorious for this.

[A D-B]

I just bought a Stormraven and two Furioso Dreadnoughts, and went hunting for this exact kind of thread.

 

Useful stuff.

[SlickSamos]

I take a similar approach to Firepower with Infantry:

- Undercoat the plastic whilst it's on the frame

- Cut bits I want out

- Dry fit

- Assemble torsos 

- Paint 

- Dry fit again

- Finish off painting everything

- Assemble

 

I tend to do half a full squad at a time which means that you need to power on as you have nothing to show until you do the final assembly of all the models at once...

 

With vehicles I either do the same as above but instead of assembling the torso I assemble the chassis and turret separately OR I do the following:

- Assemble bulk of it (assembling chassis and turret separately)

- Cut off other bits I need 

- Spray bits I need (chassis, tracks, turret)

- Paint

- Assemble

 

I usually paint the tracks and underside of the tanks before glueing to make it easier...

 

I hope this helps...

 

Slick Samos

[Carlson793]

The model determines my ordering. Usually it's half painted before assembly, then finish up after putting it together and filing in the gaps Rhino-base models really need this process if you leave the doors unglued - paint the interior, assemble, green stuff the joins, then paint the exterior.

[Imren]

My work procedure:

 

1. cut out the parts needed out of the sprue

2. clean off the mould lines with knife and/or 3200 grit sandpaper

3. drill barrels with 1mm drill

4. dryfit with blue tack and decide posture and equipment

5. glue together legs, torso, arms and backpack

6. magnetise special weapons and sergeant's kit

7. do another final dryfit

8. wash all parts with dishwashing detergent to remove natural fats/oils from fingers (improves undercoat adhesion)

9. pin the weapons by the barrel, the heads and the leg/torso assemby under the feet onto corks

10. blue tack the shoulder pads onto toothpicks

10. undercoat (I do it with airbrush)

11. basecoat (I do it with airbrush)

12. highlight (I do it with airbrush)

13. paint details, such as aquila, eyes, weapons, armour softjoints, grenades, pouches, shoulder pad insignia etc

14. assemble (glue together) the torso, head, shoulder pads and weapon

15. gloss or satin varnish

16. apply oil wash (dark oil paint (black oil paint if you want "Nuln oil" wash) diluted in ethanol or white spirit, ethanol is healtier)

17. wipe off excessive wash, let dry

18. do edge highlighting

18. sating varnish again and seal in miniature

19. paint bases, drill them and pin the model in

Finished!

 

This is tedious, takes me a week to do a squad if I work every evening and the weekend. But the results are a good painted miniature with a robust paintjob that can withstand the beating/scratching of tabletop gaming

[netminder69]

I second what Black Cohort. I always fully assemble first. Prime. Then paint. That way I don't worry about details that aren't going to be seen. It probably helps that I have a pretty steady hand, so I don't have too many issues getting a small brush in tight areas to paint something I feel I need to.

[Adorondak]

I second what Black Cohort. I always fully assemble first. Prime. Then paint. That way I don't worry about details that aren't going to be seen. It probably helps that I have a pretty steady hand, so I don't have too many issues getting a small brush in tight areas to paint something I feel I need to.

 

I do the same, but more because it's what I'm used to then anything else. I started in fantasy back when the majority of plastics were one piece, with maybe a shield to add after it's painted. I tried painting infantry before it was painted but it didn't work that well for me. I'd keep getting hung up putting insane amounts of detail on some bit, then put the thing together and discover that most of my work was completely hidden from view.

 

Vehicles and walkers are a different story though, I usually build things up into as few sub-assemblies as possible, then paint those and then finish putting it together. This worked especially well on the Knight I just finished painting. Keeping all the armor plates and the arms seperate let me finish the main body really quickly since all I did was base-wash-dry brush the vast majority of it.

[Firepower]

 

I second what Black Cohort. I always fully assemble first. Prime. Then paint. That way I don't worry about details that aren't going to be seen. It probably helps that I have a pretty steady hand, so I don't have too many issues getting a small brush in tight areas to paint something I feel I need to.

 

 I tried painting infantry before it was painted but it didn't work that well for me.

 

Woooaaaah...you just blew my mind, bro.

 

Vehicles and walkers are a different story though, I usually build things up into as few sub-assemblies as possible, then paint those and then finish putting it together. This worked especially well on the Knight I just finished painting. Keeping all the armor plates and the arms seperate let me finish the main body really quickly since all I did was base-wash-dry brush the vast majority of it.

Yeah, this is always a stumbling block for me when I get a new kit. It's easy to understand how infantry models will fit together. Vehicles, a bit less so. Figuring out what I need separated, what I can keep separated without screwing up Step X in assembly later on, and how I can later glue in separate pieces without damaging the finished paintjobs....it's a bit hectic, the first time through. Thankfully, some nice fellows have videos to watch -Les Bursley and a bit more so BuyPainted (in terms of assembly)- which can be pretty comprehensive. They don't do every model though, so sometimes I have to fly blind. Like with the 2 Storm Talons on my to do list.

 

Get it? Flying blind? It's funny, because...well ok, it's not funny.

[SlickSamos]

 

 

I second what Black Cohort. I always fully assemble first. Prime. Then paint. That way I don't worry about details that aren't going to be seen. It probably helps that I have a pretty steady hand, so I don't have too many issues getting a small brush in tight areas to paint something I feel I need to.

 

 I tried painting infantry before it was painted but it didn't work that well for me.

 

Woooaaaah...you just blew my mind, bro.

Te-he :P

[DistroyA]

I'm with Black Cohort on the whole personal preference thing. Plus, it depends on what you're painting. For example, when painting space marines, I glue everything on but the guns, but with a land raider, I've glued together only a couple of things, and then paint the parts individually, as I aim to have the internal section painted as well.