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I bought a command squad and i am going to paint it (DER)

I have cut out all the pieces and painted them black.

1. But i want to know if i should glue them together then paint them (So i can use them tonight)
The bad thing is that i won’t be able to get in those small parts
2. Or i could paint the bits and then glue them (and use a scout squad to represent them)
The only bad thing is if i use too much glue it will turn my paint job white (Don’t know why)

Will you actually see what's underneath? If not then glue it all together.

I usually glue/assemble the model then I paint it. Im usually confident that I can get into the nooks and crannies, and most of the time my models arent held up to close-up scrutiny anyways. If the opponent cant tell at arms length (i.e., during playing), then no point worrying about it.

However there are times that cant be done, or sometimes its a lot less hassle to do it the other way. As a result, sometimes I do sub-assemblies, and then glue on the pieces as Im done painting them. A simple example is a space marine and his bolter/melta/whatever. I usually leave the weapon off, then glue it on later, while still having a whole marine to paint on its own.

I'm a sub-assemble, paint, final assembly guy myself.

For a marines, it's glue the torso together, glue it to the legs, glue head on.

Paint everything

Glue arms/shoulders/backpack on

Touch up as needed.

What kind of glue are you using and how much? Generally less is more for glue. And superglue can cause frosting if you use a lot. Small dabs of plastic glue should work without issue.

I tend to mostly assemble and mostly paint before final assembly and touchups. Basecoat and wash/block highlights (if I'm going the usual route) go on while in sections, with final highlights reserved until after final assembly, so that I can account for light direction, occlusion, etc. as per the final pose. I also tend to sub-assemble for convenience, beyond simple necessity. I've started leaving the arms and heads off of AoBR slugga boys, even, since things are faster and easier that way, even if I could reach everything if fully assembled.

For the frosting issue, Nevelon is right - go lighter on the superglue or use a solvent-based plastic cement. Granted, if you paint for full coverage but not final effect while partially assembled, any glue issues are less of a hassle to clean up.

I almost always fully assemble models before painting them... only exceptions are when I need to plan ahead for airbrushing purposes... like for sanguinary guard. I airbrush the wings separately, so I don't get white paint on the armor.

When in doubt, use super glue on temporary joins. Freezing makes super glue brittle and can be pulled apart.....

I tried on my Normal Vet but

Paint the base and the under coats (eg black and the dark blue)
Guled the legs on the base
Put sand on the base
Paint the Troso and the arms
(not Glueing but puting the the modles arms in a pos i like)
Glue
touch ups
paint head (bits that would be hard to get
glue head
touch ups
paint the back of the backpack
glue on backpack
paint the rest
touch ups
touch ups

What helps is to apply the glue (even superglue/second-glue) with for instance a toothpick, that way it doesn't blob all over your mini and parts, also i always attach as many parts (if not all) to the mini, but keep it off the base, and then paint it (simply because things that aren't in view are not perceived so light etc won't be there anyway, a base-coat, wash etc will do.