Geifer wrote:One more vote for gluing the chains on beforehand.

I've recently used thin chain on a couple of models and the way it moves at the slightest touch, I honestly have no idea how you could paint it to any kind of standard unless it's fixed in place. You also need to consider that however you would paint the chain, it wouldn't be in the same shape as on the finished model, so wherever the paint holds the individual links in there place after painting, those places are going to crack open an reveal the bare chain when you wrap them around an arm.

In my experience even tiny chains aren't hard to paint or suffer loss of detail if you attach them right. I use thin super glue and apply it with the tip of a needle to not accidentally spill too much green stuff on it. It also helps to glue one end of the chain in place,let the glue dry properly, wrap it around a little, glue some way further along the chain, let it dry, and repeat until the chain is in place. Then you'll see which bits are still able to move around and you can apply a little glue to them, too. I agree with Excommunicatus here, it's for the best to glue chains into position along their whole length. It won't just prevent damage to their paint job and that of the rest of the model, it also helps with painting them in the first place if they're not swinging around.

As for painting and loss of detail, I've added a picture of my latest model below. The chain was attached as described above. Glued along its entire length, careful to avoid glue buildup, with a layer of spray primer, a basecoat that wasn't watered down and a couple of layers of paint. If you don't drown the chain in super glue, it will provide significant raised detail and will be perfect to be given depth and definition with a wash. It should not be hard, much less exceedingly so, to paint the army underneath the chain, then give the chain a basecoat, then a wash, and then pick out the highlights. You should work with a suitably small brush to match the small size of the chain, of course. But chains are very plain and easy to paint as a rule of thumb. I don't think you have to worry about the attached chain proving to add an undue amount of time to your painting.

Geifer wrote:
One more vote for gluing the chains on beforehand.

I've recently used thin chain on a couple of models and the way it moves at the slightest touch, I honestly have no idea how you could paint it to any kind of standard unless it's fixed in place. You also need to consider that however you would paint the chain, it wouldn't be in the same shape as on the finished model, so wherever the paint holds the individual links in there place after painting, those places are going to crack open an reveal the bare chain when you wrap them around an arm.

In my experience even tiny chains aren't hard to paint or suffer loss of detail if you attach them right. I use thin super glue and apply it with the tip of a needle to not accidentally spill too much green stuff on it. It also helps to glue one end of the chain in place,let the glue dry properly, wrap it around a little, glue some way further along the chain, let it dry, and repeat until the chain is in place. Then you'll see which bits are still able to move around and you can apply a little glue to them, too. I agree with Excommunicatus here, it's for the best to glue chains into position along their whole length. It won't just prevent damage to their paint job and that of the rest of the model, it also helps with painting them in the first place if they're not swinging around.

As for painting and loss of detail, I've added a picture of my latest model below. The chain was attached as described above. Glued along its entire length, careful to avoid glue buildup, with a layer of spray primer, a basecoat that wasn't watered down and a couple of layers of paint. If you don't drown the chain in super glue, it will provide significant raised detail and will be perfect to be given depth and definition with a wash. It should not be hard, much less exceedingly so, to paint the army underneath the chain, then give the chain a basecoat, then a wash, and then pick out the highlights. You should work with a suitably small brush to match the small size of the chain, of course. But chains are very plain and easy to paint as a rule of thumb. I don't think you have to worry about the attached chain proving to add an undue amount of time to your painting.



A needle huh? That makes sense. Not sure I have any good ones handy but I can look for something small. I intend to use GW super glue for it. And thanks for that gluing method - I'll definitely do a little bit as I go/wrap it around like that now! The thing is that I thought I remembered from long ago that super gluing a painted object to another painted object was a lot, lot better than doing such a thing with plastic glue...but I suppose I'll do the gluing first now, heh.

Not Online!!! wrote:
if you want swinging chains, etc. you should consider thin wiring them into the propper form. ( as in you use a thin wire or two to keep the chain in place.)



I'm not sure I'm seeing your meaning - do you mean interweave a wire through or around the chain? Wouldn't that ruin the effect?