I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions. I don’t enjoy this. Plus I’m not a delicate person and always break something from applying to much pressure unintentionally. I would prefer models come mostly assembled with extra bits to customize. What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

I love putting the models together! Especially when I get the chance to kitbash something and be truly creative.

Totally depends on the kit. Some kits are fun to assemble, some are absolutely terrible. Some are worth the effort even if they are tedious, others are not.

For example, kits like the harlequin troupe kit or the rubric marine kit are not necessarily fun to assemble, but they are worth the effort, because of the customization possibilities they include.

Really bad kits are ones where they are both tedious to assemble and not worth the effort because you just end up with something that is mono-posed anyway, especially when they're badly put together. An example of this is the eldar support weapon kit, which is tedious for no real gain, as well as being massively frustrating because GW was too lazy to make a custom torso to go with the seated guy, so it doesn't fit right at all.

Fun is a subjective thing, but I recently had fun taking a single Nurgling kit (normally 3 bases) and turning it into 11 by combining it with some tentacles, for my new chaos army that has an underwater theme. Now I have a bunch of nurglings sitting on top of tentacles, or hiding behind them, like clownfish in anemones. The playfulness of the nurglings fits perfectly with the tentacles - they look like they're having a grand old time - and I saved a ridiculous amount of money.

I enjoy assembling many models, though not all. Give me a box of 28mm scale infantry sized models and I'll be thrilled, especially if they're metal. I'm currently assembling a buttload of Heavy Gear models that scratch this itch, and finished a grip of 3E Grey Knight Terminators earlier in the year. However, despite the fact that I own 27 of them, I don't look forward to building any further Chimera-hulled vehicles. I've done *one* 28mm scale vehicle model period in the last 5 years I think (a Shadowsword).

Ask me to do a metal Thundefire cannon? Nope. Did that once, never again. Anything that requires pinning? Nope. Does it have small fiddly breaky bits? Hard pass. A box of old metal Terminators? Oh yes...

You nailed it early; Some people like puzzles, and it is one, albeit with many solutions, and the solutions you choose have meaningfully varying outcomes.

Do you solve it just with the included pieces? Do you just have one marine dual-wielding bolters for the hell of it? Do you twist the head on the landspeeder Meltagunner to be looking judgingly at the pilot, who is tilted back and jubilantly shooting a bolt pistol into the air? Do you 3d-print bits for your Chaos Marines so that you have an army of Slaanesh furries wielding dubstep guns from Saints Row?

LIMITLESS POWER.

Deleted

Grimlineman wrote:
I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions.?

Assembling the models is the only fun I have left in Warhammer. I find painting to be an unpleasant chore, although I do so. i certainly don't do it to play the game, because I have not played a game of Warhammer outside of Space Hulk in about a decade.

Why? Well, like you said - it's like a puzzle, and people like puzzles. 20 puzzles are sold every minute in the US this year.

There is a sense of satisfaction in taking a nearly 2D sprue of gubbins and turning it into a 3D representation of something. And, of course, for me there are usually problems to be solved - customization, magnetization, kitbashing, 3D printing some replacements or upgrades, the works. Like CEO Kasen, it's rare that I build a model 100% to the box - I am tweaking at least something on every single one, usually.

I also am good with delicate tasks, so I never break parts, or make messes with the glue, or anything like that, so I don't have that piece of your frustration to overcome.

 Ouze wrote:

Grimlineman wrote:
I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions.?

Assembling the models is the only fun I have left in Warhammer. I find painting to be an unpleasant chore, although I do so. i certainly don't do it to play the game, because I have not played a game of Warhammer outside of Space Hulk in about a decade.

Perhaps try Gunpla? Bandai's engineering puts GW to shame and the kits are fantastic. I especially recommend the Real Grade kits as they're pretty close to the much larger and more expensive Perfect Grade kits. Super fun to assemble and they usually have impressive articulation and gimmicks like transformation into flight mode or lighting kits...

yukishiro1 wrote:
Totally depends on the kit. Some kits are fun to assemble, some are absolutely terrible. Some are worth the effort even if they are tedious, others are not.

For example, kits like the harlequin troupe kit or the rubric marine kit are not necessarily fun to assemble, but they are worth the effort, because of the customization possibilities they include.

Really bad kits are ones where they are both tedious to assemble and not worth the effort because you just end up with something that is mono-posed anyway, especially when they're badly put together. An example of this is the eldar support weapon kit, which is tedious for no real gain, as well as being massively frustrating because GW was too lazy to make a custom torso to go with the seated guy, so it doesn't fit right at all.

Fun is a subjective thing, but I recently had fun taking a single Nurgling kit (normally 3 bases) and turning it into 11 by combining it with some tentacles, for my new chaos army that has an underwater theme. Now I have a bunch of nurglings sitting on top of tentacles, or hiding behind them, like clownfish in anemones. The playfulness of the nurglings fits perfectly with the tentacles - they look like they're having a grand old time - and I saved a ridiculous amount of money.

Those Nurglings sound ADORABLE!

Building and converting are by far my favourite parts of the hobby and I do all of it (audiobooks, play games and paint)

Personally, minatures hobby is all about getting creative and telling stories with your models. SOme very subtle only you will know about others very obvious. And it only stops where you want it to stop. The build stage to me is the stamp you put on that its "Mah dudes!" . Be it with basing, conversion, simple head swap etc.

I can twist the torso slightly here, snip off a grenade pack and put it in the left arm and voila. My bog standard Eldar guardian now looks like hes frozen in time in the process of throwing a pack of plasma grenades. (Then when I'm playing a game I might leave him on the board in order to remember I have grenades )

Everyones different though. This is just me.

Overall, yes.
But it also depends upon the kit. For ex; I love the Corax(?) cultist models from AoS. But the designers have sliced these things into so many ridiculous pieces that after #5 I just gave up. The irritation just wasn't worth it. Plus they don't particularly add anything mechanically to my army that a less annoying to build kit can't manage.
Also, the more customization a kit has built in, the greater my enjoyment of it.

ccs wrote:
But it also depends upon the kit.

For sure. As Vaktathi noted, one metal Thunderfire Cannon is enough for a lifetime.

I also am not fond of the growing trend of difficult to convert monopose models from GWS (Most of my stuff is not super new). Building for me is an outlet for creativity, and a lot of the really new stuff stifles that.

Older kits have been more fun than my experience with the new kits. The new mono-pose kits are kind of a pain, and hunting for numbers on the sprues is tedious. Older kits were much less specific and more free-form to build. I hadn't needed to look at instructions for years until nuilding models from Indomitus.

Grimlineman wrote:
What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

Some, in watching the model take shape.

Although, for me, there's more enjoyment in throwing the instructions over my shoulder and finding out what happens when I instead glue sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 9 and maybe sprue piece 14 from a completely different kit.



And yes, multi-part white-metal models are sent to earth to test us. Do not want.

By equal measure one could ask why minatures/wargaming/models kits as a hobby to be part of if you don't like building models??

One can use statuettes/busts/toys that don't require assembly for painting.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 insaniak wrote:

Grimlineman wrote:
What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

Some, in watching the model take shape.

Although, for me, there's more enjoyment in throwing the instructions over my shoulder and finding out what happens when I instead glue sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 9 and maybe sprue piece 14 from a completely different kit.



And yes, multi-part white-metal models are sent to earth to test us. Do not want.

I have some wraithguard with their midriff facing the wrong way for that exact reason...

depends on the kit/faction/ and your personality. I rather dislike the newer almost mono-posed kits/easy to build kits, its ok for characters if you only need 1-2 of them.

as for instructions: if you're an ork player, there is no instructions! I vote for GW to leave out the instructions in all the ork kits.

I'm mainly a IG player, so painting 100's of cadians is tough, so I mix and match heads/gear from other IG and or suitable kits. The only part I find is a chore is mold line cleaning, I wish I have a monkey clone of myself that do just that 'cleaning mold lines and any other similar tasks'.

Interesting take, because if I had to choose between modeling and painting I prefer modeling. Modeling is where you can really make something unique if desired, even if just slightly. I used to bend the arms on the old metal terminators just to give them a little different pose. Painting to me is fine, but it's more like a necessary step to finish the process of making a model yours.

The modern kits are gorgeous but horrible... just making someone else's statue? Feh.

But the older kits? Creating all SORTA of Ork models? Building up unique marines with pieces form a half-dozen kits?

Dude.

DUDE.

That stuff is AWESOME.

Painting on the other hand. Aie.

 amanita wrote:
Interesting take, because if I had to choose between modeling and painting I prefer modeling. Modeling is where you can really make something unique if desired, even if just slightly. I used to bend the arms on the old metal terminators just to give them a little different pose. Painting to me is fine, but it's more like a necessary step to finish the process of making a model yours.

I disagree, it depends on your respective skill level. Painting a model brings them to life whereas converted but unpainted is still a sculpture. There are some aspects of painting, such as skin tone/tattoos/hair/Unsculpted unit markings, a unpainted miniature cannot fulfill. Some also can be said of well painted models but the miniature itself are clones of each other in mono pose or the person likes their models vanilla like the box art.

 insaniak wrote:

And yes, multi-part white-metal models are sent to earth to test us. Do not want.

You've not built an AoS Corax Cultist, have you. They'll make you wish you were building a 3e metal Deff Copta.

Assembly I don't enjoy. But modelling.. Thats almost an addiction at this point. I consider myself a modeler first gamer second and painter last. Used to be different but is what it is.

I enjoy putting them together, it took learning to magnetize to get me over an anxiety I kinda had about ruining models with bad load outs but I am over it now.

I balk at painting models because I don't want to look like Goff orkz but have to explain "These gitz are bad moonz, these gitz are speek freekz" because those klan tactics are better or sumfin.

Assembling rarely lasts long enough to enjoy or dread for me. Painting - I enjoy the middle. Getting started is a chore because I think about the time commitment, finishing is too because the last few details always seem to take forever especially the transfers. But the middle is fun, you can get huge strides done in a short time.

Assembling is probably my favorite part.
Painting gets to be a chore too quickly.

But bringing the pieces to order is an entertaining diversion for the hands and mind while watching/listening to something.

The part I don't particularly like is clipping and trimming all the sprue joins down to smooth surfaces. That gets a bit excessive, especially with small bits.

I'll echo what others have said, it really really depends on the kit.

Recent Astartes boxes are great with what you can do with the posing.
Primaris kits(other than Tacticus armour units) are a pain since it takes a ton of work to make then do anything different. But if you kitbash Primaris infantry w Astartes they look great.

Bandai stuff kicks ass, so there's always that.

But for me, I consider myself a modeler/painter first with gaming as something cool to do with my minis, besides sitting on a shelf.

I like it. The reward of finishing is quicker than with painting and there's more personalisation possible with kitbashing or conversions.

If you think you're not delicate while assembling, try being more delicate!

I aim to convert every model I have from 6 mm up in some fashion, because they are mine. I want my dudes to look and feel different from someone else's because there is artistic pride to be had in creating something unique. It also reinforces the idea that fictional worlds are big and no armies of even same factions ought to look exactly alike.

I enjoy all facets of hobbying, but would probably rank the main three as assembling > gaming > painting (loving the painting too, it's fun to push your limits further). There is something deeply satisfying in breathing life and narrative context into a pile of bits.

I find assembling, converting, and magnetising immensely satisfying...probably my favourite part of the hobby. I can't specifically explain why.

Assembling is my favorite part of the hobby. I feel like it lets me be the most creative. I usually kit bash or convert models in various ways. In my guard army of 150 or so models almost every single model has a conversion. Holding a knife here, adding a scope to a lasgun there, guardsmen drinking from there water cans... all kinds of stuff really. I try to make my squads themed like a close quarter oriented squad with melee weapons and shotguns, relaxed squads where the guardsmen are chilling, long range squads with various weapon mods and sniper rifles and so on. Even have a squad with only solid projectile weapons instead of lasguns (like autoguns). Rules wise I run them all as regular standard guardsmen. My current project is building ork nobs out of the fantasy trolls models.

Grimlineman wrote:

What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

For me it's the best part of the hobby. I really spend a lot of time just trying to figure out how to assemble my models in order to give them the best looking possible poses.

I wouldn't even start an army that doesn't allow me to kitbash through different boxes, magnetize and convert stuff. It's one of the main reason why I can't stand primaris

It's painting the miniatures that it's really boring IMHO.

I also love building models, it's one of the best parts of the hobby. It reminds me of the good old days when I would get a big lego set for Christmas and spend the rest of the holidays building it.

Converting and kitbashing also is great fun (I have more unique nobz than one could possibly hope to field), any vehicle that makes sense to magnetize is magnetized, my dreads and killa kanz can swap their arms freely among each other, my helbrutes can be fielded in every configuration, my dakkajets can turn into burna bommers within seconds.

I don't shy away from metal either, I recently stripped a metal CSM daemon prince, took him apart to rebuild and add metal hive tyrant wings to him. The only material that is no longer allowed on my crafting table is finecast.

I hate painting though. I'm still hoping to find someone who would paint my models in exchange for me building and magnetizing their models.

Grimlineman wrote:
I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions. I don’t enjoy this. Plus I’m not a delicate person and always break something from applying to much pressure unintentionally. I would prefer models come mostly assembled with extra bits to customize. What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

Ha i have the excact opposite, i dislike painting (unless i have inspiration) unlike building, i could build for days, especially if my bitz box would be deeper, but then again i play(ed) factions that lend themselves to kitbashing, 3rd parties and everyhing in between.

Some of my personal highlights include:

An Abbadon into a version of my fav chaos lord.


A chaos lord into a specifc kind of themed Necro CSM.


A count as Daemonprince engine:


Count as Stalkleman russ tanks amiriger conversions aswell as a daemonegnified Basilisk:


Meanwhile my painting skill often limits the capability of what i want to look them like so i kinda have to compensate with my building skill.
That and a at times tight portmonnaie lead inevitably to some happy kitbashing and repurposing.

At the moment i am contemplating to use corpsegrinders with Tempestus to kitbash some elite formations with left over 3rd party bits...

I hate it and would prefer to have my minis already built and primed, EXCEPT if I plan to kitbash or convert something.
It's also less about the building and more about the cleanup, worst of all those clip off nubs.
I have no issue with mouldlines and gaps are ususally managable, but those stupid nubs are the worst.

Not Online!!! wrote:

Some of my personal highlights include:

An Abbadon into a version of my fav chaos lord.

Spoiler:

A chaos lord into a specifc kind of themed Necro CSM.

Spoiler:

Damn, love those 2

If you don’t enjoy building models this is probable not an ideal hobby.

Depends on the model. Some stuff goes together brilliantly. I LOVE kitbashing stuff. Tomb Blades are fething horrible to assemble. Seriously, feth tomb blades. No basic jetbike should be in 40ish parts.

I'd say as with a lot of art its more about satisfaction than enjoyment.

 JohnnyHell wrote:
If you don’t enjoy building models this is probable not an ideal hobby.

I disagree, cause you can enjoy playing, but not painting or building and you can also enjoy building and playing, but not painting, or you can be in it mainly for the painting enjoyment (like me) and don't play and only build stuff to have something to paint and not because you enjoy it. It's just a necessity to get to where you can do your hobby.

I dislike work, but love the money, so I gotta do the first to get to the second XD

This is why we can't have nice things, and monopose plastics are on there way back in.

 Sim-Life wrote:
Depends on the model. Some stuff goes together brilliantly. I LOVE kitbashing stuff. Tomb Blades are fething horrible to assemble. Seriously, feth tomb blades. No basic jetbike should be in 40ish parts.

Personal most hated kit, warcry splintered fang, why?
Have you seen the fething NET?

As someone who also loves the assembly side, I'm not getting all the hate for Primaris poses.

One the one hand (ha!) for the arm combos and preset poses, that's excellent for the people who want to know exactly what pose they're getting, and don't want to do all the clipping and remodelling to get a different variation of "bolter held in two hands, without just clutching it to the chest". You're given a good idea of what that'll look like from the start, and there's a nice range of poses. I remember when Tactical Marine arms were all pretty much the same, and your pose options were "bolter held by the casing and grenade in the other hand" or "bolter clutched to the chest" without more cutting. Current Tacticals, 30k plastics and Primaris allow for aiming down sights, held at an angle, reloading, and held at waist without any extra work.

As for the legs and torsos being stuck together - again, that's never been much of an issue with me. Simply changing the head angle usually does a great deal in changing the momentum of the model. The main thing missed is if you want a whole squad having the same leg stance.

My main gripe with Primaris (and honestly nearly all modern sculpts)? The hands being molded to the guns, and the join being at the wrist. It makes having guns held in one hand far more difficult without using one built for that purpose. But that's about it.

Building and converting is the best part of the hobby for me, too. Especially when it's getting creative.

I really enoy it. More so than playing or painting.

There are only two parts of building that I hate

1) Removing mould lines prior to assembly.

2) When the style of a model means that the ideal way to build it is in stages with painting between those stages.
However that's more my phobia of painting and lack of painting skill than anything to do with model building.


Hating building models is a bit of a barrier in the hobby since playing and painting both require a built model. Of course if you've the money you can commission others to build and prime your models.

That said in my view a lot of hate often comes from a lack of confidence and methods to achieve a result at a quality we desire. Ergo that you might hate building because you're not sure you're doing it right or to the best of your ability. Sometimes some guidance, help and tuition can help overcome this.

I like the model building more than I like painting,as painting takes so much time for so little actual progress when it's just that much faster to go from sprues to assembled model, even when doing subassemblies and magnetization. And I'm not that great at painting,so that feels more like work I have to do.

When building miniatures I am usually a bit sad when I'm finished. Painting is more like "thank God I'm done with this" most of the time.

But what overread wrote is absolutely true - knowing how to build stuff is a requirement, otherwise it's really frustrating. It's why I prefer GW plastics over anything else. No super glue that doesn't stick until it's your fingers, no weird instructions, no metal to shav,easy to cut and modify ....

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:
As someone who also loves the assembly side, I'm not getting all the hate for Primaris poses.

One the one hand (ha!) for the arm combos and preset poses, that's excellent for the people who want to know exactly what pose they're getting, and don't want to do all the clipping and remodelling to get a different variation of "bolter held in two hands, without just clutching it to the chest". You're given a good idea of what that'll look like from the start, and there's a nice range of poses. I remember when Tactical Marine arms were all pretty much the same, and your pose options were "bolter held by the casing and grenade in the other hand" or "bolter clutched to the chest" without more cutting. Current Tacticals, 30k plastics and Primaris allow for aiming down sights, held at an angle, reloading, and held at waist without any extra work.

As for the legs and torsos being stuck together - again, that's never been much of an issue with me. Simply changing the head angle usually does a great deal in changing the momentum of the model. The main thing missed is if you want a whole squad having the same leg stance.

My main gripe with Primaris (and honestly nearly all modern sculpts)? The hands being molded to the guns, and the join being at the wrist. It makes having guns held in one hand far more difficult without using one built for that purpose. But that's about it.

I see monopose models as next level of challange for conversion

Only time i ever came close to liking building a model was making minor conversions.

I also am not the best painter, so I only sometimes enjoy that.

As someone who converts and/or kitbashes literally everything, building is easily my favorite part of the process.

I hate it

I pay other people a few hundred to build armies normally. Any PP or Mantic army? someones getting paid to do that for me

I can work on terrain all day

I started in the hobby when everything was mono-pose metal, so converting a mono-pose plastic model doesn't really pose a challenge to me. Count me as someone else who doesn't understand the "Primaris pose" hate.

That said, while I still enjoy converting and scratch building, regular old building of the models is becoming increasingly tedious. Sometimes, I convert things. Most of the time, I just want to get the models built as quickly as I can so that I can get to painting, and anymore, that's becoming tiresome. While I love the look GW has been achieving w/a lot of the 40k stuff recently, they've made building it a real PITA. Illuminor Szeras was a nightmare for example, and that guy is NEVER leaving the house because I can't envision a way to transport him and NOT have a million tiny pieces snap off.

In fact, almost every new Necron model has been a pain. Even the snap fits - "Wind this arm.head/hip combo piece over the back piece under the chest piece and through the hips". The Mechanicus stuff also bums me out. Put one wrong set of legs with one wrong toros on a Ranger and you're fethed.

Some of the stuff has gotten too intricate for its own good. Not a fan. Plus, outside of the occasional issue with Tank tracks, assembling vehicles use to be a snap. But the last few I got (Repulsor and Repulsor Executioner) were to warped and had massive gaps. It was like assembling old school Forge World where you had to tack on a few days just for fixing things. I just don't enjoy it anymore.

In response to OP, I like building models more than painting. I even find removing mould lines to be somewhat enjoyable.

In fact I find that painting can interfere with my enjoyment of building models more so than the other way around. The reason is because I struggle with my painting due to poor eyesight and hand control, I consistently have to leave my mini's in more sub-assemblies than I might otherwise would have and this frustrates the model builder in me because I constantly have a collection of partially assembled models as part of my painting backlog. So not only do I suffer through seemingly endless shelves of gray plastic, but its shelves of partially assembled gray plastic at that!

Transporting delicate models can be easy if you have ferrous metal in/on the base, and some rare earth magnets for securing that base to something, and a case sufficient for it. A guy in Halifax has this custom case that I've seen a similar version available commercially now, where essentially he has a box that you can slot baking sheets into, and the models hold onto the baking sheets.

I enjoy putting the modular kits together, specifically space marines before the modern method. I would glue legs to bases and then fit torsos together before putting arms and weapons on. Then head pointed where it makes sense with the pose and be done. Now when every kit is numbered and each piece fitted to specific others it feels like a chore. To me the opportunity to customize my models is less though the actual model is better looking. I just don't want every box to look the same when you need so many infantry models to make an army.

I like all aspects of modeling. I do get bored pretty easy doing 1 task for too long. Currently working on Necron as a project. I am building several kits at once and painting a few others. I just keep rotating when I get bored. I have actually found this is the fastest way for me to get a large project done.

I think Building is my favorite part of the hobby though. Building however is not without it's frustrations. Some pieces are just fiddly and I get angry wondering why I have to glue two tiny pieces together when they easily could have just been 1 piece. I think gluing arms together holding a gun is the worst...or a staff or whatever. There is just no great way to do this. Also scraping mold lines off is pretty tiresome...not just the scraping...getting the plastic shaving out of the cracks. In the end it is worth it when it's all over. That feeling of accomplishment and knowing you can now move to painting.

 Stevefamine wrote:
I can work on terrain all day

Yes, I am the same. Terrain has gone from an afterthought when I started out, to a major focus - I work on more terain than minis these days. There is something queerly pleasing about making a nice setpiece, even the the battles it was meant to host never happen.

I guess this is what model railroading is like.

I like building models, especially Ork ones, mainly because of all the conversion possibilities and the equivalent of finishing a lego kit when you are finished. I do hate metal models though, especially top heavy ones like the SAG mek. I always preferred it over painting until recently, where I've really realized that I love painting vehicles and terrain. It's just infantry with their tiny bits and clothes that became far too tedious for me.

I like putting things together. It's fun.

I do mostly enjoy building the models, yes. I don't go too crazy with kitbashing, but on occasion I like to personalize some HQs--for instance I recently cut off my captain in phobos armor's lower left leg and replaced it with a cybernetic bit from Anvil Industries. It looks awesome and was worth the trouble when finished!

As others have mentioned, some models are a bit of a chore--it's mostly the older kits in my experience that are like this. E.g. the land raider and rhino were fairly easy, but the tolerances aren't great and getting everything seamless was a chore. Illuminor Szeras was a pain for a new model, as he has tons of super tiny bits attached to other bits in weird places. Very hard to assemble seamlessly without breaking anything. The model is a show-stopper, though, so worth it in the end. I built a bunch of Seraphon Saurus Knights recently for my wife's army and they were simple, but the kits are old and don't fit together worth a damn, so it was an absolute pain. I actually didn't enjoy those at all.

Two of my favorite kits are Leviathan and Contemptor dreadnoughts. I know some people just cannot deal with resin, but these kits have customizability that allows amazing poses, and with fewer pieces than plastic. Only trouble is mould slips (due to FW's absolutely shameful quality control) and having to pin and use super glue or epoxy (which I recommend!). Pinning resin is super-duper easy, though, as it's really easy to drill. Google search an Iron Hands Leviathan and see what I mean about posing. One of the first images that pops up for me is one with a grav flux bombard and siege drill running forward. Whoever did that must have felt immensely satisfied when finished! And it's not even that hard with those kits compared to plastic.

I am also like the OP. Assembling models is my least favorite part, but I love painting. I also like the newer models that are easy to build and monopose models. I find models that have lot posing options to a pain to put together and rarely ever convert models. Example of a model I hate assembling is the Dire Avenger plastic models and plastic guardians

I really don't like drilling and sanding resin. I know they claim it isn't carcinogenic, but I'm not at all sure I believe them, and it's terrible to inhale either way. Even with a dust mask and careful vacuuming I always have the sinking suspicion I've put a lot of fine resin particles into the air that are going into somebody's lungs sooner or later.

The fact that FW's bad quality control means you'll almost always have to do at least some sanding makes the whole thing a "feels bad" moment IMO. I will not completely refuse to do it, but I always hate it when I have to.

Yes i do and it is related to my Asperger syndrome, but it is not limited to only plastic figures. (IKEA and me are very good friends)
Abselutly hate painting tough. I try as mutch as possible to find prepainted minis on ebay for the "large army" stuff. Skirmish games i can paint myself

Grimlineman wrote:
I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions. I don’t enjoy this. Plus I’m not a delicate person and always break something from applying to much pressure unintentionally. I would prefer models come mostly assembled with extra bits to customize. What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

HAAAAAA! I hate it. Currently procrastinating on a bunch of adepta sororitas that are beautiful but also the tiniest fiddliest little models ive ever attempted to assemble and the most expensive.

Although it's annoying to assemble a bunch of similar infantry, it's much more annoying to paint them IMO, if only because it takes so much longer. At least the assembly part you have a chance to make some decisions about each model. Once you get to painting, unless you're doing something really unique, every model is going to get the same scheme so it becomes just about execution.

It isn't my favorite thing to do, but I'm pretty fascinated how they continue to find more and more clever ways to cut these models into their components and still have it all come together.

Quasistellar wrote:

Two of my favorite kits are Leviathan and Contemptor dreadnoughts. I know some people just cannot deal with resin, but these kits have customizability that allows amazing poses, and with fewer pieces than plastic. Only trouble is mould slips (due to FW's absolutely shameful quality control) and having to pin and use super glue or epoxy (which I recommend!). Pinning resin is super-duper easy, though, as it's really easy to drill. Google search an Iron Hands Leviathan and see what I mean about posing. One of the first images that pops up for me is one with a grav flux bombard and siege drill running forward. Whoever did that must have felt immensely satisfied when finished! And it's not even that hard with those kits compared to plastic.

The Leviathan is a lovely kit, and I had zero issues with the casting quality. Maybe I'm just lucky, because I recently assembled a Drukhari Reaper, and had no quality/casting issues with that either.

It's just totally hit and miss with FW. That's the problem with bad QC. It doesn't mean it's always bad, it just means the bad results creep through.

FWIW, in my personal experience they have gotten a bit better about it than they used to be, and FW is definitely better than the few failcast kits GW proper still makes. Those are just atrocious when it comes to quality control.

yukishiro1 wrote:
It's just totally hit and miss with FW. That's the problem with bad QC. It doesn't mean it's always bad, it just means the bad results creep through.

FWIW, in my personal experience they have gotten a bit better about it than they used to be, and FW is definitely better than the few failcast kits GW proper still makes. Those are just atrocious when it comes to quality control.

I wish I had never had to deal with failcast. Unfortunately, my favorite character in 40k is Eisenhorn, and his miniature is failcast. Went through two returns to finally get a torso that wasn't so full of bubbles that the detail wasn't destroyed.

I bit the bullet and ordered some Lernaen terminators the other day, I guess I'll find out next week whether I was right to say they're getting better about QC.

For me, I enjoy assembling more than I enjoy painting. I find converting / kitbashing a lot easier and rewarding than painting.

I used to when I was a teenager, and a unit of ten took 15-30 minutes. Now that time is in short supply and a unit of ten takes more like an hour or two, I just find it a chore.

What I hate is when you have to glue a tiny piece, 1-2mm in size, to much bigger piece. I always use too much glue, sometimes the tiny piece falls down, and is lost. GW could have easily made that one piece.

Depends on the models but generally I enjoy building. It only gets bad when there's a massive quantity or the parts are a pain to clean. Right now I'm doing 20 mkiv assault marines and the jump packs are a nightmare. Resin tanks are also fun until they don't fit together.

AdmiralHalsey wrote:
This is why we can't have nice things, and monopose plastics are on there way back in.

So? I still know my way around a hobby knife, glue, putty, etc. Don't you?
Besides, mono-pose plastic is MUCH easier to convert than mono-pose "white" metal....

My 40K enjoyment hierarchy is playing, building, and, lastly, painting.

I really like putting personal touches on the models. Not even major kit-bashing, but simple pose alterations and choices of bit placement.

Painting is the one that gets tedious for me. I love the sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing a paint job, but I am a pretty slow painter so it can be a bit of a slog for me.

Yes. Less so with some of the more modern GW kits (though they are a whole 'nother puzzle, which leads into my next point) as they are somewhat less freeform than older kits, but there is a new challenge in seeing how they can be cut for kitbashing purposes.

Bashing seemingly random things together and seeing how they can connect is like one of the greatest joys of this hobby. Sometimes, simply holding a piece in a different way than it should be opens up a whole host of possibilities for assembly you may have never thought of.


Though, as an aside- I am truly puzzled by these types of threads (there have been similar ones on painting in the past). So many people come out of the woodwork to say they don't like painting, they don't like building. Guys- hate to break it to you, but you are in the wrong hobby. There are plenty of board games out there if you only like the playing aspect.

 Grimtuff wrote:



Though, as an aside- I am truly puzzled by these types of threads (there have been similar ones on painting in the past). So many people come out of the woodwork to say they don't like painting, they don't like building. Guys- hate to break it to you, but you are in the wrong hobby. There are plenty of board games out there if you only like the playing aspect.

I like the painting and playing/lore . Just not a fan of building.Dont absolutely hate it but liken it to the equivalent of buying a new peace of furniture and getting it home out of the box to see I have to follow 4 page step set up before I can sit on my new couch.

And I get the customization aspect of building but a lot of models come where you build them one way these days. Just think maybe there should be a little less hand holding/more ways to build.But as others have pointed out where there is a will there is a way.
Guess I’m just getting old and I work construction for a living so building is just not as enjoyable. Especially the little tid-bits that l drop and have to hunt on the floor for 30 minutes or break trying to get it into position.

I enjoy assembling and painting the models more than the playing of games with them.

But I'm a maker, a builder, and not so much a gamer. I've been building models since I was a pre-teen, and gaming since my late teens (40k didn't become a thing with RT until I was 19).

For me, it depends heavily on the model.

I don't think there's a single Necron kit that I've enjoyed putting together, though I think the worst so far have been Wraiths. There are just so many tiny bits that need to all be glued on separately, and most of those first need to be assembled from 2-3 other bits.

On the other hand, I've greatly enjoyed not just assembling other kits but converting them to suit my taste and needs. I've taken great joy in putting together strange, new creations from my treasured boxes of bits. Sometimes because I want a model for a specific theme or to save me buying something new, but sometimes just for the sheer hell of it. There are many minor creations that I've no doubt forgotten about, and some still languishing unfinished, but there are also some conversions that I now treasure among my favourite models.

Not Online!!! wrote:

Grimlineman wrote:
I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions. I don’t enjoy this. Plus I’m not a delicate person and always break something from applying to much pressure unintentionally. I would prefer models come mostly assembled with extra bits to customize. What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

Ha i have the excact opposite, i dislike painting (unless i have inspiration) unlike building, i could build for days, especially if my bitz box would be deeper, but then again i play(ed) factions that lend themselves to kitbashing, 3rd parties and everyhing in between.

Some of my personal highlights include:

An Abbadon into a version of my fav chaos lord.

Spoiler:

A chaos lord into a specifc kind of themed Necro CSM.

Spoiler:

A count as Daemonprince engine:

Spoiler:

Count as Stalkleman russ tanks amiriger conversions aswell as a daemonegnified Basilisk:

Spoiler:

Meanwhile my painting skill often limits the capability of what i want to look them like so i kinda have to compensate with my building skill.
That and a at times tight portmonnaie lead inevitably to some happy kitbashing and repurposing.

At the moment i am contemplating to use corpsegrinders with Tempestus to kitbash some elite formations with left over 3rd party bits...

Just wanted to say these are all fantastic.

Oddly, that Daemon-Engine-Prince really reminds me of something but I can't think what.

 Grimtuff wrote:



Though, as an aside- I am truly puzzled by these types of threads (there have been similar ones on painting in the past). So many people come out of the woodwork to say they don't like painting, they don't like building. Guys- hate to break it to you, but you are in the wrong hobby. There are plenty of board games out there if you only like the playing aspect.

Can we not go there?

Just because someone doesn't enjoy 100% of all the potential hobbies involved in a GW game doesn't mean they have to be gatekept out of the ones they like.

You enjoy painting? Great. Not everyone does. That's also fine.
You enjoy assembling? Great. Not everyone does. That's also fine.
You enjoy playing? Great. Not everyone does. That's also fine.

People saying they don't like one of the GW hobbies that you do isn't an attack on you. It's them stating their preference.

Grimlineman wrote:
I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions. I don’t enjoy this. Plus I’m not a delicate person and always break something from applying to much pressure unintentionally. I would prefer models come mostly assembled with extra bits to customize. What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

I like assembling models way more than painting them, actually. Building things is fun, and seeing it come together....

Yuss

 Grimtuff wrote:

Though, as an aside- I am truly puzzled by these types of threads (there have been similar ones on painting in the past). So many people come out of the woodwork to say they don't like painting, they don't like building. Guys- hate to break it to you, but you are in the wrong hobby. There are plenty of board games out there if you only like the playing aspect.

Leaving people alone and letting them do whatever they want is not enough, they insist that you must celebrate the way they do things. Not doing the hobby is now as good as doing it and you better be on board. And if you decide to criticize or alienate your game time because I do something you don't care for then you and your standards are toxic!

I'd like to know why people who hate building would spend time building models. If the reason is so you can play the game, implying that others wouldn't play with you because you have blank bases then why is it worse to avoid playing people with unpainted armies? Seems like people who hate painting get a pass while everyone is expected to build.

 Irkjoe wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:

Though, as an aside- I am truly puzzled by these types of threads (there have been similar ones on painting in the past). So many people come out of the woodwork to say they don't like painting, they don't like building. Guys- hate to break it to you, but you are in the wrong hobby. There are plenty of board games out there if you only like the playing aspect.

Leaving people alone and letting them do whatever they want is not enough, they insist that you must celebrate the way they do things. Not doing the hobby is now as good as doing it and you better be on board. And if you decide to criticize or alienate your game time because I do something you don't care for then you and your standards are toxic!

I'd like to know why people who hate building would spend time building models. If the reason is so you can play the game, implying that others wouldn't play with you because you have blank bases then why is it worse to avoid playing people with unpainted armies? Seems like people who hate painting get a pass while everyone is expected to build.

No one is insisting that anyone celebrate not liking to build models or paint. What people are asking is that if someone doesn't like an aspect of the hobby, but do others, don't berate them over it.
The difference between paint and assembly is that game state currently requires a model's outline for things like LoS and such. Paint doesn't have a similar effect. You could probably get a similar effect to assembled by using cardboard standees on bases, and 3rd ed definitely could have been run with just a model name painted on a base.
I should also point out that many of the people in this thread, and several of the paint threads said they painted anyway. They just didn't like doing it.

At the end of the day, no one is making you play someone who doesn't meet your standards. But them not meeting it isn't a reason the gatekeep the various hobbies. Just say you prefer to play against painted, or assembled models, and leave it at that. Either they chose to meet your standards and game on, or they find someone who doesn't require it, and that's that.

If there was as large a group of people who hate building models and just want to play with empty bases as there was a group that likes to play with unpainted models, I'm sure such people would do that.

Said as someone who hates playing against the grey tide, btw.

yukishiro1 wrote:
If there was as large a group of people who hate building models and just want to play with empty bases as there was a group that likes to play with unpainted models, I'm sure such people would do that.

Said as someone who hates playing against the grey tide, btw.

I wouldn't be surprised if several such groups existed. While I wouldn't play them, I'm not going to stop them either.

There's a world of difference between "ok, that dude's grey, but I can still tell what gun he's carrying" and "what in the absolute feth, how am I supposed to tell if that's a unit of Bloodletters or Plaguebearers?!"

Plus, I find it very telling as to enjoyment of various aspects of the hobby, that you'll struggle to make a living just building other players' models on commission. But there are tons of commission painters out there.

I am not a fan of building models myself. I treat is as a necessary evil to get to the painting part, which in tun, gets me to the spectacle part. Part of the reason my first miniatures wargame was Dust Warfare was in part due to no building and priming of models.

From painting Dust models and various board game miniatures, I came to enjoy painting miniatures. However, the visual spectacle of the miniatures and a table full of nice terrain is the biggest draw to me. The gaming part is more about socializing and hopefully telling a story by the way the game unfolds and less about the thrill of competition. Though, I do try to play the game well once the forces have taken the field. All of which I find well worth some aspects that I haven't found as appealing.

Even now, I am starting a Lumineth Realm-Lords army. I have about 2/3 of already and pre-ordered the rest earlier today when I picked up my first pre-order stuff. So far I have built two of the Endless Spells while waiting on the glue to dry on the twin crystals to fill most of the seem between the two pieces. I also have started 3 of the spearmen. If I am really full of gumption, I might finish all the spearmen tomorrow and maybe the sad aelf wizard lady. I kinda doubt that though. I also doubt I will finish building the 20 archers I also have, and I don't even think I will have opened the box on Teclis by next weekend. I build slow because it really isn't something I enjoy particularly mold line cleaning. So I take my time to make sure I don't miss anything in a rush to get to painting. It has become especially slow as I don't know the next time will get in a game or see someone else's army in person.

Funny thing is if I think a model needs some converting, I will still do some. I made sure all my Indomitus marines were just a little differently posed to each other. I also went to great lengths to make sure my 40 Chaos Warriors all had a little bit of individual flair to include switching a bunch of left handed weapons to the right hand. For me the final product is worth a little bit of (for lack of a better word) annoyance.

 Super Ready wrote:
There's a world of difference between "ok, that dude's grey, but I can still tell what gun he's carrying" and "what in the absolute feth, how am I supposed to tell if that's a unit of Bloodletters or Plaguebearers?!"

Plus, I find it very telling as to enjoyment of various aspects of the hobby, that you'll struggle to make a living just building other players' models on commission. But there are tons of commission painters out there.

That's because assembling models is 10x as fast as painting them. You can assemble a 2000 point army in a handful of hours. It doesn't make much sense to pay someone else to assemble your models unless you are physically incapable of doing it yourself, which only describes a very small minority of people in the hobby. But painting? That takes dozens or hundreds of hours to paint a 2k army to a high standard, even if you are an accomplished painter; for a lot of people, it just isn't possible period, so if they want a really pretty army, the only option is to pay someone else to do it for them.

I don't think that means people necessarily enjoy assembling more than painting, it just means the one is way quicker than the other.

yukishiro1 wrote:

 Super Ready wrote:
There's a world of difference between "ok, that dude's grey, but I can still tell what gun he's carrying" and "what in the absolute feth, how am I supposed to tell if that's a unit of Bloodletters or Plaguebearers?!"

Plus, I find it very telling as to enjoyment of various aspects of the hobby, that you'll struggle to make a living just building other players' models on commission. But there are tons of commission painters out there.

That's because assembling models is 10x as fast as painting them. You can assemble a 2000 point army in a handful of hours. It doesn't make much sense to pay someone else to assemble your models unless you are physically incapable of doing it yourself, which only describes a very small minority of people in the hobby. But painting? That takes dozens or hundreds of hours to paint a 2k army to a high standard, even if you are an accomplished painter; for a lot of people, it just isn't possible period, so if they want a really pretty army, the only option is to pay someone else to do it for them.

I don't think that means people necessarily enjoy assembling more than painting, it just means the one is way quicker than the other.

Actually speed for assembly depends on skill. Mould line removal, gap filling, seamless joins etc... can take more time then one thinks. Though a high quality assembly will typically take less time than high quality painting.

That said I'd also say its because building is a skill that is easier to learn than painting. It requires less fine hand eye control; the mechanics of it are more readily apparent and instant (sometimes with painting you won't see the result until its properly dry etc...). Painting is also a more complex and detailed skill to self learn with a lot more conflicting theories and approaches and a vast array of paints and tools. For assembly a simple good blade and glue and filler can get you there and whilst there is some methodology debate its simpler and less detaile.d

Assembling and converting is my favorite part of the hobby I think. There's nothing more convenient than a full bits box and throwing together your own models. GW gives you mere templates, the fun of the hobby is to make your own dudes out of them. Basically I started 40K because of that, as in lotr you only had monopose models (everybody still converts these, of course).
It's a bad development that GW forces 40K towards monopose as well, with the way the sprues are made it's not as easy as before to swap body parts, weapons etc. At least everything is plastic today so cutting is not an issue as with metal models.

I love building almost as much as playing. I don't like painting that much, because I have little time for doing so and I'm pretty demanding with myself...

One of the reasons I picked Dark Eldar was the easy to convert and mix and match parts of the kits, it's one of the things I like the most about the faction.

Fair points, yukishiro and Overread. If anything that's just made me realise that I prefer assembling to painting because it's so much quicker.
You can also see the fruits of your labour a lot more readily whilst you're building - whereas with painting (and I'm sure I'm not alone here) the model looks a bit trash to my eyes almost until I'm nearly done with the last bit of highlighting and details, which is about 5% of the time I've taken on the model overall.

I enjoy assembling models - I find it generally more relaxing than painting. Assembling I can do at the kitchen table watching TV with my wife - painting has to be done in my hobby room. I found the 2013 era Space Marine kits a joy to assemble. I recall a very pleasant set of evenings around Christmas 2013 when an ice storm confined us to the house. I assembled Dark Angels Veterans and Deathwing Knights while binge-watching a TV series with my wife. No need for pinning and cutting but you could still build the models with some customization. Some models, though, are frustrating to build. Any of the metal Tyranids were table-chewing levels of frustration.

Assembly and more so Converting and kitbashing are my favorite aspect of the Hobby. List building is second. Playing is third. Lastly, painting.

AdmiralHalsey wrote:
This is why we can't have nice things, and monopose plastics are on there way back in.

I don't see the connection between monopose and hating building though.

For me the kits where you pick which body to build and then attach whatever you want ( with parts being compatible and thus creating easier kitbash possibilities), to be way more enjoyable than following an "a to b instruction" which ususally means monopose or easy to build.
I don't like building that way, cause then it's just a chore to get out of the way and has nothing to do with creativity.

Monopose has come back in because GW is doing far more dynamic poses as default for many models. This means that when they part it its much harder to achieve a natural look if they aren't putting big ball and socket joints on every leg and arm. Some model ranges can work with that - Tyranids look great with the big ball and socket linkages as it speaks of their partly insectoid appearance. However humanoids don't look as good when our internal ball and socket joint is on the outside

So in part if we want more dynamic and action filled poses we sacrifice optional posability. That said in my experience, many multi-pose models don't actually have all that many positions to pose them in anyway which look sensible.

 Overread wrote:
Monopose has come back in because GW is doing far more dynamic poses as default for many models. This means that when they part it its much harder to achieve a natural look if they aren't putting big ball and socket joints on every leg and arm. Some model ranges can work with that - Tyranids look great with the big ball and socket linkages as it speaks of their partly insectoid appearance. However humanoids don't look as good when our internal ball and socket joint is on the outside

So in part if we want more dynamic and action filled poses we sacrifice optional posability. That said in my experience, many multi-pose models don't actually have all that many positions to pose them in anyway which look sensible.

I think the way Necromunda or the Daemonettes do it is a nice middle ground.
You got bodies with varying dynamic to them, but the arms and heads are compatible between all of them.
I mean heads are generally easy to change, except if they have 1 half on the front of the torso and the other on the back.

 Nightlord1987 wrote:
Assembly and more so Converting and kitbashing are my favorite aspect of the Hobby. List building is second. Playing is third. Lastly, painting.

This, basically. I love the building stage, it's where I can customize units and make then my own.

So I used to. It was my favourite part of the hobby to be honest. Building up an army has always been more fun to me than actually playing the game. I'd always try to come up with some cool poses or little conversions to give my units a bit of flavour and uniqueness. That was years and years ago and last weekend I got the Admech start collecting box and hells bells that was not so fun. I wanted very much to customise things and do my own thing but I was so beleaguered by how finnickity the kit was for the Skitarii that I ended up following the instructions guide very, very carefully. Maybe with the next set I'll be able to go at it again and actually do some conversions..

I really enjoy the assembly but one thing I've learned from this thread is that I spend far longer doing it compared to others. I'd spend 45-60 min per model getting the mould lines off nicely and getting them positioned as I like (even the monopose stuff has a little leeway). Someone up thread said about putting together a 2000 point army in a handful of hours, I can't imagine what sort of mess I'd make at those speeds!

For me, my hobby is playing> building > speaking about > reading >>>>>>>>>>>> painting.


I love putting a ton of stuff, mixing kits, converting, giving personality to my individual scrubs, even lowly ork boyz , etc...

Grimlineman wrote:
I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions. I don’t enjoy this. Plus I’m not a delicate person and always break something from applying to much pressure unintentionally. I would prefer models come mostly assembled with extra bits to customize. What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

Yes, I love it. My other hobbies include ceramics and woodworking; I love making things with my hands. My grandfather was a jeweler and sculptor by trade, and got me into modelmaking; he also did 1/72 modeling as a hobby. There is a lot of satisfaction to be had in planning a project and then physically making the thing you planned, seeing it come to fruition. Gluing piece 3 to piece 28 is only the basic instructions for assembly; there is an infinite amount of modification and detail that can be added, which also implies the exercise of a certain degree of creativity. Being "delicate", precise or careful is a thing you can learn, not an innate trait.

Your question seems to be a rhetorical "I don't like it and therefore it's bad". As you can see from the thread responses, MANY people take a great deal of satisfaction from making things, models or otherwise.

 Oryza Sativa wrote:


Your question seems to be a rhetorical "I don't like it and therefore it's bad". As you can see from the thread responses, MANY people take a great deal of satisfaction from making things, models or otherwise.

Not at all I was genuinely interested to see why other people enjoy It. I get the customization part of building models but there is way to many just put this piece onto this piece for my enjoyment. Unlike painting Where I’m free to do how ever I want. And I can see why you enjoy woodworking and sculpturing. Starting with a clean slate and you’re building something that’s your own. Where as when you putting together a GW model your building it the same way millions of others have before you plus the few extra bits you wanted to add or twist.

Anyways I think it was a fun discussion and was not in no way to say it’s bad just because I don’t like it. If others love it more power to them I myself will suffer through it so I can get to the painting/playing. Just wanted to see how many loved it or hated it that’s all. This is a discussion forum after all.

Have a good one!

Absolute favorite part of the hobby if I'm being honest with myself.

Building models is my favorite part of the hobby, above playing the game. Maybe if GW were to stick to one ruleset and improve it over time instead of trying to reinvent the wheel every 3 years I'd enjoy the game more. Painting can be a slog for me, but I do admiring the finished product once done.

Grimlineman wrote:

 Oryza Sativa wrote:


Your question seems to be a rhetorical "I don't like it and therefore it's bad". As you can see from the thread responses, MANY people take a great deal of satisfaction from making things, models or otherwise.

Not at all I was genuinely interested to see why other people enjoy It. I get the customization part of building models but there is way to many just put this piece onto this piece for my enjoyment. Unlike painting Where I’m free to do how ever I want.

Huh. I actually feel far more constrained with painting, needing to do what's correct, looks good, or (and this is the part I have trouble with) using colors that look good together and don't give people fits.
The number of times I've absent-mindedly used purple and green together (on models, webpages, whatever) and gotten horrified reactions is not zero.
So I'm fairly self-conscious about straying too far from established schemes. (Though some of those look horrible to me).

Grimlineman wrote:

Where as when you putting together a GW model your building it the same way millions of others have before you plus the few extra bits you wanted to add or twist.

This is demonstrably false. If you think for a second builders and converters are going to be anything more than mildly inconvenienced by the sculpts that come in a box, I've got some things to sell you. Starting with a particular bridge.

Sterling191 wrote:

Grimlineman wrote:

Where as when you putting together a GW model your building it the same way millions of others have before you plus the few extra bits you wanted to add or twist.

This is demonstrably false. If you think for a second builders and converters are going to be anything more than mildly inconvenienced by the sculpts that come in a box, I've got some things to sell you. Starting with a particular bridge.

For me, that's just all the more motivation to get the knives out. Especially with monopose models it's an absolute joy to make sure mine are not like the million others.

It's plastic, thus easy to work with. Sky's the limit.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
I love putting the models together! Especially when I get the chance to kitbash something and be truly creative.

Exactly this is what often brings me to my hobby table...

I prefer to customize and personalize most of my models.

My Alpha Legion rocks the Forge World helmets, and I glue extra grenades, pouches, knives, and other little gubbins onto them to make them 'tactical heretics'.

My Deathwatch has a lot of unique and interesting models that are my own creations- my goal is for the entire army to have every model 'special' in some way.

Even though painting is very fun for me, I agree that assembling is most definitely the step in the process I dread most. Still, I can see assembly being fun if you're kitbashing, because of the creative element of mixing and matching models. Normally, though? Not fun.

Most fun I ever had in over 20 years of this hobby was kit bashing the 30k plastic tactical (mk III and IV) and tartaros and Cataphractii terminator kits with 40k space wolf kits to make my VI legion army.

Alas no one played 30k in my group so ended up selling them!

I think it is the funniest thing of the hobby. Just don't build mono build kits (easier to say than to do these times). Then let your creativity speak !
And in no time you will have your men from your mind materialized in the real world

Building the models is absolutely best part. Not just following the instructions of course, but customising and converting models. I try to personalise each model at least a little bit (and often quite a lot more than 'a little bit'.)

Oh, and I can easily see which posters actually haven't assembled any primaris kits, the full kits are absolutely amazing to work with and you can easily kitbash them with each other and many parts of the old marine kits.

 CommanderWalrus wrote:
Even though painting is very fun for me, I agree that assembling is most definitely the step in the process I dread most. Still, I can see assembly being fun if you're kitbashing, because of the creative element of mixing and matching models. Normally, though? Not fun.

Being honest- I'd be fine if less interesting models like Dreadnaughts, Rhinos, and even land raiders came "mostly assembled". I hate putting together vehicles.

 Sherrypie wrote:

For me, that's just all the more motivation to get the knives out. Especially with monopose models it's an absolute joy to make sure mine are not like the million others.

It's plastic, thus easy to work with. Sky's the limit.

Indeed. Some clippers, the knife, the bits box, some greenstuff and maybe some 3d printed parts. Bring it on.

Voss wrote:

Grimlineman wrote:

 Oryza Sativa wrote:


Your question seems to be a rhetorical "I don't like it and therefore it's bad". As you can see from the thread responses, MANY people take a great deal of satisfaction from making things, models or otherwise.

Not at all I was genuinely interested to see why other people enjoy It. I get the customization part of building models but there is way to many just put this piece onto this piece for my enjoyment. Unlike painting Where I’m free to do how ever I want.

Huh. I actually feel far more constrained with painting, needing to do what's correct, looks good, or (and this is the part I have trouble with) using colors that look good together and don't give people fits.
The number of times I've absent-mindedly used purple and green together (on models, webpages, whatever) and gotten horrified reactions is not zero.
So I'm fairly self-conscious about straying too far from established schemes. (Though some of those look horrible to me).

What people think of your paint jobs is their problem, not yours. So if using greens & purples together is what YOU like? So be it.

Even GW uses green and purple together on their DG paint jobs. But I hate GWs official paint jobs on anything Nurgle, they never do the models justice.

Sterling191 wrote:

 Sherrypie wrote:

For me, that's just all the more motivation to get the knives out. Especially with monopose models it's an absolute joy to make sure mine are not like the million others.

It's plastic, thus easy to work with. Sky's the limit.

Indeed. Some clippers, the knife, the bits box, some greenstuff and maybe some 3d printed parts. Bring it on.

I mean I'm slowly getting there, but til you get a good assortment of bits and without an access to a 3D printer, you have way less options when it comes to monopose kits, in terms of sky's the limit...more like sculpting skills your limit there XD

Statistx wrote:

Sterling191 wrote:

 Sherrypie wrote:

For me, that's just all the more motivation to get the knives out. Especially with monopose models it's an absolute joy to make sure mine are not like the million others.

It's plastic, thus easy to work with. Sky's the limit.

Indeed. Some clippers, the knife, the bits box, some greenstuff and maybe some 3d printed parts. Bring it on.

I mean I'm slowly getting there, but til you get a good assortment of bits and without an access to a 3D printer, you have way less options when it comes to monopose kits, in terms of sky's the limit...more like sculpting skills your limit there XD

Luckily such a limit can be pushed farther away by just doing it

I love putting models together, especially when you just dive into your bits box and go crazy with it. It's one of the things that sold me on Orks

If you start your hobbying with plastic kits and/or model railroads, tabletop kits aren't a big Problem ( except some as others have already said ) to assemble. Some give you joy, some make you

Always liked the assembly of many of the multipart plastic kits and a few others are not too bad. I'll paint everything i build. But generally i would rather paint lots of tanks than lots of infantry...

After I made my post last week about enjoying assembly I promptly assembled one the legs on my Triarch Stalker upside down...Ah, hubris. At least I could fix the mistake with some clippers and green stuff.

Maybe slightly off-topic, but those new necron kits are just screaming "I'm going to break the first time you drop me from 3cm or higher / try to transport me anywhere / sneeze on me."

 1hadhq wrote:
If you start your hobbying with plastic kits and/or model railroads, tabletop kits aren't a big Problem ( except some as others have already said ) to assemble. Some give you joy, some make you

Always liked the assembly of many of the multipart plastic kits and a few others are not too bad. I'll paint everything i build. But generally i would rather paint lots of tanks than lots of infantry...

Ha, I realized this year after 16 years of hobbying that I really don't like painting anything that's not infantry I 'm about to start Orks now and I plan on not buying a single tank or walker for that army because I know those would rest for years unpainted on the shelve like my Trolls, Dreadnoughts, and some tanks...

By far the worst is carefully removing plastic components from sprues and removing the resulting flash. Spend more time cleaning flash than I do painting, and even less playing.

Indeed GW needs to decide whether they make gaming models or display pieces. Love the look of the Nighthaunt models but by Toutatis they are way too fragile to handle! The Lord Executioner and Spirit Torment aren't going to last long...

Awww I actually really love to assemble models! It's actually really therapeutic removing mold lines, sprue parts and just slowly gluing them all together. It's relaxing ♥

I love assembling fully poseable miniatures, picking out what parts look best together and then doing a dry fit to get the some nice-looking poses.

Mono-pose models not quite as much, though like most of my squads, I convert or at least add a good bit of accessories and gear. So I'm often doing a bit of surgery to parts as I'm assembling, which is rewarding.

What I find tedious are parts that, when fitted, leave gaps. Gaps that really need to be filled for a satisfactory assembly. Bloodletters of Khorne and Thunderwolves are particularly annoying in this regard. I spent hours pressing and smoothing minute amounts of Green Stuff into their joints. Mundane, but necessary and worth it.

We really need some sort of exchange market where you can trade model cleaning/building/magnetizing for painting. That way both people could do what they enjoy most.

Grimlineman wrote:
I’m sure there must be plenty who love it but why? I love painting first and playing games second but assembling models just seem like a weird puzzle with instructions. I don’t enjoy this. Plus I’m not a delicate person and always break something from applying to much pressure unintentionally. I would prefer models come mostly assembled with extra bits to customize. What satisfaction is there In gluing sprue piece 3 to sprue piece 28 per instructions?

Normally I hate building models. A lot of times GW kits seem way more complex than they need to be, especially with the newest releases.

However, I recently discovered both Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis, and the kits produced for these two games, for some reason are just an absolute joy to build. In one night, without even realizing it, I built 4 Avengers, 4 Thunderbolts, and 4 Marauders. Normally I can't even build five infantry in one building session, but the kits just go together so well. I love them!

 Togusa wrote:

However, I recently discovered both Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis, and the kits produced for these two games, for some reason are just an absolute joy to build. In one night, without even realizing it, I built 4 Avengers, 4 Thunderbolts, and 4 Marauders. Normally I can't even build five infantry in one building session, but the kits just go together so well. I love them!

Agreed. I don't play AI but enjoyed the Thunderbolt kit. Speaking of which - I still need to paint the 'Bolts...

The titans in AT can be an involved job as they are best magnetized and painted in subassemblies, but one can leave the armour plates if they just want to get to the game quickly. Its frame is enough to hold the weapons, which are the important thing.

SamusDrake wrote:
By far the worst is carefully removing plastic components from sprues and removing the resulting flash. Spend more time cleaning flash than I do painting, and even less playing.

Yeah, that is the exact reason why I am more in the camp of not enjoying assembly.
That damn flash

I enjoy building the models much more than painting them, though the latter depends a lot on what model it is.