Lore reasons (excuses) for mouldlines

[Lord Raven 19]

I was thinking yesterday about mouldlines and if there was a fluff justification for ever leaving them on your models. I thought up a few and I will put them here to see what people think and what else you all can come up with.

 

Death Guard/Nurgle in general: Joke - it's called mouldline 'cleaning' - self explanatory.

 

Astra Militarum: The imperium does not care enough for the common soldier to remove mouldlines from their armour.

 

What do you think? Any others you can come up with?

[Ramell]

The techpriest/mekboy/whatever (you) overseeing production was a slacker.

[MARK0SIAN]

With Deathguard or Orks you could even go in the opposite direction and emphasise mould lines. Paint on or use green stuff to put some stitches or riveted plates across the mould line as if it’s holding it together :)

[Rik Lightstar]

On occasional models where I've missed them and they've been relatively minor I've turned them into scars or covered them with weathering/battle-damage type effects. This is typically a last resort though and is only done if it is in a suitable place and is in keeping with the rest of the model.

 

Rik

[Lord Raven 19]

@MetalMammoth agreed on it not being that hard to remove, just a thought that struck me and figured it could make some interesting conversation. 

 

Yeah, @Rammel, the slacker is a good one, and I like the idea of adding them on orks and DG @Mark0sian.

[Azekai]

Funny story- the Russians in WW2 were trying to build tanks as quickly as possible, and left welding lines and other construction blemishes on their tanks intentionally; cleaning them up would have required more production time... so basically the same reason why people have mould lines on their minis: rushed production

So that's an explanation for ramshackle vehicles, then. Why men and monsters would have such lines makes zero sense, in-universe.

[Lord Raven 19]

Yeah, agreed that some factions can do it easier than others, it's not as if 'Nids eating ork vehicles suddenly makes ramshackle 'Nids. Actually...

 

But Guard Infantry, the ones on the skin and clothes need to go, chaos could say they're mutations though?

[grailkeeper]

I'm sure I've read some novels that had tongue in cheek references to Space Marines in grey armour at some point. They didn't go as far as calling them Adeptus unfinishedes but it was clearly a reference to unpainted models.

Edited June 3, 2021 by grailkeeper

[Wulf Vengis]

In the Ragnar series novels (i believe, it's a very long time) there are several references to unpainted ceramite/power armour being the grey color of unpainted minis.

[jarms48]

If it's a vehicle it's just a welding seam. Lol.

[chapter master 454]

It is a ceremonial offering to their heretical gods beyond the veil of what even the warp can see, beyond even the Emperor's view. An offering to the beings who seem to pull the strings, wage the wars and fund the constant reinforcements who will never come ether because they remain contained in a coffin of strange material or that never see their livery applied. An offering to those who find amusement in chance, thunderous sounds of odds cascading across infinite battlefields.

Whether the offering appeases such beyond entities is unknown, all we know is we couldn't be bothered with that nonsense after model 5 :D

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

When Cawl unveils the Primaris Marines in Avenging Son, they are all "clad in unmarked, grey armour."