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Do you prime the sprue or assemble your models then spray prime? I personally hand prime my models. After assembly.

I prime my sprues, paint on the sprue, then assemble. Then I repaint sprue scars. I find it goes a lot faster and I get better results that way.

really depends on the model for me.. if i can assemble enough to where its not going to be difficult to paint, then i go that way.. I never prime on the sprues though as i usually like to cut each piece out, trim any mold lines first and that seems like it would be difficult when they are still on the sprue...

I've heard really good things about assembling before priming. For plastics, the fusing makes for a good solid bond.

I can't bring myself to do it that way though. I snip, trim and clean the pieces, then prime them. After that, I paint and then assemble.

I assemble everything first then prime. For all but the most complex pieces, this is really no problem. I use a spray primer, so in a worst case scenario, I just hit the model again from another angle.

It is so much faster and cleaner than hand-priming. To me, the only reason to hand-prime would be if you can't get outside to spray.

Assemble then Prime. If a brush can't reach a spot - it does not need to be painted.

I generally fully assemble something 1st, then spray it.
Just find its alot easier when it comes to the paint job and lighting for highlights and other such things.

Granted sometimes you have obscured areas that are a pain, but ive just learned to deal with it.

I used to be a strict fan of priming my models in pieces. Painting them up, and then gluing them all together, but I have now flip flopped to the other side.

When you prime / paint and then assemble, the glue is only bonding to the paint, so it creats a weaker bond. The upside to this however, is that you can get your paintbrush into those deep recesses of the model much easier. I now just assemble the whole model bare plastic and then prime and paint. While it is sometimes difficult to get paint into some areas of the model, it really isnt too bad. And then the deep ares that you simply cant get too, well they can just be left black.

Another thing I do, is when I am priming, sometimes it is a pain to spray prime the model with it assembled. My fix to that is to just give the model a normal coat of spray primer, anything that gets mnissed you can go over with some gesseau (sp?).

Jburch wrote:When you prime / paint and then assemble, the glue is only bonding to the paint, so it creats a weaker bond.

I haven't heard this before, but it strikes me as being an excellent point.