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I've seen a few videos where folks painting multipart minis (think Dark Vengeance models, lots of hard to reach parts once assembled) attach the pieces to a paperclip/toothpick, stick it in a cork (or something similar) and paint it in pieces then assemble. My question is...how do you attach it to the paperclip/toothpick? Is it just being glued there? Do the pieces come off easily?

I am familiar with painting on the spru and then cutting the part off and touching up, and have done that with things like purity seals, grenades and pouches, but with these parts being bigger I don't know how well the touch up would work out.

Thanks in advance!

Holes are usually drilled into the parts, beforehand. If the model will be pinned together, eventually, you just leave it long during painting and trim it down later. If not, placing the hole on the eventual mating surface will still keep it hidden and harmless, even if you pop the pin out before assembly. Snap-fit models already have holes that are a nice, tight fit for toothpicks.

Permanent pins get glued in place (for obvious reasons), but I usually just press-fit temporary painting handles. The styrene is just flexible enough to seat a properly sized pin quite snugly without deforming overmuch in the process. A tiny dab of superglue is also an option, if you want to avoid drilling holes, as it's strong enough to handle the minimal force of painting, but will easily snap off and scrape clean once you're done. I usually use fatter toothpicks or bits of sprue when gluing the part on, to give me enough surface area for the bond.

ten dollars at michaels. Testors pin vice drill it also comes with 5 different size bits and a case. make sure you go on the internet and get the 50 % off coupon.

You don't need to leave the pins longer than needed. Just use your pin vise to hold the trimmed pin. You'll have a strong grip and a better access to details underneath as the pin vise is slimmer than a cork.

I've actually been thinking of this a lot recently, too. Not only do I have the Librarian from Dark Vengeance to paint, but I am also trying to get around to painting my Terminators from Space Hulk (the core of a Blood Angel counts-as "Deathwing" army). Tons and tons of overlapping detail on all of them.

In the end that is a very good thing, but requires a very different approach from most models, which at most you might run into things like Space Marine bolters/arms needing to be painted separately so you can reach chest detail.

The nice thing is that because all of the DV and SH models are press-fit, after you paint all the parts separately, they are a breeze to assemble without getting glue on painted detail, because all of the glue areas are totally internal.

I would paint the base model as normal, by either holding the base it's attached to, or attaching the base to something (blue tacking it to the top of a empty paint-pot works great, and gives a re-use for empties, too). The other parts that will be stuck to the model are going to obviously vary, but you can always try the blue tack route, maybe by sticking a wad to the inside where you won't be painting (like near an assembly socket/pin), and then sticking the model to a flat-bottomed pen or something similar.

If there is an area of thick plastic that won;t be seen, the pin-vise route can work, as long as you make sure not to drill through to the outside of the model!

its not that hard and with that drill bit you can even drill out the barrels with this size and it looks decent or drill out with the size in the hand drill right now and then move one up. no risk of wollowing out the walls.