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so i'm new to modeling, and got my first models for xmas. I glued my first two guys together completely first, and im feeling foolish. ill probably be ok with my berzerker, but my chaos space marine's bolter is in the way. so im thinking from now on ill paint the parts first, then glue them together. so my question is, does the glue still work on the paint, or does it mess up somehow? im using all GW stuff, i got that starter kit with my models.

You can use superglue over paint. Not sure about Plastic Glue, but I would think that would work. Lots of people paint then glue. Although you might need to paint by where you glued, as some glues leave residue or discolor areas.

Hope this helps.

No. it will ruin the model.

Yes you can, I only use GF9 Hobby glue (Which is just super glue) and have had no problems. For example on the first of my Land Speeders I left the drivers torsos unattached during painting. But be aware that super glue will melt the paint it comes into contact with so unless your careful you can find a black gooey mess covering your nice paint job.

Plastic glue I cant comment on but I don't see why it wouldn't work with acrylic paint. If you do go the paint then glue way I recommend you either scrape the paint away from the contact point after painting or scouring it with a hobby file or some fine sand paper to give the glue a easier bond.

It won't ruin the model...

It will, however, have a less strong bond (only as strong as the bond between the paint and the plastic). I would reccomend scraping the paint off the areas that are going to be covered in glue.

Alot of people do this because it lets you get better detailing. Just don't put the glue over the paint.

Just make sure you don't get too much paint on the contact points, and scratch some off if you do. Also cut some shallow grooves in the contact points with a hobby knife, to increase surface area.

You also don't need to paint the bits you're going to glue if you work them all out in advance. I find CSM with bolters, meltas or plasmas are a pain simply because the arms do not fit very well if you try to place them flat. You very often need to shave bits off the contact points on the arms to get them to sit right, depending on the pose you're going for.

I tend to stick the torso, head and legs together and paint them up, then do the arms and bolter all separately. Getting the arms to sit right when adding the bolter can be a real pain, sometimes I add small pins just so I can set it up before final gluing.

Natorum wrote:
I tend to stick the torso, head and legs together and paint them up, then do the arms and bolter all separately.

Ditto. I prepare a few like this; base, legs, torso and head glued together. Then I just prepare (shaving off mold-lines and sprue contacts) enough arms and weapons to go around. It's not the height of efficacy, but I lose my patience very quickly with hard to reach areas, so this is the best/fastest method I've found.

Didn't see this mentioned, so thought I should bring it up.

Plastic glue will ruin the paint job. Paint is nothing more than plastic pigment suspended in a medium. When acrylics dry, they are essentaly a thin layer of plastic over the model. A plastic glue (that slighly melts plastic) will also melt the paint.

Basically, if you paint up the model, then use plastic glue, your paint will be stripped off where ever the glue touches. The bond isn't as strong either.

Don't glue over paint.

Testors won't do the job on plastic since, even though it will 'melt' the paint a bit, it won't adhere right...or at least not half as good.

Superglue won't work because the models will essentially break easily.

There is no great solution when you're dealing with models that are too much of a pain to paint fully assembled (like marines with bolters). The way I've done it for a long time with IG and SM is to assemble the body without the arms. Assemble arms and guns together. Prime and paint separately. Then use a file/exacto/other method to scrape off the paint at the connecting spots.
Then glue. Then do touch-ups around the points where you glued un-assembled parts.

You can but the glue will damage the paint where it is applied. This isn't a problem as long as you don't drip glue on bits that you don't want to get glue, or if the glue oozes out when you squeeze two part together. I do it all the time and use Revell Contacta, just apply sparingly.

thanks everybody. i think im going to do the legs/torso/head thing, and at least get a basecoat on the harder to reach, less important spots.