I’m doing a minicraft 757 and cant decide if its better to paint the wings and fusalage then glue… or glue then paint… What do most of you all do first.
Where possible, it’s preferable to glue and then paint.
If you paint before gluing:
- You must remove paint from the gluing surfaces to get a good bond between the parts (glue does not stick very well to paint
- cleaning up of seams (eg. filling/sanding) will require touching up if painted beforehand
Depends on the kit. This is a planning thing you must make for every kit. Look at where the glue joints will be. Is a panel line found on the prototype there? If not, you may have to fill seam, which will need paint. But it also depends on the difficulty of masking. In general, most folks follow a build-a-little, paint-a-little process. Paint some parts, paint some subassemblies, paint some major assemblies.
Experience will gradually help you decide what to glue together first, what to paint first.
Also, quality of kit affects decision. If, for example, wing fit is bad and will take a lot of putty, you will have to paint after assembly. If fit is super-good, you can get by with painting before.