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Is there a reason why every tutorial I watch shows a fully assembled mini being painted. Surely it's easier to prime and paint each piece separately. Then assemble and highlight .
Or am I just stupid?

If the pieces will not have any visible seams when glued together, or the gluing will be easy - like plopping a bolter onto the ready positioned arms of a marine - then leaving a bit off so you can get to the chest piece to paint it makes sense. But if you're airbrushing or doing OSL from a directional lighting source (sun). You would want as much of it together as possible to be able to highlight the proper areas. Then again, it might just be that these folks learned to paint them all put together, gaps filled, mold lines scraped, and so they still do.

Depends on the model, really. For tanks it may be easier because of interior detail, but things like Tyranid Gaunts and stuff is easily painted when fully assembled. I usually put my Space Marines together completely, but leave the Bolters separate so I can get at chest detail and the back portion of the Bolter.

Most people just put them together first so that they can play without painting lol . I used to paint them first though. But then the glue would sometimes get on the paint and ruin it, and once I tried assembly before painting, it was really much easier. The areas you can't get to generally you won't be able to see on the finished model anyhow.

I have always fully assembled everything except larger vehicles before painting.

I painted first and assembled later with my first Necron Warriors and Immortals. After a particular disaster while attempting to glue the arms of one Immortal, ruining the paint, I decided to assemble first, paint later. Not only am I avoiding that particular problem now, I'm actually playing games

It's usually better to assemble infantry models completely and then paint them instead of priming every single piece separately, especially if it's a very complicated model with or without extensive conversions. On larger models, say a Tyranid Trygon, Warmahordes Colossal/Gargantuan, or a Baneblade, then building the core parts and painting those before it's fully put together is fine. You want people to see all the detail on those models because they're so large. But if it's something like a Guardsman, then put him together completely. There's no point in trying to cover the inner arms if nobody is going to see it.

If you want to paint a model for a showcase, then it's completely fine to cover everything.

Here's what's on my painting table right now, just prior to color being laid down:



Regular infantry and suits that don't have extensive amounts of tight clearances (IOW, MOST Crisis suits and all Stealth suits) were fully assembled, then sprayed, and await color. Same with drones. Pilots in an open cockpit are assembled, but not glued in so I can get to the cockpit areas. Anything with really tight clearance areas, or that will remain removable (turrets, drones, SMS) remain in subassembled components. Where they will glue together once paint is done, there's a glob of blue tack/poster putty to keep paint off, to aid in the adhesion/plastic weld upon final assembly.

Specific example:



The legs through the torso is fully assembled on this (although the Broadside suit nearby is not, due to the "buttpack" that hangs from the back of the torso), since that's all relatively easy to access. Separate subassemblies include the right arm, left arm, shield unit, head, and jetpack units. You can see the globs of poster putty in some spots, such as where the arms will go.

I am somewhat torn on this too. I am building Deathwing Knights and it almost seems better to paint before assembling to hit all those hard to reach spots. Am I just being a little too anal?

I think that when I get to my own DW Knights, it'll depend on shield position. Those shields are absolutely my biggest concern on those particular models.

shade1313 wrote:
I think that when I get to my own DW Knights, it'll depend on shield position. Those shields are absolutely my biggest concern on those particular models.

It's those and the robes for me. It obscures some of the armor details. :-(

Personally, i am stupid when i comes to painting, i am an average to good painter, but i just assemble the model before i paint (the entire thing), i like making problems and coming out on top: "TAKE THAT BOLTER, I JUST PAINTED YOUR OTHER SIDE. BAM."
and plus my fingers are big so fiddling with little bits can be... tedious at most.

 Havok210 wrote:
I am somewhat torn on this too. I am building Deathwing Knights and it almost seems better to paint before assembling to hit all those hard to reach spots. Am I just being a little too anal?

You are if nobody is ever going to see those parts of the model. You said it's the shields and the robes, right? Then there's no point in painting those areas if they'll just be covered up by parts of the model. Are these for games/your personal collection, or are they going to be showcase models? If they are the latter, then try using an airbrush to hit those areas. If that doesn't work, you'll have to rip apart the mini to get those areas.

 Deunstephe wrote:

 Havok210 wrote:
I am somewhat torn on this too. I am building Deathwing Knights and it almost seems better to paint before assembling to hit all those hard to reach spots. Am I just being a little too anal?

You are if nobody is ever going to see those parts of the model. You said it's the shields and the robes, right? Then there's no point in painting those areas if they'll just be covered up by parts of the model. Are these for games/your personal collection, or are they going to be showcase models? If they are the latter, then try using an airbrush to hit those areas. If that doesn't work, you'll have to rip apart the mini to get those areas.

Totally for gaming purposes. I am in no way, shape, or form a showcase painter.

I prefer to assemble first and then paint.(The few that i have actually painted ...) But that is mostly due to extensive conversions with scratch build details that might bite me in the ass with late assembly ( as in not lineing up properly). Especially my chaos stuff.
My older loyalist marines were assembled partly. For example leaving the bolters off or on my devastators not gluing the legs to get at least somewhat better access to the torso while still making sure that everything fits together perfectly.

I strictly painted before assembling when I started out. However, I grew lazy and assembled beforehand. It actually helps though, if you're into realistic highlighting and shadowing compared to just line highlighting everything.

Also saves you paint and time as you don't have to paint the areas that no one will see!

Legs + torso I always glue together before painting. Head is often easier to paint by itself and airbrushing skin tones is better done off the body. Chest and arms easier to paint separately usually.

By easier, I mean easier to paint to a higher standard. You can easily paint to a tabletop standard by fully assembling first and you'll save time by doing so.

Depending on the model, I'll prime the pieces seperately to make sure I get all the cracks and crevices (like the Dark Eldar Raider to get that grating at the bottom). Again, depending on the model, I'll assemble either partially or fully before painting.

Personally, with infantry I like to paint the arms seperately if the gun crosses the chest. This lets me paint the chest and the back side of the gun. I know neither is easily visible in that pose, but I know it's there and it bothers me.

Many of the smaller bits are exceedingly difficult to paint without them being gued to something larger. Space marine arms etc.

For larger models like titans or even tanks, though, it can indeed be easier to paint a partially assembled model.

You also have to consider that in order to glue something, you will need to scrape the paint off, an added, and sometimes risky step

BrotherVord wrote:
Many of the smaller bits are exceedingly difficult to paint without them being gued to something larger. Space marine arms etc.

For larger models like titans or even tanks, though, it can indeed be easier to paint a partially assembled model.

You also have to consider that in order to glue something, you will need to scrape the paint off, an added, and sometimes risky step

The very reason why I mask off the contact points with blue tack/poster putty, as mentioned above.

Depends, IMO its easier to handle when a miniature is whole and not ruin paint as it dries with your fingers trying to handle small pieces. It depends on the ease of acces to certain parts like the chest plate or things like that.

Plastic glue wont work if the parts are fully painted, you'll have trouble spray priming the pieces if you don't mount them somewhere before painting, some superglues when they dry they frost the paint sometimes and ruin paintjobs, and if the miniature is a vehicle the parts may not match exactly anymore because of the primer layer.

The guy from Buypainted, a youtube channel, he allways mounts and paints separate pieces and does it amazingly, you should check his tutorials to learn more.

It depends on the model for me. Generally, if the model is in a more "open" pose, where I can see most of the points on the model without getting into nooks and crannies (aka, pistol and chainsword sergeants, scouts, Ork boyz etc) then I just assemble them in their entirety, spray them, and then paint them.

If it's a larger model like a deff dread, I tend to paint it in assembled parts. For example, I build the torso and legs together and glue them to the base. Then I assemble the arms separately and paint the torso + base, arms, and side guns etc separately and then glue them in place. Part of it is to reduce the "intimidation factor" when painting a large model. It helps me mentally break it down into bite sized pieces instead of one huge blank canvas.

Another method I have used is if I am able to keep vastly contrasting colors separated before assembling the finished model I can. Even if it isn't that hard of a pose, painting a small black area on a model that is mainly yellow or white can lead to really costly mistakes. Doing the darker pieces separately can help keep things mistake free when painting.

- VardenV2

Ok. I should clarify a bit. I tend to build my mini's first, using plastic glue (usually liquid poly). I then prime them as a whole, then remove the arms, weapons, backpacks, etc.
Then I brush prime any exposed areas and tack small pieces to my "painting racks" (old forgeworld sprues)
Once I have done this I can easily reach all areas with my base coats before using ca glue to re-assemble and highlight.

tomcat31 wrote:
Ok. I should clarify a bit. I tend to build my mini's first, using plastic glue (usually liquid poly). I then prime them as a whole, then remove the arms, weapons, backpacks, etc.
Then I brush prime any exposed areas and tack small pieces to my "painting racks" (old forgeworld sprues)
Once I have done this I can easily reach all areas with my base coats before using ca glue to re-assemble and highlight.

IMO this just sounds really bad. Brush priming leaves a different finish that spray priming, so the eventual model may look a bit strange. Plus, using poly cement, you might actually break the pieces since poly cement has a stronger bond than superglue on plastics.

Not really. It's just a matter of using different amounts of glue on the joints.
A good amount on permanent joins, and not quite enough on the ones I intend to separate.
I've never broken a component yet.
As for the brush priming its generally such a small area that its not noticeable

If it's so small, why bother taking apart a model just to cover it? You could just cover it while basecoating, and varnish the model to seal it so that portion is less likely to peel off during a game.

I guess it's just my personal preference.
I know I'm not the best painter in the world but if I know there's an area that's not painted properly, then I'm not happy with the model.

Whether or not I assemble a model before painting I decide on a case by case basis. If I think I have good brush access when assembled, I'll assemble, if I don't think I'll have good brush access, I wont.

For space marines, that usually means gluing together the legs, torso and arms, spray priming and painting, then gluing on the backpack, head and gun after painting. Some other models I may glue together in their entirety before painting.

It helps me visualize the end result, of the whole 4 models ive painted so far in my lustrous 12yr career of procrastination.

visualize and attack.