Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Question occurred to me today as I was painting up more of my Dark Vengeance stuff.

Do most here assemble first, then paint? Or vice versa?

I've tried it both ways...I generally have found that painting first is a smidge neater, but assembling first is much faster (I generally can paint them in half the time) and I get to play with them sooner as long as I don't mind fielding gray models.

What does everyone here think?

EDIT: Attached poll per Jimsolo's request.

Depends on the models at times, but I generally prefer to assemble them before painting them up. I feel you get a better feel for the shading that way.

Then there are some you can partially assemble, paint and then finish building. Stuff like marines and their bare heads.

It really does come down to personal preference. I like to do half and half. I'll part way assemble my guadsmen (so head, torso and legs) then i'll paint that up. After that's done i paint the arms and then glue them on last. That way the arms/gun doesn't interfere with my painting the body.

I do assemble first, then paint just for the sake of speed and ease. Doing painting first gets better results, and I plan on doing my next big model in parts because of that... it's just a pain. :(

I assemble first and then paint for the most part, unless assembling would leave me with some area that still needs to be painted, but would be really hard to reach. I've done both in the extreme (full paintjob before assembly, and full assembly before painting) and had bad experiences with both. Not every time, just a few snafu's that taught me to take a balanced approach.

I have found that for hand painting, it's best to assemble the model to the point that you can best access all of the features of the model with a brush, but also to where it is nearest to its completion. This allows you to get a better idea of how the model is shaping up, while also allowing you to access hard to reach places.

If airbrushing, I am quickly finding that it is almost always better to leave parts disassembled.

As an interesting question, I'd like to see a poll attached to this. I'm curious as to what the breakdown is for what people actually do.

Always paint first. Many models have areas that you can't easily reach (or even reach at all) once they're assembled, so unless you want your painting to look terrible you have to paint before you assemble. The only exception is that some models (vehicles especially) have sections that you can assemble. For example, you can assemble the main hull (without tracks) on a tank, and in fact you'll want to do it since then you can fill and sand all the gaps between parts. Or, on infantry, you might assemble the body and legs and paint the arms and head separately. But you'll very rarely have a 100% assembled model before you paint it.

Sub-assemblies and partial paintjobs. Anything that would be impractical to paint otherwise gets the full treatment before the obscuring parts go on (aquila on chest of SM with crossed bolter). The rest of the model gets the basic treatment - basecoat, wash, basic block highlights - before assembly. Once it's all together, I can put on the final touches: Further highlights that account for consistent directional light and occlusion, touch-ups to ensure color consistency, overlaid effects that span joints, etc.

There are a few exceptions, though. For batch-painted grunts with limited poses, like AoBR troops, I do everything in pieces, since A) there are never more than three pieces and B) the limited pose means I already know more or less how the part is going to be positioned. Also, I tend to fully assemble fiddly models, like metal Infinity troops (luckily, the dynamic poses usually leave the sculpts open enough to work on). Something larger that will be pinned together can be dry-fit and broken back down, but I'm not about to try to GS/superglue an arm as thick as a pencil lead while worrying about the paintjob.

I do a bit of both. If assembling the model doesn't interfer with painting it, I assemble first. If doing so would interfere with painting I don't assemble.

If it's a large model, like the deff dread I'm painting, I do both. I assembled part of it because doing so didn't keep me from hitting all parts of the model.

I agree with various views above. Assembly frst is great, until you start gluing on bits that will get in the way of future painting. I tend to end up assembling legs, torso head and maybe 1 arm and having the gun arm separate for painting. IF the model has 2 CCWs and there is nothing blocking the chest area I might jsut assemble everything at once. The same is true of vehicles. I always dry-fit parts before gluing to make sure I'm not going to leave myself with areas that I can't get a paintbrush to later.

Assemble first.

Painting first means you get to re-paint things when the paint gets chipped with all the manhandling they'll get, and that you're going to have to redo things once you get superglue on top of your paint.

And painting first basically nullifies your ability to use plastic glue (not that you should), and washes. And doing any serious conversion work.

Painting first is for the lazy who want the fastest models with the least effort possible, and don't care if their minis look any better than medium-quality tabletop, at best.

Assemble parts that will not get in the way of painting (and for the record, just because a piece will get in the way of painting does NOT mean that area is not visible .. arms are a great example of this) and then paint. Then assemble the rest and paint.

Of course, it depends greatly on the model being done as well. Some lend themselves to being assembled fully then painted, others do not.

It also depends on how much you mind certain areas being slightly visible and unpainted because it's tucked away behind something else.

 Ailaros wrote:
Assemble first.

Painting first means you get to re-paint things when the paint gets chipped with all the manhandling they'll get, and that you're going to have to redo things once you get superglue on top of your paint.

And painting first basically nullifies your ability to use plastic glue (not that you should), and washes. And doing any serious conversion work.

Painting first is for the lazy who want the fastest models with the least effort possible, and don't care if their minis look any better than medium-quality tabletop, at best.

I kind of take offense at the last sentence. I am not a lazy painter, and though my models are probably not any better than medium-quality tabletop, I do the best I can. There are, on certain models, areas that I cannot reach if I assemble the model first. Maybe my skill at painting isn't as advanced as yours, or maybe I'm just a lazy painter, but there are certain models that I have to paint before assembly. Hopefully my skill will reach your level one day where I can assemble first then paint, but then again I'm probably to lazy to ever reach that level.

I disagree, Ailaros. I think that sometimes you have to pre-paint (or you should!) to get hard-to-reach areas. I think that some prepainting will make your model look better than none at all. I'm sure there are a few lazy painters out there who fit your stereotype, but I think that a balanced approach will yield better results all around.

 Ailaros wrote:
Assemble first.

Painting first means you get to re-paint things when the paint gets chipped with all the manhandling they'll get, and that you're going to have to redo things once you get superglue on top of your paint.

And painting first basically nullifies your ability to use plastic glue (not that you should), and washes. And doing any serious conversion work.

Painting first is for the lazy who want the fastest models with the least effort possible, and don't care if their minis look any better than medium-quality tabletop, at best.

It's actually more work to paint first, I think. Holding fiddly little bits and doing a decent job of it is tough. Assembling first without regard to complicated hard to reach places seems lazier to me, and that's what I do anyway most of the time just to save time.

Why would anyone paint before assembling unless under certain circumstances? You're going to have to go back and touch up after you glue everything. It's just more work for no gain.

As for not being able to reach something, if you can't reach it with a brush, can you even see it with your eyes?

Troops. Assemble then paint.
Characters. Work as you go. I painted the DV chaos lord bit by bit making sure I could get all the nooks and crannies, and he came out really well. The bolter guy from squad #3 just isn't worth that effort.

 Ailaros wrote:
Painting first means you get to re-paint things when the paint gets chipped with all the manhandling they'll get, and that you're going to have to redo things once you get superglue on top of your paint.

Potential issues for a hamfisted painter, but nothing that speaks against the method, itself. Paint is just as likely to be worn off by rough handling on a fully assembled model than on bits and one shouldn't be applying so much superglue as to cause it to run out of the joins.

And painting first basically nullifies your ability to use plastic glue (not that you should), and washes. And doing any serious conversion work.

Conversion work is usually done before painting - that doesn't preclude the option of painting in sub-assemblies. Plastic glue is still usable, either by masking off the mating surfaces (5 seconds with poster tack before priming) or scraping them clean (10 seconds with a knife or file before gluing). As for how sub-assemblies make using washes impossible... I haven't the faintest idea why you believe that to be true.

Painting first is for the lazy who want the fastest models with the least effort possible, and don't care if their minis look any better than medium-quality tabletop, at best.

That's somewhat offensive, beyond simply being groundless. How is taking the time to ensure that all surfaces of the model are painted (and with greater ease of access, for increased control and flexibility in technique) lazy? It makes it easier to be thorough - "I can't reach it, you won't see it, I won't paint it" seems a bit less flattering a mantra than "paint it all, just in case," if you want to talk about effort. Using sub-assemblies is smart, not lazy.

Besides, there's nothing stopping you from laying down basic paintwork while the model is in pieces, for the sake of completeness, then getting fancier with your paintwork after everything is put together (that's what I do, frequently). There's not a single technique that can't be utilized due to partial assembly, simply some that you might have to delay, slightly.

 nectarprime wrote:
As for not being able to reach something, if you can't reach it with a brush, can you even see it with your eyes?

Yes. Perhaps you don't particularly care, but that doesn't mean the part disappears. Sure, some parts fit together so closely that there really isn't a point to painting the space between. Sometimes, though, it's more an issue of angle than of space that's preventing you from painting the area properly. While you won't likely notice anything missing at arm's length, there are always views that expose the (intentional) oversight upon closer inspection. I find that attitude careless (see above), but I don't pass moral judgment on those who prescribe to it - it's merely due to a different set of priorities/criteria.

I review the model first and then decide. If it is Grey Knight with a gun in front of his very intricate chest then I will probably assemble him up to the arms and then paint them separately.

So if I don't paint the underside of the bases of all my models, they are not finished?

I agree that some areas on models can be difficult to paint when fully assembled-- but if you can see it, you can paint it. It might be tricky but I'd rather have to go back and fix a little messup than deal with gluing a painted model together from pieces.

 Snrub wrote:
It really does come down to personal preference. I like to do half and half. I'll part way assemble my guadsmen (so head, torso and legs) then i'll paint that up. After that's done i paint the arms and then glue them on last. That way the arms/gun doesn't interfere with my painting the body.

This is what I do as well. Recently, I have also started painting models separately from their bases, that way I can put more detail on the base and not worry about getting paint on the feet. But for years I assembled fist and then painted.

When I am helping my nephews (9 & 13) paint, I recommend that they assemble, prime black and don't worry about painting anything they can't reach. Those areas would be in shadow anyway.

Assembling is my favourite part (usually, hem hem metal bloodcrushers), and posing nice models is the best! Well converting is the best! Zombies are the best in conclusion

Assemble until the point where farther assembly will cause problems with the paintjob .