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I understand why you would generally want to assemble the model before painting, in order to make the colors more continuous across seams and stuff like that. But what I don't get, is why glue the base onto the model before painting? It seems like that just makes it much harder to get an angle on the underside of the model. I'm watching the GW Morkanaut tutorial and there's no way he could paint the underside of the model with the base glued on. Even on infantry models it seems like you'd get some unpainted surfaces like the stomach if it's covered by a gun that would be almost impossible to paint.

I pin nearly ever model and mount it on a cork...

Most GW tutorials I've seen have you mount it on an old paint pot, but that doesn't alleviate any of the issues.

Depends on the model. Yeah, it's harder to reach under the model, but it's also faster to set up the models to paint if you just glue them down.

I don't want to be handling the models themselves for various reasons, so I need something to hold them by. The easiest thing is just to glue it to it's base. I could blutack it to the base, but then it will likely fall off and not be as stable, also the blutack will usually get on the side of the boots so I'll need to repaint those bits. Otherwise I drill the feet and mount it to cork.... this is just really time consuming for rank and file infantry. If I have 50 Cadians to paint it's easiest just to glue the buggers down.

If gluing them down will obscure detail, I try to work out something else so I can get to that detail before I glue them down.

Some Infantry models (i.e Spess Mahreens) should be painted without arms. As for the base on the Morkanaut, I think he might have just done some simple texture paint or used a smaller brush to paint it. Yes, it may have been a pain, but that may be GW's way. Use your logic circuits to figure out which bits to not glue on.

Glue the arms last


Essentially, anything with a gun/shield/weapon across any body part should be glued last/ close to last.
I guess you could do it without the base, but you may encounter issues with falling over. If you have a vise or one of those sticky pad things you can attach the model to, that would work if you want to attach the base last.

I hope that helped!

Never had troubles painting the underside of the model with the base attached. And remember: most of the underside won't be seen anyway because when you attach it to the base, the base covers it. And have you seen anyone pick up a model to look at the Space Marine's crotch?

Also, contact points: it's harder to glue the model to a base when it's fully painted. With super glue, the bond is weaker if the model is all painted up since the glue will stick on the paint and not the model itself. Plastic glue won't work at all on a painted model. And the risk of damaging your paintjob by attaching it to the model is big, especially when drilling and pinning is involved (you have to hold the model steady for that! Again, hands on the model = not good).. Even with superglue, you can put some on the model and it'll leave white residue even if you wipe it fast.

As already mentioned, a base will help you with handling the model without touching it. Your hand has oil and that is detrimental to acrylic paint.

Of course on bigger models you may not want to attach them to the base.

Most beginner modelers will glue their models to the base. Either because of lack of experience or laziness. It usually results in sunken feet, limited basing options and sloppy finish between the legs. But pinning the feet with paper clips will open up a lot of modelling options. You can create beautiful scenic bases (cork, putties, green stuff, resin bases), you can paint zenithal shading with greater ease, you can batch paint models in large quantities much faster (blue tacking 100+ bases is very time consuming), you get a rock solid model-base connection, its much easier to work on the lower parts of the model (cleaning up oil washes is much easier), etc.
There is NO advantage to glueing the models to the bases.

So: drill holes in feet as deep as you can, stick 1/2 a straightened paper clip in each hole with CA glue, finish your model and base separately, drill holes on base, stick pins theough, pull tight, bend and clip paper clips. Then greenstuff your magnets on the bottom.

I do this for all my guardsmen. Wouldn't do otherwise.

Hmm I've always just glued my models onto the base without thinking as the first step of assembly, building from the legs up. I've never noticed any problem with sunken feet but maybe it just because I use sand. I'll be giving the paperclip method a go though it sounds much better!

I didn't realize anyone actually glued models to the base before painting them. I think you should probably just consider the GW video a bad tutorial and not worry about missing any hidden wisdom.

I always glue to the base first, as it gives me something to hold, allows me to use the models in-game before painting if I have to (Although I don't like doing this most of the time), and I just find it more generally practical.

As far as painting the undersides, I figure if I can't see it to paint it, other people can't see it either, especially when the model is on the table and being viewed top-down.

Before I had an airbrush, assuming it wasn't a really tricky model, I would always put it on the base - then you can bluetac it to something without it falling over.

Now that I have an airbrush, I cut the slotta off entirely and pin it

I always glue them down. Drilling and pinning everything would take ages, and all that drilling would make a mess of my hobby room.

For simple paintjobs on open sculpts, I do it as a matter of convenience and expediency. It allows me to apply the basing grit and prime everything at once (especially handy with tabbed models on slotta bases, since you can't finish the basing separately without changing the mounting method).

All of my Ork Boys are done this way, as the pose still allows me enough access to paint the undersides. With the color scheme and level of quality I'm shooting for with them, I don't need total access and a completely unobstructed view.

For more complex models (in terms of either/both mini and basing) and ones that I want to try and paint to a higher standard, I'll keep them separate and hold the model by the long pin (in, quite appropriately, a pin vice) that, once clipped, will be used to attach it to the base.

It depends on the basing scheme and what I'm doing. For example, these Valhallans are a chiefly brown scheme. Their bases are brown. That's a pretty simple job, and they're slotta bases anyway so it's a lot easier to do this now and paint it all together:


On the other hand, these Space Hulk Genestealers have dark industrial bases and bright, saturated colors. It would be a lot easier to just wash and drybrush up those dark bases separately and pin the Stealers on later, which is exactly what I did:


In other words, it really just depends what you're doing. I try to do the base the same time as the mini itself, but sometimes that just doesn't work out.

It depends on the overall colour and basing scheme. Sometimes basing the figures straight away is best and sometimes you should paint the bases separately. There is no one best rule for it.

Having seen the video that the OP is referring to, I have to agree with them on that point.
On something as large as a Morkanaut I wouldn't permanently fix the model to the base until at least the underside of the model and the base had been finished.

When assembling individual figures, though, I usually fix the base to the mini (and build from the bottom up, with multi-part figures) because it gives me a solid base to work from and to hold during construction.
I don't have problems with sunken feet because I fix a sliver of 0.5mm plasticard to the figure's feet on assembly, and a black undercoat takes care of any painting I might miss.