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Hello everyone,

As the title states, I am curious if all the space marine players add their backpacks and then paint or do you paint them separately and then attach?

I paint them separately and then attach them

I glue them on prior to painting. All my regular Marines get fully assembled prior to painting. I do basecoats and zenithal highlighting with my airbrush so it makes it easier and more realistic.

For me it depends on the model. For basic troops that aren't getting any special treatment I assemble them all the way and then paint, that way I don't waste time or paint getting the areas that aren't even going to be seen.

For HQ, special units, or models I want to get more detailed I attach the backpacks and weapons to wine corks and make sure I get all the angles I want.

Honestly I don't notice much difference in the end result but I'm a mediocre painter at best.

I suggest doing some both ways and seeing which process works best for you.

I do both...
sometimes i have arms seperate while painting, sometimes the backpack, sometimes i just glue the whole guy together and paint not worrying about those areas your cant get to. Most recently i painted up the DV librarian and had his sword arm and backpack seperate during painting, to make them easier to hold i drilled a small hole in a hidden area of the piece and mounted them onto tooth picks which could be stood up in a cork or something easily when the paint was wet.

I use corks too, but glue a pin in the model. The only issue I've had is it often rotates in the cork to one extent or another. Kind of obnoxious, but still better than no cork.

I paint them separately. I paint half the backpack, hold it long enough that it can be set down without the paint smudging, and move on to the next one. When the paint is dry enough to handle, I do the other side. (Usually top half then bottom half, sometimes left then right. Not front to back, though, that wouldn't really work. ) If I am really worried about the paint smudging, I will cut a slit on some cardboard and stick the dry side into the slot, then come back to it once the top part is dry.

If i can i leave the backbacks off a nd paint seperately. The only backpacks i glued before painting are the ones hard to attach afterwards or the ones that needs to be there for easier posing. Currently for me that includes the chunky backpacks of the devastators with all those cables/ammobelts and the backpacks of the few bikers i have.

I glue the backpacks on and paint the space marine as a whole. Here is a pic of one.

I paint with backpacks on, since I've taken to airbrushing the main armour for my marines its pretty much the only way to guarantee the highlights look the same across the main armour and the back pack

Example:

Separate.

For me, I prefer to do everything separate (magnets help with that) until I get to the oil wash stage.

Backpacks, torso and legs are all assembled first, and painted. Arms and shoulder pads painted seperately.

For brush painting I would recommend separate painting as it means you can get in behind the sticky out bits properly. For airbrushing you can probably get a decent coverage behind the backpack even if its attached.

Tactical: I assemble the entire model, except for weapons and heads, prior to painting. The backpacks are easy enough to get around with the model assembled. I use a clamp on the weapon's pistol grip(as I cut that off later), and paint the rest. The heads I attach to a toothpick via superglue, then remove the head from the toothpick and assemble.

Assualt: I assemble the entire thing, except for head and pack. If it has a gun(melta, plasma, etc) I leave that separate while painting. The backpacks are simply too bulky and awkward to paint well if they are on the marine.

Devastator: Same thing as above. I tried my first Dev's all assembled, and it was a pain to paint the weapons, so I got thought again and never did that again.

*Note on heads: I do Blood Angels, so the heads do not match the armor, and I like to avoid smudges.. Taking them off also allows me to paint the ridges on their neck area, though that's often invisible anyway. On tactical marines, it matters a lot less as they match the armor, but I still prefer to paint them separate.

I paint backpacks separately, but that's because for salamanders the backpacks are black and the armor is green. if they were both the same color, I'd attach the backpacks before painting.

I always blu-tac on the arms*, shoulderpads, heads, and backpacks, prime them, and then paint each separately.

*where the arms are pre-assembled with weapons.

i glue the packs on now. i used to paint them seperate but it turns out it's a waste of time with little to no discernible quality difference.

I build the main body of my csm's and sub assemble the rest. That way I can paint each piece to a decent standard, before assembling completely for the final stages.

I do them separately, but only because my backpacks are a different color on my guys than the armor.

I usually do a full assembly then paint (since I don't have alot of free time) unless there is a pesky cape UNDER a backpack or a large, noticeable thing like that. Just seems... easier to me. Whatever works for you. I mainly play guard so I haven't all that much experience with marines as of late.

Only thing i don't glue to a marrine before painting is any weapon (usually boltgun) that comes across the chest and covers the eagle. Sometimes i think leaving backpacks off would make it easier to paint my shoulder pads though, the amount of times i get he trim colour on my backpack vents!

I leave both backpack and bolter off. I'd probably do it, regardless, due to the ease of attachment at any point in the painting process, but it becomes all the more crucial with a vertically split scheme.