Paint first or assemble first?

[Kilofix]

My test model is always assembled completely and only then painted by hand.

 

Then my mass production approach is to assemble everything except shoulder pads, backpacks and weapons (unless they are also to be the same base color as the body); airbrush separately; then complete final assembly.

 

Examples where I'm basecoating and layering separately:

 

[Cornelias]

If they are holding a ranged weapon across the chest i prefer to leave the arms off and paint the chest details etc. anything else i generally fully assemble apart from the backpack which i always do separately and last. The captain i'm working on at the moment was a bit more complicated as i painted him in 2 halves due to the cloak so yeah, i'd say it probably depends on the model :)

[casb1965]

Primer, basecoat and any large drybrushing done on the sprue then assemble. Paint the fine details, weapons and pads once assembled.

[MedPig]

Some of the newer GW minis are MUCH easier to prime and paint as separate parts. 

WHFB Chaos Champion has a GREAT cloak, I did a whole scene that covered the inside of Khorne on the Skull Throne, only to find almost NONE of it was visible when assembled.  But, overall, a lot of them benefit from paint first.

 

Forge World?  ALWAYS paint as much as possible before gluing.  Those guys seem to design minis *JUST* to make it tough to paint if you glue first. 

[Psy-Crow]

Wash

Dry

Clip 

Blutak\Pose\Convert

Disassemble 

Clean Flash

Check

Double Check

Half build

Paint

Fully build

 

If its rank and file, then I build everything but shoulder pads, backpack and bolter, sometimes head if its a bare head. 

 

Characters break that rule as they are posed more dynamically and often need more access to fiddly areas so I tend to paint them in more bits. Ultimately its what you find easiest and remember, if you can't see it, is it worth painting?  Often when painting a tabletop piece I used to get obsessed with a detail that when viewed from above 4feet away was completely invisible. 

 

Hope that helps and remember, if in doubt, keep painting :)

[zebbie]

I generally fully assemble troops, excluding weapons/shields/stuff across the mini. I do them in sub-assemblies if I am painting to a higher standard (read as: If I am trying to improve) but I seem to abandon these projects more often than not.