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Hey guys im fairly new to warhammer so my question is: why not just spray paint the sprues black and then paint them there? Wouldnt it be very easy to get to the harder spots when the model is complete? Cheers guys, hope someone can answer that

You can in fact paint on the spree, the fact is, that when you cut them from the spure you will have to go back and repaint the grey areas, and have to clean up those places where it was still on the spure. Personally i like to build the model up to the point where i can paint everything, with easy clean it all up, then do the arms and shoulder pads and then glue it all together. If you plan on getting really good at painting, by a drill, and some cork and just pin the things and stick them in the cork, Hope this helps.

And cleaning mold lines is a heck of a lot tougher on the sprue.

because painting on the sprue is just utterly and absolutely silly.

You need to cut your parts out, clean them of all the flash and mould lines, and pose it (which impacts lighting). If you clean on sprue, then paint, then remove stuff... it will look ghastly, because after removing from sprue, you will need to do more cleaning, and then, all said and done, you will need to go back and repaint everything because of the damage you did to the painjob...

There's a lot of people who DO prime their stuff on sprue though. I think this is also silly ,because you need to file off the primer everywhere you intend on using glue, but again, you still need to clean all the parts of mold lines before gluing aind painting, so this also strikes me as silly.

Edit: If you've ever watched the proffessional or high-tier painters showing tips and tricks on youtube and how to paint X or Y, you never see them painting on sprue. Don't be lazy, you will thank yourself for it later. I threw out 3/4 of my marine army when I finished it because as my skill and effort improved, the first models where I took no effort looked absolutely ghastly by comparison.

You can still reach those troublesome areas by only partially assembling your models before painting. Trying to paint the parts before removing them from the sprue leads to wasted time and effort, due to the need to cover all of the clipped joins (not to mention the difficulty in maintaining an even finish when parts surrounded by several coats of paint have been clipped and filed bare). Painting those parts individually, off the sprue, allows you easier access from all angles and removes the retouching issue, at the meager cost of a few seconds per part to shove a pin in or glue it to a toothpick.

I think even priming on the sprue is silly for those same reasons. I don't really consider poda_t's point about cleaning joints for glue relevant, though. It takes all of five seconds to file or sand away a layer of primer from a joint and even less to mask it off beforehand with a blob of poster tac. Now, trying to even out a coat of primer after filing down clipped sprue joins - that is a real issue.

Meh, I've seen it done before. While I haven't the patience for it, it's definitely plausible.

The only caveat, it seems, is just the sheer amount of time it takes to do it.

The closest I can see to it is drilling the base of a head and painting it while it sits on a piece of wire. This is after determining the pose however.

Another issue with painting on the sprue is that the sprue gets in the way of some of the parts. May be easier with marines, but some of them have a lot of stuff jammed into the sprue. May as well assemble it completely and deal with what parts may seem in the way then.

Its also not as fun to paint them on the sprue.

a) because you can't properly clean them
b) because you can't properly detail (drill barrels, fill gaps)
c) because you can't properly paint gradients and shadowing

Best to assemble with sticky tac/rubber cement, then glue when your done. Painting on the sprue causes more problems than it solves.

I usually do this with the simple parts, heads and arms, with torso and legs it is easier to just stick it on a base IMO

some parts can be painted on sprue, or at least primed and basecoated on spue.
think of the inside panel of a rhino, all the sides will be glued anyway, so it can be painted on sprue. if some heads are attached to the neck, they can be painted on sprue

but what the other people say is true, removing moldlines while your model pieces are on sprue is a pain in the behind

poda_t wrote:because painting on the sprue is just utterly and absolutely silly.

You need to cut your parts out, clean them of all the flash and mould lines, and pose it (which impacts lighting). If you clean on sprue, then paint, then remove stuff... it will look ghastly, because after removing from sprue, you will need to do more cleaning, and then, all said and done, you will need to go back and repaint everything because of the damage you did to the painjob...

There's a lot of people who DO prime their stuff on sprue though. I think this is also silly ,because you need to file off the primer everywhere you intend on using glue, but again, you still need to clean all the parts of mold lines before gluing aind painting, so this also strikes me as silly.

Edit: If you've ever watched the proffessional or high-tier painters showing tips and tricks on youtube and how to paint X or Y, you never see them painting on sprue. Don't be lazy, you will thank yourself for it later. I threw out 3/4 of my marine army when I finished it because as my skill and effort improved, the first models where I took no effort looked absolutely ghastly by comparison.

In all fairness throwing out models when you could strip them is also silly.

But yeah as people said you have to redo a load of work if painting on sprue.

didn't exactly throw them out, but after stripping, sold the un-salvageable stuff off at a steep discount.

I never understood why some people do this. The concept seams madness to me.

deejaybainbridge wrote:I never understood why some people do this. The concept seams madness to me.

it's the convenience of holding onto something that you can turn and rotate while keeping your fingers away from it, all to assist painting. Even then, drilling a hole into the base of a head, and sticking it on a wire seems a more efficient way of doing this.

poda_t wrote:

deejaybainbridge wrote:I never understood why some people do this. The concept seams madness to me.

it's the convenience of holding onto something that you can turn and rotate while keeping your fingers away from it, all to assist painting. Even then, drilling a hole into the base of a head, and sticking it on a wire seems a more efficient way of doing this.

Oh I get why, but it seams a really awkward solution to a problem and as other have said leaves you with bigger problems.

Suppose some kits will be easier then others, but for example the arms on the IG cadian's are connected at the elbow in some case's. Going back over that area once it's unclipped feels like a hassle I could do without.

I have done this before when i first started and ran inthe issues mentioned above. I did mostly coz i had just gotten the necron battleforce and painting individual warriors was killing me.

bad idea.

if it is paintign hard to reach areas that is bothering (the inside of cloaks for example), take the parts off the sprue and build the model in eay to paint sections. paint those sections with your usual level od expertise, knowing full well you wont need to clean them up for fiel them down afterwards.

once all the parts are full painted, assembel to last parts of the model.

For infantry models thsi might mean only have 2 or maybe 3 parts to paint. For my latest necron Command barge i had it built in about 6 sections whcih i painted separately, then did final assembly.


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I kind of like having my first ever models around, i can look at them every now and again and despair at how little my technique has improved.

Priming on sprue is also terrible, since when you assemble the figure you're gluing paint to paint. This doesn't hold well, doesn't fit right, and will lead to breakages.

Actually, I have been priming on sprue lately for my vehicle models. I use an airbrush though so I can get a nice thin coat. After assembly, I'll spray another primer coat to cover joints and scraped mold lines. It doesn't take long to file off some paint where glue is needed and the models fit well together. It's fast, and easier to get a consistent coat, especially in hard to reach areas. I do not prime on sprue for infantry models and I would not prime on sprue if I was going to use an aerosol spray can.

I paint my Space Marine heads on the sprue, just the bottom part of it. You can still clean the mold lines and can even prime it a different color since the heads are usually different from the rest of the armor.

I've recently been clipping the parts with some of the sprue intact, basecoating them, assembling them and then doing everything else. If I can't highlight part of the chest because it's behind the rifle, it's fine, but trying to wedge my brush in there to try and basecoat it is a pain in the butt. It does end up taking some time, but not much different than all the touching up I'd have to do from sloppy work. Frankly, it's a pain, but it works better with the way I do work. I'd say you should try doing it once and see how it feels for you.