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I hate doing it but I do it where the lines are obvious. On my first models I ever had though I didn't do it at all. I am just wondering what the consensus is. This is for filing mold lines on rank and file minis only.

I just hate scraping the lines offa metal models. Drives me nuts.

Depends... I can look 4 times and still miss some.

If I catch it during early painting I will fix it, but most times I will live with it.

Always remove, nothing kills the mood more in battle than seeing a blareingly obvious indication that the fantasy world I'm immersing myself in momentarily to escape reality is in fact plastic metal and paint. The goal is to make fantasy as much a reality as possible.... and mold lines are the diablo!

I am obsessive. I have to remove all mold lines, and drill all barrels. I will use an exacto, get tough ones with a file, and then sand the model. Always. Before any assembling is done.

I hate removing mold lines, but it is a necessity. Using the edge of an Xacto blade for plastic does speed it up tremendously, though. It's almost fast enough for me not to mind. Almost.

A mouldline on a painted miniature is like a travesti with makeup on... no matter how you paint them you always see how butt ugly they are.
I dont like cleaning them but im quite geeky about it and clean all of them...now imagine cleaning a brood of 32 gaunts... Im still there for weeks now and going strong

It is just so second nature now to file them off that it is not even a burden. The reason that is is that I use a lot of dry brushing and they REALLY stand out when you leave a mold line then.

I file off the stuff I can't cover with paint.

I'm in the 'those I can see' camp. I remove those I see, but usually there are some left
even after I've checked the model 3-4 times. My first ever Forgeworld models should
hopefully be arriving in the mail soon, looking forward to seeing how they are in this
regard.

al-Majid Agandhjin bin Ahfal al-Rashid

This is interesting to me. 30% of the people on the poll think the way I do about it. I am suprised it is that high. I figured about 80% would file the whole thing down.

I hope it gets to 75 or 100 votes. That would really be a good survey.

I file off pretty much everything, unless I'm certain it's not going to be seen... obviously characters and vehicles get more attention that rank and file troops, but I have no problem with cleaning up all the bits I'm using to put regular troops together too.

To be honest, I think in general the poor buggers who make the moulds do a pretty good job, so I wouldn't complain too much.

Nuclear Mekanik wrote:I file off pretty much everything, unless I'm certain it's not going to be seen... obviously characters and vehicles get more attention that rank and file troops, but I have no problem with cleaning up all the bits I'm using to put regular troops together too.

To be honest, I think in general the poor buggers who make the moulds do a pretty good job, so I wouldn't complain too much.

I completely agree. The mold lines are not bad on the models but filing them is just a pain.

nothin' ruins a good paintjob quicker than a visible mouldline...mold lines are the enemy, son!!! plus it's something to do while watchin' the simpsons...

cheers
jah

I'm definitely in the "have to remove mold lines" school of thought. Nothing spoils the flow of a beautiful paint job like a mold line.

Mold lines are the bane of my existence, I hate removing them, but always do it as they destroy the look of a figure for me.

mold lines make me cry inside. I just use a knife, though.

Nothing worse than seeing pics of somebody's first squad of this or that and there are glaring mold lines.

Considering the costs of the models, I think it only right to spend the requisite time making them presentable. Leaving them on there makes for awful photographs, too. I hate cleaning them up as much as anyone, but it's just what has to be done.

damn right!

honestly, you can just use an Exacto knife. Just keep your dull blades and don't use them to cut. Just scrape.

I get rid of all the mold lines I see, and I always try to double-check. Sometimes I miss some, and I try to live with them if it's after I've started painting.

I try to remove them all, though.

I try to remove the obvious ones, or might really go to town on some special guys, but I'm fairly lazy, and it really kind of depends on my current mood and work ethic.

I use the back of my knife (the flat) to scrape the lines.

I use the blade of my knife, but I use it at a 90 degree or greater angle, so it's probably pretty much the same as using the back.

I'm in the "I hate them and remove them all" category, and not to say that I enjoy it, but I've gotten to the point where it just is. The hobby is what I do to relax and as much of a pain removing them is it's kind of nice to be able and sit down and work on a model for a while.

That being said I'm a painfully slow hobbyist.

I spend on average for 5 marines 15-20 mins filing and cleaning up mold lines. It's allot of time, but I want my mini's to look as good as possible.

When I used to play marines I didn't remove too many mold lines, pretty much only when it was blatantly going to distort paint, IMHO the rank and file came out looking pretty decent. Since I've switched to IG I find myself doing a thorough cleaning on each trooper ( is it just me or do guardsmen legs have consistently terrible mold lines?). A bit of a pain but with an razor blade, a small metal file, and something to watch the job gets done in short order.

I always try and get rid of all the mold lines, but it's more difficult on metal models so I'm a bit more forgiving with them.

Remove mold lines at all costs.

Model is ruined if mold lines are visible.

Its even worse when you're collecting 10mm. Just looking at a pile of 100s of models to clean up can be really depressing. :S

I scrape the visible ones. My paintings OK, but with the time I have, trying to build a large army and those I play with I don't feel it's worth getting obsesive over it. I do a good scrape on most models, and any areas where it will affect painting majorly. Forgeworld models are my bane, due to the process they constantly have bad lines and even the occasioanl bubble/mis mould to fix. As I use them for HQ's I do spend more time fixing the as best I can, especially since the level of detail on them tends to be greater and so emphasises any mould markings

as for the poll results, I was expecting the complete cleans to be a lot lower than a general tidy. no one I know does a complete clean, and some of the models I see are awful. I guess you guys on here have more repect for what we do I do take it seriously, and if I had loads of spare time I'd make more of an effort, but having only painted 20 troops and 2 tanks since christmas.....I would like to get a playable force finished this year It's not the sort of hobby that's easy to do when you have a hectic life and (aa of today) being split between 4 homes! Guess that's what being a student does to you. Should be getting it down to 1 in the next couple of weeks which means hobby time yay!