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I'm pretty sure this question has been out there since the dawn of time. Whether to paint the model as it's in pieces, or to assemble first and then paint. I happen to be one of those people who likes to paint first build later, which to me, seems like a minority...
It's just that painting feels so much easier BEFORE the model is built (after primer) because you can reach all the those hidden spots.

Maybe I'm losing it. Or out of my mind. What does Dakka Dakka think?

I used to be like that. Now I am sitting on a pile of half finished, half painted minis because of it. I once played a game where I told my buddy, "the ones without arms are the lascannons, ok?"

Does it take longer for you to paint before? I don't paint very often thanks to school, so I've always wondered which way was faster. I hope I'm not limiting this to a quality over quantity thing.

I'm a build first person, mainly because I get super excited and can't wait to build the damn things ><.

I don't find painting after too bad, Tbh the way I paint is "If you can't see it, then I'm not painting it!" As I'm not a showcase painter and paint to play I don't mind

I'm a bit of both. If the model is big then I partially assemble it before I paint it. I assembled my boyz fully before painting, now my lootas I will paint them then assemble as I won't be able to get all the areas if it was fully assembled.

Depends on the model, but it most cases painting after building.

As noted above, you've missed out the important Partial Assembly before painting option. It allows you to lump chunks of the model together that won't get in the way of your paint brush.

 Flinty wrote:
As noted above, you've missed out the important Partial Assembly before painting option. It allows you to lump chunks of the model together that won't get in the way of your paint brush.

This. Assemble what you can, then paint, then finish.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Flinty wrote:
As noted above, you've missed out the important Partial Assembly before painting option. It allows you to lump chunks of the model together that won't get in the way of your paint brush.

This. Assemble what you can, then paint, then finish.

right. I've added a new poll option!

 TheGunslinger wrote:
It's just that painting feels so much easier BEFORE the model is built (after primer) because you can reach all the those hidden spots.

Now, y'see, those spots are the ones you dump a wash into and call it a day.

I find it much easier to get an overall feel for the model when its fully assembled. This is assuming your not just doing an assembly line paintjob for dozens of clone-like marines. I do Chaos, and no two models look alike in my army.

Depends on the model, generally I assemble as much as possible without hindering access to tight spots. I find it better to have models together when shading / highlighting so I can properly gauge how some parts will affect others.

I mostly paint after assembly. As others have mentioned, some larger models lend themselves better to being assembled in modules, painted, then final assembly and touch-ups.

I start by priming all the parts, then I attach the torso, legs, and head. I then paint the assembled parts as to no paint parts that will just be completely covered, then finish by attaching remaining parts, painting them and touching the whole thing up. This gets very tedious though when you have a large squad of detailed units.

I'm in Team Partial Assembly. I find arms get in the way of torso details, and even if they are covered and invisible on the finished mini, I still know that they are there.

Partial assembly

I used to prime my models on the sprue, but I stopped for some reason, can't figure out why...

My brush control is pretty ordinary, so at this point I find it easier to partially assemble my models, and just leave off parts that are a bit too close to other parts.

Makes it a concern with Pewter though, because then I run the risk of having to use green stuff on the joints.....I've got an idea on a Malifaux model of changing the arm so it goes across the body, but it would definitely need green stuff - but having it there first makes it impossible to paint!

Space Marine backpacks, for instance, I've found are an absolute nightmare to cover all those inside bits, and as for warmachine - could they make those miniatures in any more pieces? REALLY???

I used to get excited and assemble everything before priming, but quickly began regretting it (painting fully assembled lootas is downright hellish). Now, I'm all about partial assembly. For horde-y, limited pose units like AoBR Ork Boys (or necessarily (essentially) monopose models like Lootas), I'll paint fully before assembly, since I have a decent idea roughly how parts will be angled when I'm done. And yes, I go as far as to paint AoBR Boys in pieces. Even if I can paint them fully when assembled, there's still an appreciable increase in ease of painting and quality of final results. Like CapnBloodbeard, though, I'll usually assemble metal fully, first, as it's rare that I can establish, without a doubt, that the parts will mate cleanly and easily without the use of putty and/or prohibitively large quantities of superglue.

For more advanced models, I'll do the basic painting - basecoat, wash, block highlights - before assembly, where the roughest sense of the intended pose is all that's necessary. Reserving final highlights until after final assembly allows you to draw attention to where you want it, account for proper occlusion (now is when "if you can't reach it, you needn't paint it" works for me, thanks to the natural behavior of light - maybe I'm just being anal about the rest, but there are plenty of spots on my models that I couldn't reach, fully assembled, but would notice if they were left untouched), and maintain a consistent light source.

There are only two preferences/positions regarding the topic that I'll never understand:

First, priming (let alone painting) on the sprue. There's no way that the cleanup required (not to mention the difficulty in making a a smooth, continuous appearance where the cleanup painting meets the rest) and limited access to parts makes this a worthwhile option. Cleaning parts first and sticking them onto a "painting stick" or pins doesn't take much effort and gives you the best of both worlds - the ability to batch-spray, convenient handles, full range of access, etc.

Second, avoiding painting in parts because "it makes gluing too hard/weak/etc." It takes all of five seconds to sand/file/scrape both surfaces of a join clean, if there was any overspray (if you can't avoid caking them in paint using a brush, you've got bigger issues ). If using plastic glue, which tends to melt light applications of paint without significantly weakening the bond, you don't even have to be terribly thorough. Pennies' worth of poster tack and a minute of prep before spraying is plenty to mask the joins, too, thus avoiding potential issues, entirely.

count me in Team Partial Assembly.

I'm not a competition painter by any means, but I try to paint each model to the highest standards I'm capable of.

the first batch of models I ever painted, the SM tac squad from the aobr set, I fully assembled first. I regretted it later because some bits were just damn hard to get to (chest aquila with the bolter in the way, parts of the backpack, etc.) and the end result wasn't as polished as it could have been.

these days, I get everything off the sprue and clean up mold lines and such. then, I dry-fit all the bits together so there are no assembly surprises later on. I assemble as much as I can until bits start getting in the way of each other. I pin heads, backpacks and some arms & weapons to corks for easy handling. I'll then prime, base coat, do most of the detail work, do the first round of highlights and then assemble. after assembly, I do the final highlight pass (so the highlights are consistent across all the parts), touch up details, and then wash and weather as needed. I paint up the bases separately.

I should mention that I am a sssslllooooowwww painter :p

 varl wrote:
count me in Team Partial Assembly.

I'm not a competition painter by any means, but I try to paint each model to the highest standards I'm capable of.

the first batch of models I ever painted, the SM tac squad from the aobr set, I fully assembled first. I regretted it later because some bits were just damn hard to get to (chest aquila with the bolter in the way, parts of the backpack, etc.) and the end result wasn't as polished as it could have been.

these days, I get everything off the sprue and clean up mold lines and such. then, I dry-fit all the bits together so there are no assembly surprises later on. I assemble as much as I can until bits start getting in the way of each other. I pin heads, backpacks and some arms & weapons to corks for easy handling. I'll then prime, base coat, do most of the detail work, do the first round of highlights and then assemble. after assembly, I do the final highlight pass (so the highlights are consistent across all the parts), touch up details, and then wash and weather as needed. I paint up the bases separately.

I should mention that I am a sssslllooooowwww painter :p

This is probably a dumb one, but how do you pin things like heads and guns? Blue tac? I've noticed that I end up pushing the various bits off the pin with the brush and/or with a spot I end up having to paint later where the putty attaches.

Thanks!

I would imagine that by pinning he means he drills a hole into an area that will be obscured and glues a pin into the hole.

I'm a partial kinda guy, and it depends on the model in hand.

With units that I can get away with building completely before painting, i'll do it that way as I love building models, it's one of my favourite aspects of the hobby.

However with the IG Sentinel I'm currently building for example, it's only about half built. This means I can paint the driver, the inside of the doors and the cockpit before its put together and i will look far better than if I attempted to paint it once I assembled it all.

I assemble everything and paint afterwards.

Partial assembly. The arms get in the way of chest details and it gets frustratingly hard when you are trying to do your best.

deadairis wrote:
... but how do you pin things like heads and guns? Blue tac?

Flinty has it exactly right. for heads, I drill a small hole into the bottom of the neck and lightly glue the pinning wire into it. it pops right off when I'm done painting and if a bit of paint comes with it, that's a bonus since I'd have to scrape it off for the plastic glue anyway. for arms, I drill into the armpit. for guns I'll usually just shove a toothpick down the barrel. magnetized bits (arms, guns, etc.) I'll just stick to the end of a finishing nail (the kind that has a narrow head).