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Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




I have a hunch that this topic had been covered a thousand times but I have to ask…I would love to assemble a model completely before painting but it seems like it would be impossible to paint well. For the folks who do assemble completely, how do you paint the model?
   
Made in it
Waaagh! Ork Warboss




Italy

Unless painting after assembling really is an impossible task (see ork buggies or the triumph of st. katharine) I always assemble first and paint later.

Painting parts is almost unbearable to me, I hate it. Everytime I see pepole painting heads placed on spikes, and I'm talking about working on basic stuff not a single miniature for a painting contest, I alwyas wonder where do they find the motivation to do that.

 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





United Kingdom

If I can completely assemble a model and still have access to all the bits that need paint, then I will assemble prior to building.

Other than that I build in chunks so that I can fully paint the model. So for example my Ork Bikerboss was built up to the point of having bike, boss and base as separate components that just needed gluing together at the end.
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




Thank you for the responses.
   
Made in gb
Thane of Dol Guldur





Bodt

Assemble as much as you can. This is what I do. Besides the advantage of not having to glue painted components together, the more of the model that's together allows you to get a much better feel for the painting of the model and the flow etc. I normally build what I reasonably think I can paint without missing areas. If areas can be hidden in shadow I will make sure they are painted black etc. Maybe do a quick sketch transition on something like a cloak before it's glued in place to ensure no unpainted grey patches for example.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh apart from heads. I pretty much always paint them seperately. Especially space marine heads which have all the neck detailing. I like to ensure thats done fully before putting it in. If I'm painting a space marine I will usually paint the head and the area around where is goes fully first, then glue the head in before painting anything else.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/12/06 21:57:31


Heresy World Eaters/Emperors Children

Instagram: nagrakali_love_songs 
   
Made in us
The Marine Standing Behind Marneus Calgar





Upstate, New York

Sub assemblies. If I have trouble getting a brush somewhere it drives me crazy.

   
Made in us
Utilizing Careful Highlighting





Tangentville, New Jersey

I almost always assemble most models and then paint, but lately I find myself painting the bases separate. This is because my custom cobblestone bases are easier to paint without the model glued to it.

I did paint the cloak separate for Holga Cloven-horn, but she's more the exception to the rule.


 
   
Made in ca
Regular Dakkanaut





Oh Canada!

Assemble as much as you can is good advice.

I rarely use sub-assemblies unless the model is something like a mount/rider combo, weirdly overlapping and delicate, or shields. I like to freehand paint my shields and that's a royal pain in the patooty once it's glued on. For the other two cases it's because the model blocks being able to hold the brush at a reasonable angle to reach all the obvious surfaces.

Otherwise, worth keeping in mind is that if you can't reach it with a brush, odds are you can't see it easily either, so it's probably an area that isn't worth spending a lot of effort on.
   
Made in fi
Locked in the Tower of Amareo





I assemble and then paint where I can. Usually where it's hard to reach it's also hard to see so effort of going usual level just ain't giving enough reward.

It puts model able to be played sooner, avoids losing parts accidentally midway, makes highlighting consistently easier as angles are easy to see and gluing painted parts is harder as you need to scrape paint for plastic glue to do it's job as well as it should.

2024 painted/bought: 109/109 
   
Made in no
Longtime Dakkanaut






Cant be bothered to do standard sub assembly anymore, IMO it is just a huge timewaste that can only be justified for competition entrys.
I just make shure i cover all nooks with black primer and blame all unpainted parts on natural shade.

darkswordminiatures.com
gamersgrass.com
Collects: Wild West Exodus, SW Armada/Legion. Adeptus Titanicus, Dust1947. 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

One thing to consider is that when you have a model with areas you can't access with a brush, chances are those areas feature a lot of overlapping material and detail which naturally would end up very shadowed. So you can often undercoat those areas in black and once the rest of the model is painted they don't look so bad because its just part of the natural light of the model.

Some GW models today are much harder to sub-assemble because of how the parts go together - eg Blissbarbs are full of tight fitting parts that wrap around each other and whilst the final model has a lot of tricky spots, its simpler than painting and then trying to glue it together and having some join lines that you then have to work with.

A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in pl
Horrific Hive Tyrant





I assemble all I can, including gluing models to their bases unless it would really prevent me to reach some important parts. To make it even easier, I glue the models in poses that both look fun and at the same time allow me to reach all places. It is of course not possible with all the models but there is also an important part of choosing them for the collection.
   
Made in us
Courageous Questing Knight





Texas

I am with most where I assemble just about all before I paint and figure on a small mini if I can't reach it with my tiny brush, you probably can't see that spot under the cape, etc. when it is on the table.

My Novella Collection is available on Amazon - Action/Fantasy/Sci-Fi - https://www.amazon.com/Three-Roads-Dreamt-Michael-Leonard/dp/1505716993/

 
   
Made in us
Veteran Knight Baron in a Crusader





If I can't see it, I don't worry too much about painting it to Golden Demon standard. When you paint, you have the model in perfect light 6 inches from your face. At arms length on the table with the average light in a wargaming store, nobody is going to see that 2mm square of black primer under someone's armpit.
   
Made in se
Dakka Veteran





Sweden

I generally always asemble them first and paint after. The benefits are just to many doing it that way. I make exceptions though, if arms/weapons end up covering the center part of the model in a way I can tell that it will be very hard to paint I paint that part seperatly and then attach it at a convenient time.

An open mind is like a fortress with its gates unbarred and unguarded.  
   
Made in us
Grumpy Longbeard






Seen folk paint up fully assembled complex models without too much trouble, so it is more of a preference.

Personally, painting undercuts is beyond frustrating so Id leave as much parts apart that I can get away with.
Motivation being in easy access to the parts that will be hard to get to later. Like vehicle pilots or crew, ets.

It is a unique enjoyment of gluing completely finished painted and varnished pieces.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/12/09 02:41:01


 
   
 
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