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As in the title, I'm looking to streamline painting by doing it (and maybe the first round of painting, washing, and drybrushing too) pre-assembly, with big items still on the sprue. The models in question are Rhinos and Bullgryn/Ogryns, so nice big pieces. I might just do it all gray with an Agrax or Nuln wash, then clip and assemble. Will CA glue penetrate and adhere?

Also, I may try basing/painting/washing/ drybrushing some MDF secenery and vehicle upgrade kits I bought. Will a couple of sprayed layers make the joints too tight?

All in the name of getting stuff on the table... so insights and guidance are much appreciated. Thanks!

I know some people do it but I don't see how it helps. You ideally do want to keep the joins free of paint so that the glue sticks properly, and you'll also be needing to touch up the bits where you cut the parts off the sprues after painting. It just doesn't sound like streamlining to me.

There's a few things to consider:

1) First and foremost if an item is on the sprue then its got several points on it connected physically to that sprue, which you are going to cut through to get it off. So if you pre-painted the part you've now got a series of grey splotches at random places all over it which you've got to go in and touch up - that's going to take you far longer to clean up than if you'd clipped the part out and mounted it on a wire rod (drilled/affixed to a point of the model that is not visible such as the joining surface where it meets with another part).

2) Mould lines are ahrd enough to remove when you can move a part around freely, if its still on the sprue its going to be a massive pain cleaning them off and getting your blade/file into the little gaps and corners and manipulating the part itself.

3) Sometimes parts do require connection to the model because they cover key joining areas which ideally want to be smoothed over and cleaned up prior to painting. This is very much a model by model basis and there are equally parts where the connection area doesn't matter half as much .


Overall I think painting on sprue is ok only if you're painting at a very basic level (2 or 3 colours per model) because then you can splash some paint back over the missed spots and continue on. Otherwise I think it would create more problems than it solves and coudl even end up taking longer.

Why would it be any quicker? You're still covering the same surface area with paint.

The point of painting in sub-assemblies is to make sure you get to all the hard-to reach areas before you stick them together. It's not really a speed-painting thing at all, is it?

Thank for the insights... I hadn't thought about mould lines, and I was just going to deal with the attachment points with paint. I had the time, the paint, and the good weather, so I just went for it. We'll see how much further I go in terms of base colors or washing, but I feel like I at least spent less time hitting everything from every angle. More details on what's there in my P&M blog.

Still very curious about the MDF question is anyone has any thoughts there. Thanks!

I don't find it any easier than simply blu-tacing or taping stuff to sticks for priming...the sprue joins are occasionally visible so you end up painting them anyway. A "few" new kits you might get away with (and yes it would be ideal if GW designed all of their kits with hidden sprue joins.

I do often paint in sub-assemblies, particularly if spraying vehicle components etc...just don't see the point of leaving them on the sprue.

PS: Be very careful if you pre-paint MDF before assembly. While it's not as paint-soaking as people often claim, it will soak a bit and it's very likely your joins will expand and no longer slot in. One of the biggest factors of MDF buildings is their ability to slot together perfectly due to laser-cutting precision. However if the thickness of an MDF sheet is off (sometimes this happens straight from the company) or you've inflated it with wet paint...it will not and you'll end up carefully shaving off layers with an xacto which is a pain in the ass.

 Elbows wrote:
PS: Be very careful if you pre-paint MDF before assembly. While it's not as paint-soaking as people often claim, it will soak a bit and it's very likely your joins will expand and no longer slot in. One of the biggest factors of MDF buildings is their ability to slot together perfectly due to laser-cutting precision. However if the thickness of an MDF sheet is off (sometimes this happens straight from the company) or you've inflated it with wet paint...it will not and you'll end up carefully shaving off layers with an xacto which is a pain in the ass.

This is what I was worried about, and it makes sense. I'll probably split the difference, play it safe, and take chances only where the benefit is obvious, like where contrasting colors sit adjacent and a nice clean line would take longer otherwise.