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Is it better to paint space marines built or piece of piece?
Like should i paint the shoulder pads the guns the chest the legs and head then put them together carefully or is this not recommended?

Practice first. I put everything together that I can still get to each area. You can likely get away with building it all and then leave out the bolter and do it separate

But if i want to paint then build is that not recommended at all? Cause i cant paint some of the space marine parts without accidentally hitting other parts. But i could do it if it was all separate. Think it would work to paint then build?

Hiya, I had a similar problem until I bought an AoBR Tactical Squad off eBay. They pretty much force you down the painting while assembled route! (Apart from the weapons/backpacks.)

But if you want to practice painting component parts then go for it

With a standard TM Squad I'd usually glue torso and legs together and also glue arms and shoulder pads together, paint them all then glue

Just experiment.

I have been playing around with priming/basing while still on the sprue, then partially assembling and painting details/touchup from cutting from the sprue. It seems to work pretty well for me so far. I have had better overall color coverage vs painting after assembly.

Im just gonna cut them from the sprue base and prime them then just detail paint them and glue them together

For larger, and more intricate models, I spray the sprue and paint it right no there, and build it afterwards. FOr troops and that kind of stuff, its better to do what Niall recommended.

With a standard TM Squad I'd usually glue torso and legs together and also glue arms and shoulder pads together, paint them all then glue

Ive glued all my troops torsos together and legs on the bodies. The arms are separate atm but i may look at putting shoulder pads on the arms and just painting each piece separate

In the against column for painting in bits.

If you paint the glued surfaces first you may weaken the bond. Secondly you will waste time painting hidden parts that otherwise wouldn't need to be painted, or waste time figuring out what does or doesn't need to be. Third, removing mould lines and sprue marks is near impossible with any precision.

However leaving the bolter off or similar to allow easier access is a slightly different thing and normally a pretty sensible way to get a good finish on chest eagles and the like.

Well paint the basics you know what you have to paint also get them sanded and moulded cut before you start painting

I assemble as much as I can such that nothing will block my brush from getting into all the details. usually, this means I can glue legs to torso and sometimes arms to torso (depends on the arm position). most weapons get left off and painted separately. I do backpacks separately because they're a different color than my base armor color. I paint heads separately, just for easier access (I pin them to an old wine cork). I paint the base separately, as well, and don't attach it to the model until I've painted everything else.

for shoulder pads, I think it depends on whether you're using the same color as the rest of the armor. if you are, glue 'em on before painting. if you're painting them a different color, doing them off-model might make life easier (e.g., if you use an airbrush you don't have to mask the rest of the model).

as far as painting on sprue goes, I'm not a big fan because it makes it hard to do good mold line cleanup with the rest of the sprue in the way. I take everything off sprue and clean every bit before I start assembling and priming. I freely admit that I'm a bit OCD, though :p

ultimately, it's personal preference. take two marines and try it out both ways... assemble one all the way and paint it and then paint another one in pieces and see which process/end result you like better.

 azreal13 wrote:
If you paint the glued surfaces first you may weaken the bond. Secondly you will waste time painting hidden parts that otherwise wouldn't need to be painted, or waste time figuring out what does or doesn't need to be. Third, removing mould lines and sprue marks is near impossible with any precision.

I paint partially assembled and I don't have any of those problems.

For gluing, it's painfully simple to leave bare plastic when using a brush. When spraying, a little blob of poster tack works wonders as a mask and/or part holder. If you do end up getting too much paint on there, it takes all of five seconds with a knife or file to knock the offending paint off.

Regarding what needs painting, maybe I'm a perfectionist or perhaps I only paint open sculpts, but there's yet to be a part I've painted that I felt didn't warrant it, in hindsight (the closest thing being an obscured edge of an otherwise visible piece, painted fully for continuity). Perhaps this is more due to my method - I base coat, perhaps give a wash and initial block highlights, before assembly, leaving the final highlights until the model is in its final pose. This lets me account for angle and occlusion from a consistent light source, as well reducing wasted effort (not only will obscured parts be less visible, they wouldn't receive enough light to warrant further highlights). Not every part that touches air needs detailed attention, but if it doesn't receive any paint, it usually shows. Actually, I've started leaving parts off of open sculpts (like AoBR Ork Boys), even, since the freedom of "angle of attack" with the brush saves me far more time and effort over painting fully assembled than it takes to prime them as separate pieces.

As for mold lines and sprue joins, waiting to remove them until after assembly makes access more difficult, thereby lowering precision. I could foresee occasional difficulties if trying to scrape them on the sprue, but the only time a loose part would be more difficult to clean up than an assembled one is the odd bit too small to comfortably hold (not terribly uncommon, but an exception to the rule, based on sheer numbers).

Generally, I advise assembling as much as is convenient before priming and painting, while reserving the final touches until after assembly. What is most convenient for each person varies, somewhat, so a little experimentation is likely in order to determine the most comfortable method for you. It honestly shouldn't take more than two or three models to get a sense of what you prefer.

My superglue eats paint, the decision is made for me.

Ill be honest, i usually paint when fully assembled and worry about issues later on.
Usually a hooked brush can reach every area.

However, as the models have become so much more detailed ive started to do them in smaller parts now, usually just main areas that would obscure other parts.
But thats only really for character models or things i want to stand out.