[echo]

First off, sorry if this is already asked somewhere, but I couldn't find it and need to get painting :P

What do I do to start off? Should I assemble/glue my figures togeather and then base coat & paint? Or should I put the base coat on first before assembly? And how would I do that, Take all the parts off first or what?

Is there maybe a full beginners guide to doing this? I can find 'how to' on painting, but not everything :P

[Arschbombe]

The first thing you have to understand is that there is no one right way to paint your minis. You have only to figure out what works best for you.

The techniques you mention are all viable. Some people like to basecoat parts on the sprue, usually by spraying. Others will paint almost everything on the sprue and do touch ups after assembly. And yet others will assemble the entire mini before putting any paint on it.

For me it depends on the mini, but I lean towards assembly and then painting.

Half of the hobby is experimenting with different techniques and incorporating the ones you like into you kit bag.

[Commander Cool]

I'll second the idea of assembling before any kind of painting. Many times you'll find that super glue and primer paint don't agree very well, and thus you'll find many a problem when assembling after priming.

[DELPHEUS]

I third assembling and then painting.

This is what I do.

Plastic Fire Warrior:
1. Cut from Sprue
2. Glue together and base
3. Prime with black spray primer
4. Basecoat
5. Touch up
6. Detail
7. Touch up

When you get proficient enough, I'd suggest partially assembling and priming then painting and then gluing. That way you can (theoretically) get everything. However, when I do it this way, I (personally) think it doesn't look as good.

[waargh]

To avoid gluing issues, its best to mask the joins with blutac or something before undercoating if youre using the 'paint unassembled' method.

[Fire_Warrior 032]

Perhaps this should be stickied or something? I see so many topics like this all the time - I think we should try to do something to either have a stickied topic like this for people to add input, or a stickied topic that just explains the benefits of all methods of order of painting.

[steck_638]

i put all of my figs togeather, then if i cant reach a spot on the guy when i am painting i will take it apart, paint the spot, then glue the piece back on

[Dreamshift]

Having painted FWs both assembled and unassembled, I'll say paint infantry unassembled. All those arms get in the way of the chest, and the shoulderpad is clumbersome as well. The glue didn't mess with my paint job of some Pathfinders, so it should be fine (I used Zap-a-gap, I love the stuff, wouldn't go back to anything else). My vehicles were find so long as I don't glue the guns and other stuff that can get in the way, but the body was easy to pain assmbled. Unless you have intentions of painting interiors, I'd say paint vehicles *Mostly* assembled.

Final word: Paint infantry unassembled for ease of painting all the surfaces, and paint vehicles mostly assembled to assure ease of paint around guns and such protruding things; but if you want to paint a vehicle interior, then you HAVE to do so unassembled.

Also, a hybird of these two seperate types of units is the opentopped vehicles, I like to assemble the body of the vehicle and paint the figures unassembled. I've seen a friend try to paint a Sentinel assembled... He's still painting it.

[DELPHEUS]

Ack, zap-a-gap. No lies, it's the best glue I've ever used, but I've glued my hands to so many different things because of zap-a-gap, it's not even funny. Glued my fingers together quite a few times as well.

So warning, if you use zap-a-gap, wear gloves. :P Or be extra careful.

[Droids_Rule]

I think painting infantry unassembled is a good idea for some models, although by unassembled I do not mean 'on the sprue'. Painting on the sprue is usually a bad idea, as once you snip and clear mould lines you'll have to touch up a ton of spots, and you might as well paint the entire model a second time. Putting together certain bits but waiting to glue them onto the model until you're finish painting is common practice, even with 'Eavy Metal models. Leaving the gun off, or the shoulder pads of a model, are probally some of the more frequent methods, to make painting easier, and then the pieces can be glued when the painting is finished.