Painting on the sprue?

[kathrynloch]

Ok - question for y\'all. I\'ve tried painting on the sprue only once and absolutely hated it.

But now I\'m working on a project with lots of tiny pieces and I\'m wondering if I should give painting on the sprue another go. I\'ve assembled as much as I can, especially places that need epoxy putty but if I completely assemble it, it\'s going to be a nightmare to paint. I also don\'t want to lose these tiny pieces (already happened once - for the life of me I can\'t find one of the arms).

I\'ve also cleaned off the majority of the mold lines on the pieces I left on the sprue but once I snip them off, I\'ll have more to do.

So what do you guys think? Do you paint on the sprue or avoid it at all costs?

Cheers,
Kat

 

[winterdyne]

I don\'t think I\'ve ever painted on the sprue- injection points (where the part attaches) are often in visible places. If I have small parts, I\'ll superglue them to cocktail sticks and push the sticks into a block of styrofoam to keep the parts handy, and provide a useful handle for holding the part while painting.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Easier option, Take off the sprue and put pins in the pieces.
You get best of both worlds.
However trying to match high level shadow/tonality could be a bit of a PITA.

 

[RuneBrush]

I have painted on the sprue in the past, however unless you\'re 100% guaranteed the parts will fit, you may end up having to trim plastic off to make it fit correctly. Additionally plastic glue can peel off paint and superglue can make white fume marks everywhere. Personally I tend to place any snipped off components into a plastic tub (chinese container), I also glue bits together into large assemblies - so a dread would end up as 2 arms a torso and a set of legs.

 

[Ritual]

I ALWAYS remove all parts, clean them up, dry-fit them etc. before starting to work on them. I assemble as much as possible before painting, and do any putty work that might be necessary to fill joints etc. IF I really need to have some parts separate while painting I\'ll put pins in them and make holes where they attach to the main piece. I put long pins in the loose parts so that I can stick them in a pin vice or something while I paint them. When everything is painted, I cut the pins to appropriate length and attach the loose parts.

Generally, I\'d think that any parts that physically can not be pinned can be attached prior to painting. I have never experienced anything that can\'t be pinned and that must be painted separately.

Painting stuff on the sprue is something I wouldn\'t even consider.

 

[kathrynloch]

Pins! Brilliant! Thanks guys - time to bust out my sewing kit.

Thank you for all the replies - wow - y\'all are fast around here. lol

One question for winterdyne, doesn\'t supergluing the parts to the sticks make it hard to remove them later?

Anyways, thanks again - I\'ll give it a shot when I get off of work this afternoon.

Cheers,
Kat

 

[winterdyne]

Nah, I use really cheap, rather ineffective superglue for temporary work. Also, since I\'m using round cocktail sticks, you can just roll them off the part. Very small parts may get tacked to the tip of the stick (which can occasionally snap before the glue but that\'s very rare).

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by kathrynloch
Pins! Brilliant! Thanks guys - time to bust out my sewing kit.
Steel pins are great for pinning just a Swine to cut. You drop one bit you find it only when you have bare feet.

Thank you for all the replies - wow - y\'all are fast around here. lol
Nah I was killing time before a Corporate \"Group Hugging/Self Promotional Meeting\".
That\'s 3 hours of a Friday afternoon I\'ll never get back.

 

[ArsLoqui]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
However trying to match high level shadow/tonality could be a bit of a PITA.

Giving nary a shit about this is one of the few joys of being a mediocre painter. :beer: