"Painting Before Gluing" Topic

When you assemble a figure, sometimes the assembly creates a "tight space" in the final model, like the space behind a sheild held closely to the body, or the space between the legs and mount of a mounted figure. I find it hard to get my clumsy paintbrush in recesses like that. Sometimes (based on the testfit) I will paint then glue, other times, glue then paint. Even without a tight space, painting separate can help keep the border between two parts cleaner (like where a fuselage and wing meet, or in an armpit), since you don't have to "cut in" the corner. Then again, it's easier to hold and paint a head if it is already attached to a body.

Under what conditions do you "paint then glue"?
Never
Shields
Mounted Figures
Most Parts
All the Time
Other..?

Reluctantly only when I consider it close to impossible to paint a place after construction. This is happening more frequently and it annoys me.

x42

Some shields and most mounted figures. However, once the mounted figures are in place, there is usually some cleanup painting.

Vince

never.

glue, then undercoat, then paint

if a black undercoat, problem solved.

if a white, wash the figure with something at the end to fill those cracks.

otherwise you are just gluing paint to paint and expecting it to hold – which it won't.

When I'm supplementing the battle with plastic kits, I'm finding that painting before assembly really helps.

Never

almost never

I onlly paint first on things that would be almost impossible to get to. Such as a GW empire multiple rocket launcher. I primed everything on the sprues and will paint the hard to get to areas and then glue it together.

I painted my SST bugs while still on the sprue. Sprayed 'em black, dry-busehd them lighter shades of grey, then cut them off and assembled them. Then touched up the bare bits. Easy as pie. Wouldn't do it with much else though.

Rarely.

Judgement call. I like to glue first whenever possible, but I'll sometimes paint first if I feel that it will be difficult to cover everything well. Case in point: When doing chariots, I'll assemble the chariot before painting but then paint the crew, the machine, and the horses as separate pieces before finally assembling them.

I am painting horses independently of the rider for the first time. It makes the painting easier but there is a bit of issue gluing the rider on. I will have to be prepared to have superglue on hand when using them.

Glue, paint. In that order…always.

Never. I always glue everything together first. Then paint.

Depends on the figure or model! Like its being said there are times when it would be impossible to get some of the detail painted, I've learnt the hard way over the years!

I almost always paint the back side of a shield, then glue it, then paint the front, since I then have a much larger object to hold on to.

Other glueing depends – sometimes a weapon is glued before painting, other times painted then glued – it all depends on the model.

Sionce I don't glue riders to horses, they are painted seperately. (Yes, Sometimes they come off at inopportune times…)

Other, in my case. For 1:1200 sailing ships, I always paint, then go through "the dreaded assembly".

I also paint horses and riders separately, then glue them afterward (before dullcoating).

Glue first, then paint.
If your brush can't reach it, then you can't see it either.

Nice diversity of opinion here.

When I paint first, I scrape a little at the junction so there is plastic to plastic or metal to metal (or metal to plastic) at the connection point.

Unfortunately, there are lots of bits I can see that my brush can't reach. Or at least, can't reach to paint. I hate to decide if the body near the shield is wood colored or the inside of the shield is flesh colored.

Mixed.

If there is detail in a crevice that you can see, you can get your brush to it, maybe, but often it will look pox. So in those cases, it will be paint then assemble. However, I will try and leave joints unpainted (or scraped free, as the bloke above said), especially feet-to-bases; while plastic glue will melt through some of the paint on the way to the plastic, it won't be as strong a bond as straight plastic-to-plastic.