[krupintupple]

i may be in the market for some more additions to my tau empire force, and was wondering some things about future model assembly.

1) does anyone recommend basing, painting the models on the sprue, and then detaching and assembling them? the only downside that i could foresee that each model would have two small unpainted rough areas.

2) what if i were to free all of the parts from the sprues, clean them up and then paint them and then assemble them. the basing will take a lot longer, since all of the parts are in pieces and it's true some of the work of the painting may be hidden, but i think this method overall may give better overall coverage.

since my current method is removing, cleaning, gluing and then basing and painting, i was wondering if anyone had any insights.

thanks guys!

[cabomhn]

Well. It sounds like you have a good approach to it. The only thing I would reccomend is if you have a fire warrior or even a space marine, leave the gun off and paint the mini and then attach the gun to the model and then paint the gun. This way there aren't any missed spots behind the gun.

[Nightmare]

I always build themodel entirely - if something usch as the gun covers something up the nit isn't going to be seen on the table top!

Heck! nobody notices even up close! Just a quick going over with the base colour, and any inking stages is about all that I do in those hard to reach areas.

hard to reach means hard to see!

[Melkor of Morgoth]

I do an almost full assembly.

If the arms or some other appendage is going to cover the torso, then I pin the joint and attach it after painting.

Painting is my favorite part of the hobby, so I like to be as thurogh(sp) as possible with each model.