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I'm just getting my model area back together now after my move, and I sat down and cracked open a valkyrie box. I had this plan to paint up the insides and make it look like there's guardsmen inside getting ready to hop out, or pointing their lasguns out the door like they mean bidness.

So how do I do that?

I'm one of those guys that needs to paint every little nook & cranny. I know some folks think "if the brush can't reach it, you can't see it anyway" but not me So first I need to prime the thing. I'm sure I can build & paint the inside crew compartment without the roof first, but with guys hanging out the door it's gonna be tough to prime the outside without the primer going inside and screwing up the paint job. I could maybe use some masking tape, but getting my pudgey fingers in those tight spaces will be a pain. And then there's the pilots, I guess I will have to paint the inside cockpit areas first, then mask it off to spray prime the outside?

Or should I just prime everything first, then glue? I kinda didn't want to do that because I wanted the bonds to be strong.

Or, should I just skip the insides? Looking at the door gunners, they look like they'd make for some nice carapace vet bodies... makes me wonder if they're how the plastic stormtroopers might end up looking like...

If I were painting the insides (I sealed mine up because I am rough on my models), I would leave the wing assemblies, the roof, the cockpit, and the gunners to paint separately. Just assemble most of the valk and prime the major assemblies together, paint them separately, then glue it all together at the end.

If you want a strong bond just put some masking tape over the portions that you want to glue together. Then just peel off after painting and glue together.

I did mine with the green "GO GO GO" light shading everything green. Basically I assembled the floor to one side and the front wall, and then let it dry. I primed this assembly and the other wall and roof as separate pieces. Just go to town form there, and remember you get light from three sources inside, each waist gun, and the rear ramp. Easy!

any pics?

I guess I'll do that 3 wall thing. sounds like a good plan. I think I'm more concerned with getting spray primer inside the crew area after that's already painted. I'll just have to try and mask it off. Maybe I'll just paint the men separately and glue them on at the very end

I just undercoated everything while on the sprue, and painted the insides while it was on the sprue. You need to file off the unbdercoatd on the parts you want to glue, but that's pretty easy. It required very lttle touching up as well.

I assembled the engines and part of the cockpit before painting, then painted all the inside stuff and the engines, then glued the whole thing together and painted the outer hull.

I assembled the cockpit the front wall and the floor together, then the tail booms the heavy bolters with the pivot thingy and the arm. Masked all the glue surfaces and primed every thing.
Painted the interior the door interior and then dullcoated the interior. Assembled the rest of the hull with the gun arms inside and the doors closed taped the doors with the tape covering the windows in the doors and the back ramp closed from the inside put on the roof and prime the outside.

I got lazy :( I was building mine and then I decided it was too much work to do the insides so I left it as is. Also, the rear door is kind of a pain, it won't stay closed and it's already bugging me so I might just glue that shut. However, I will be painting the guys in the cockpit and that whole area before I do the rest.

But right now I can't decide if I want to paint it to be mostly black like my russes and chimeras, or gray like my baneblade...

Anyway, since I will be building a 2nd one and now that I know how they go together maybe I'll do the 2nd one with the sponsons. I'm thinking if a squadron of 3 maybe the lead one would have sponsons, and the other 2 wouldn't. Thats how I was planning to do my russ squadrons too.

I found the way to make the rear hatch stay closed was to use two thin strips of plasticard (one on either side) glued in place to the sides of the hatch (010 or 0.25mm) - or the mating areas on the side hulls. Trim them to the length of the large armour panels and they hold fine, and even let the door open still. You can sand them back a little if you get too snug a fit.

Similar strip was used with the side doors to stop them sliding too much. They still slide open and closed, but they stay in place during movement.

I also added two pieces of sprue underneath the hinge pivot that 'catches' the hatch and stops it opening further than the landing gear.