I am building the Hornet from Trumpeter and have obtained the photo-etch set from Tom’s modelworks. My question is, I assume they add detail because they are so fine. Do you add them and then paint on top of them, in most cases? I am a little confused.
Yup, I put all the PE on, and then paint the model. It would be way too difficult (for me, anyway!) to paint it all separately and then glue it on a painted model.
When dealing with PE pay close attention to the instructions. You may have to shave off detail to add PE detail pieces, or you may simply add a PE piece to existing styrene, or even throw out the original styrene piece and replace it completely with PE.
As far as painting is concerned, J-Hulk is dead-on. Assemble and then paint. Oh, yeah: The best glue to use for PE is cyanoacrylate (super glue).
Hope this helps.
Gip Winecoff