Paint or assemble first

[EricJ]

Originally posted by Ritual

Originally posted by EricJ

Originally posted by Ritual

Originally posted by EricJ
The one I\'m painting now, definately PROBABLY should have been painted first then assembled, but I was too eager to see it all assembled that I just put it together and have been dealing with the headaches of the dynamic of the darn thing since.

It\'s a case where it\'s not so much you can\'t get the brush to something once assembled, but it does make it a lot harder, and definately trickier to do nice blending

Are you painting the same thing I\'m painting? :] And you put everything together before painting?

Yeah, dumb aren\'t I

Bold, at least!

nono, I\'m pretty confident it was just dumb

serious problems due to this decision last night...

 

[Ratcals]

Thanks for all the input and yes, I pretty much figured it depended on what you were painting.

Originally posted by Valander

One thing I did with my Slayer was to fill the armholes with putty, and press the pinned arms in there to give me a good fit. I then removed the arms, and painted. After everything was sealed, I scraped the areas that were going to be joined so that they were bare metal/putty, and glued them together.

This was my concern regarding painting it first. What do I do about the gaps? Can I use GS as putty like Valander suggested? Then once the GS hardens remove the pinned piece? I never used GS before so I have no idea of what it is capable of.

Also about GS, can you smooth it out using water? I usually use milliput and once I fill a gap I smooth it out with water and it makes for a very nice looking joint (not the kind you smoke).

 

[Ebonbuddha]

I prefer to paint first, then assemble.

 

[Beelzebrush]

I try and assemble as much as possible first. If it makes painting tricky, I\'ll assemble afterwards (but pre-assemble first.... drilling, pins etc)... depends on the mini I guess.

 

[EArkham]

Originally posted by supervike
I really don\'t understand how you can paint first, then assemble.

I\'ve tried it, and all the paint gets rubbed off, or the glue gets everywhere, or a gap shows up....

Seriously, how do you people do it?

I also pin most parts, so I use the pinning wire to mount the part on a piece of cork. Never have to actually touch the figure until after it\'s clear-coated (and therefore protected from normal handling).

There\'s usually no problem with gaps because if a part fits that closely, chances are that this piece can be assembled before painting anyway. And of course, there\'s sometimes a bit of touch up after anyway, but it\'s never anything major.

Kep

 

[albufas]

i assemble first too but really depends on the miniature, if there are any parts that are coverd

 

[Duende]

I\'m like albufas, I\'ll assemble as much as possible first, and only leave parts off if they would interfere a lot with painting other areas. BUT, I always check the fit of the joints if I\'m not gluing them together right away. If there\'s a big gap that would need greenstuffing, I\'ll attach it anyway so I can fill the gap, and then just deal with manuvering around it when painting.

@ Ritual - Apparently Eric walks that fine line between bravery and stupidity.

@ Eric - Just kidding!

 

[Valander]

Originally posted by skarekrow
like i think mike mcvey said in the 90s, if you cant get your brush to it, it probably isnt visible anyways.

It is entirely possible that he said that, then. However, I know for a fact that he doesn\'t follow that now, as the several painting articles by him and his wife for Privateer Press (on the Brusthralls website or in their magazine No Quarter) will attest to. So, once again, it really depends on the model.

Besides, the more complex that many sculpts have gotten, you\'re running into things that will block a brush handle from getting at something, but that doesn\'t equally obscure line of sight. I absolutely agree with the \"if you can\'t see it, why paint it?\" idea, but I can totally see under my warjack\'s arms; getting a brush under there after full assembly is another matter, though...

 

[Valander]

To avoid too many multiple posts, I\'m gonna answer a couple here:

Originally posted by supervike
I really don\'t understand how you can paint first, then assemble.

I\'ve tried it, and all the paint gets rubbed off, or the glue gets everywhere, or a gap shows up....

Seriously, how do you people do it?

This definitely can be a problem, so I usually give it a coat of varnish before assembling, just so I don\'t rub paint off. If you use spray varnish, then it\'s important to remember to go back and scrape/sand the area that will be glued, as varnish will prevent a good bond.

Originally posted by Ratcals
This was my concern regarding painting it first. What do I do about the gaps? Can I use GS as putty like Valander suggested? Then once the GS hardens remove the pinned piece? I never used GS before so I have no idea of what it is capable of.

I don\'t think using GS would work well for that, as it tends to bond pretty well to metal, so it would be difficult to pull it out. That\'s the reason I went with Sculpey--yeah, I had to bake it afterwords, but it didn\'t bond immediately. I suppose that if you coat the pin and so on with some light oil and then stick it in the GS, it might come apart after the putty\'s cured... Something to try on my next \'jack.

Also about GS, can you smooth it out using water? I usually use milliput and once I fill a gap I smooth it out with water and it makes for a very nice looking joint (not the kind you smoke).

You can kind of smooth it out with water, but I\'ve found that using vegetable oil or the like works better. Mainly, though, that\'s just to keep it from sticking to the tools, not for thinning the putty (I know you can kind of do that with milliput, can\'t you?).

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by supervike
I really don\'t understand how you can paint first, then assemble.

I\'ve tried it, and all the paint gets rubbed off, or the glue gets everywhere, or a gap shows up....

Seriously, how do you people do it?

This can certainly be a problem. Since I switched to a really good primer (instead of brushing on a coat of Humbrol) I have a lot less problems, especially when I\'m careful to wear vinyl gloves or handle the parts with a small scrap of plastic food wrap.

As much as possible I also try to get a good plan in my head how I\'m going to put the pieces together ahead of time, so I\'m not winging it when the parts are painted, I\'m holding them and trying to figure out how to get the arm to go into that socket on the torso while the supeglue is drying every second.

Originally posted by Valander
It is entirely possible that he said that, then. However, I know for a fact that he doesn\'t follow that now...

I would think so, given it\'s really nonsense.

Originally posted by Valander
I can totally see under my warjack\'s arms; getting a brush under there after full assembly is another matter, though...

Absolutely - the reason I don\'t paint fully-assembled models is I learned the hard way that you can\'t get a brush to certain details that are clearly visible, and at times when you can just get a brush to something past a sword/spear and the arm carrying it (assuming you haven\'t scraped paint off in the process) you can\'t move and control the brush the way you would if they weren\'t in the sodding way!

Einion