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What is a faster and better way to paint. The whole model already together or paint all the pieces seprate

Painting all-together is quicker, but can sometimes be harder to get all the details. For example Space Marine Aquila are hard to do with a bolter in the way.

However some miniatures have massive obstructions which almost require you to put together after painting. For example the Master of the Chapter miniature with the shield is so obstructing that painting it all together means you miss out on so much of the detail underneath...

Either way is OK, comes down to how you want to paint your miniatures...

That depends on the model. Marines are quicker if they're already assembled, as are Guardsmen and the like. A lot of Tyranids are better painted on-sprue though, since they've got lots of overlapping little bits.

I'd recommend painting as a whole wherever possible, you're much more able to match colours and tones and shades.

Models with storm shields and the like however should be painted separately. For my marines I did this, as well as leaving my bikers unglued at the waist for painting, and leaving vehicles divided into swappable parts etc.

A combination of the two is preferable for me. i.e. mostly assembled marine, minus bolter and backpack. This lets me get the right idea for highlights, shading and whatnot, while still letting me get in the little nooks and crannies usually created by the obstructing gun and backpack.

Yeah, for a marine:
1. Clean all parts and make body, legs and base.
2. Paint all parts.
3. Assemble whole marine.
4. Finishing touches.

I'll either leave the Arms off, or just the Boltgun - if it's a Standard Marine - for Painting Access. Depends on how much it restricts access to the rest of the Model. If it's, say, BP/CCW, I'll just Assemble Completely, as neither the BP or the CCW restrict anything for Painting.

Depends on the model. I would never recommend painting on the sprue, personally, but like others here I paint marines as legs/body/head first, attaching and painting the backpack and arms/bolter afterward. Something like slugga boys or BP/CCW scouts are fine to paint fully assembled. I'm kicking myself for assembling my lootas first, as their deffguns form a cage around the whole upper body, making painting a nightmare.

Really, the deciding factor is the amount of detail you want. If you're of the "can't reach it, can't see it, don't paint it" school, then assemble everything first. If you want to paint every single detail, even if you can only see it from one specific angle in perfect lighting, paint in pieces. I'm somewhere in between - some parts really don't matter, but painting in two or three sections makes it easier (like SM chest aquila).

I'd say it depends on whether you're going for table top quality or better. If you're just going for table top, don't waste your time and paint them in separate pieces. If you really want solid, well painted miniatures then paint any pieces separately that might but difficult to paint once put together.

I would simply base separate and paint whole

Those are great idea's thanks for your input

I paint in parts. I still batch paint, it's both fast and I can do it well.

I paint my models assembled if possible, i only paint parts seperatly if they obscoure a large amount of the model underneath. For example i paint my IG guardsmen as one, my High Elf Spearmen i paint everything as one except the shield, which i glue on after.

remember that if you can't paint it when it is put together, you can't see that it isn't painted.

Put your stuff together first. Unless you are trying to win Golden Daemon.

I think there are some people who do paint piece by piece. I've found the speed+quality can be accomplished by assembling some completely and leaving some pieces off of the model. That way you can paint everything without doing acrobatics and getting paint all over. Just read the instructions a couple times and paln the assembly. Its easier and faster than painting it all together and you'll get more quality.

I'm moving towards basecoating the main color (whenever possible) with an airbrush, as it takes very little time and also makes it more worthwhile to spend 15-20 minutes to clean the AB afterward. That means I tend to assemble elements that I can spray more or less accurately, and leave other elements separated. for instance, I assemble the body of my ork boyz but keep the arms separate, as it is then easier to spray the ksin color correctly, and also makes it much easier to paint the sides.

Fizzics wrote:remember that if you can't paint it when it is put together, you can't see that it isn't painted.

Put your stuff together first. Unless you are trying to win Golden Daemon.

If the brush can't reach it, it does not need to be painted.

I base coat all of my figures from head to toe before starting to seriously paint them. If a little nook stays in the base color - nobody will ever notice.

I also prefer a combination of the two. This question really only has an esoteric answer and is probably based more on personal opinion and experience.

Personally, ive done both, Ive always hated piecing guys together based on the fact that super glue has the potential to ruin your work. It can leave that dreaded white residue behind and destroy your paint scheme. I try to glue as much of the model together as possible before painting.

The queston might also be contingent on the type of army your building. For example, im currently working on a new Blood Angels army (isnt everyone? ). My method is to assemble all space marines in completion with the exception of the bolters. My terms i assembled without arms to capture all the details, special characters are assembled in halves, etc, etc. What will ultimately dictate your production method will be the level of detail your devoting per model and/or the elaborate color scheme you choose.

However, I think assembling as a whole is much better, so you dont waist time painting something that no one will ever see. I also think models assembled before painting seem less fragile.

Vehicles: assemble most. The weapons I paint separately.

Troops: Assemble all of the figure, then paint it.

Last time I painted it all separatedly.

Next time I'll just basecoat separatedly and will add washes and highlights once it's assemble to see how it works for me.

my mate paul keeps tryin to get me to paint on spru, but its very rare that i don't do some kind of conversion hack an slash or kit bash which kind of defeats the point of painting on the spru...it'd be a right mess! so i think its down to preference

Well, now that you mention it, it may be a good idea to pain the heads on the sprue, it's easier to hold them like that without having to glue them on the torso.

Dark wrote:Well, now that you mention it, it may be a good idea to pain the heads on the sprue, it's easier to hold them like that without having to glue them on the torso.

I prefer to remove the heads from the sprues, clean off the mold/flash lines, drill a hole on the bottom of the neck with a pin vise drill, then mount the head on a toothpick so i can rotate it freely without any problems. After you finish the head, you simply remove it from the toothpick and mount....its easy!

I usually paint as a whole as it helps me with shading and lightsourcing. However there are some models where it becomes more of a hindrance *cough* devastators *cough*.