I am new to modeling, and I have noticed that there does not seem to be a set procedure for when people paint their models. Do you paint all the pieces while they are still attached to the sprues? Do you cut all the individual pieces off the sprues (in some organzied fashion, or in certain groups of pieces) and then paint each individual piece? Do you assemble certain sections of the models, and then paint each of these individual sections (such as the superstructure of the ship, and then the hull of the ship, and then the deck of the ship, and so on)? Do you just assemble the entire model and then paint it when you are done building?
I would appreciate it if you could also tell me the pros and cons of each way of painting a model listed above. I am sure that minimizing how much you have to mask is a big deciding factor on which method you use.
My first models that I intend to build will be ships in the larger scale ranges. My first project is Revell’s 1:72 VII-C Uboat, and then I will move onto several battleships in Tamiya’s 1:350 scale series. At this point, I have just started Revell’s VII-C UBoat. I have started painting the U-Boat by cutting off all the pieces that were to be painted a Hellgrau 50, and then painted each of these pieces seperately before assembling them. I use an Iwata HP-CS Airbrush for painting.
I’m sure you will receive many different answers and suggestions to your questions.
One thing to think about when planning an assembly is to think about attaching parts together. It is usually better to use your plastic cement to join pieces as you get the strongest bond. Plastic cement doesn’t work on painted surfaces so you have to come up with alternate attachment methods, super glue, white glue etc.
Knowing that, the best thing to do is to look through the instructions and plan to assemble as much as possible in a single color before painting. It is a good general rule.
Well God knows I’m no expert, and I don’t own an airbrush. It’s all rattle cans and brushwork out of the little bottles for me. That said …
I work in 1/700 ships due to space considerations, and have found that for either resin or plastic kits, it is better to leave the smaller parts on the sprue and paint as much of them as you can that way. Less chance of losing them, better chance of all of them looking the same shade, easier to hold them.
With the larger assemblies, such as hull halves or superstructures, I do try to put the big pieces together and spray the lightest coat first (so far for me it has all been haze gray) and then brush paint the darker coat for the decks, etc.
Thanks for the input. I was a little shocked to hear that plastic cement will not work on painted items. I use liquid cement. I attempted to glue together some parts that I painted with enamel paint last night (stuff that goes inside the hull and won’t be seen anyway) to see if the cement would work on painted parts. I glued them together about 4 hours ago, and they seem to be holding together fine.
Is liquid cement different than plastic cement? Why did I not have any trouble gluing together parts that I have already painted? Will the parts not stay glued together through the passing of time?
Just a brief reply concerning gluing painted parts. Yes, the adhesive will probably work (if it doesn’t destroy the paint job) but think about this: when you glue a painted part to anything, (painted surface to painted surface or painted surface to unpainted surface) what you are doing is gluing the thin coat of paint, not the part. Doing this will lead to parts being easily displaced due to the paint coming off the part.
Thanks alot for everyone’s posts. They were very helpful, and I definitely understand what you are telling me about gluing painted parts together. I have decided to put together major sections, and then paint these sections already assembled. Then I will assemble all the final painted sections together at the end. I am also masking contact points of things that I am going to paint that will actually be glued to something else later so I am gluing plastic to plastic.