Hi,

I'm a relative newcomer to the airbrushing/spraying field, having done all my previous work with hand-brushes. My question is this:

When building a model that you plan to base-coat/work on heavily with sprays, do people like building their vehicles completely before starting ANY paint work, even primers? This strikes me as odd, especially when dealing with little detailed parts and witchy corners that are visible but not easily reached when everything's assembled. How do people get around this?

Also, I've never done this personally but it seems very good practice to spray individual pieces while having them attached to some sort of stick or pole, for maneuverability and control and whatnot. How do you attach pieces to these things without ruining them/marring details???

I've done a lot of modelling in my childhood but now that I'm getting back into it at an older age I want to do this right and produce some good looking vehicles.

Thanks!

Neu

Hi Neu,

It all depends on what you prefer.a lot of people do the complete build before paint and are very good at it.Personally I do a base spray on 80% of the kit,ie a tanks upper and lower hull.If I have an interior I paint it first.tires or road wheels I do seperately and add after the hull is complete.Details like weapons and stowage I paint on the sprue only leaving one connection to the sprue.That way it's only a small brush tab to finish.To attach use only a small amount of glue and keep it as far from the outside edge as you can.Too much glue will screw up what you have already painted.It's really a live and learn experience.Try a couple of cheap kits that won't make you crazy if you mess up(ie.I wouldn't start with maybe a DANA)

Hope this helps a bit and good luck.

Tom

As regards painting small parts I use a lot of bamboo skewers...the kind you use to make kebabs for barbecues.
They are cheap and plentiful from your local supermarket and make excellent handles for holding parts while spraying or hand painting..
One end is blunt and the other a sharp point...I tend to either drill a tiny hole in the back of the part where it will be hidden and insert the point of the skewer or, where this isn't possible, attach the part to the blunt end using a tiny drop of CA glue.
As each part is painted I stick the skewer into a piece of florist's foam to keep all the parts separate until dry.

I started out way back painting (messily) almost everything separate and then trying to stick things onto the painted hull. Dropped out for decades. Came back to find that many folks do indeed apparently build close to 100% before painting the whole thing as a piece. At first, it was scary. But, specially with camo schemes, it makes a lot of sense. Now-a-days, I go "mostly-whole" (the 80-85% group).

I always paint tracks and wheels separate, and other stuff separate IF it looks like what was suggested above - those little places you see but maybe cannot reach with paint - is going to be a problem. I find it mostly much easier to paint attached and mounted tools - and sometimes integrating such bits into the base paint scheme (as in tools which have been camo'd by crew spraying a vehicle, or when dirt and dust have blown up around same and the tool affects the local weathering) can almost ONLY work well when painted on-board.

I pretty much do as Iain does for those bits which want to go separate - wood skewers and a foam block to hold them.

Short of messing up clear bits, it's actually pretty hard to really blow the kit by messing up - you can almost always re-paint the boo-boos .

Try ONE "cheaper" kit - you'll get you hand on this pretty fast and you have little chance of doing anything "fatal" - so why waste time?!

Cheers!

Bob

Like you Neu I've returned to the model scene after a bit of a time away. Pretty much done as what has already been said, that is practice on 'cheapies' , then tackle something a bit more to develop what works for you.

What works for me is to build in sub-assemblies then paint. As for the question of primer versus non-primer I'm still yet to decide. I'm currently on a build that has some photo-etch and resin aftermarket pieces so I'm going to trial primer on before the base coat.

I assemble the entire model minus wheels, tracks, and tools. Then I paint. Several reasons for this - styrene glue does not adhere to paint. Model parts are engineered to fit together without 2 layers of paint between them. Painted parts will not fit properly, and scraping the paint deforms the edge of the piece. Many seams have to be filled and sanded before painting. Doing this on painted parts just creates a huge mess.
I hold small parts on double sided tape, toothpicks with poster putty, or alligator clips on the end of heavy gauge wire to airbrush them. Any painted small parts (tools, stowage) get put on the painted tank with CA glue.

Neuling Kerl,

I think it's really a matter of developing your personal building and finishing style. Some guys get good results building everything and then painting, and others paint in subassemblies and get equally good results.

I'm in this second group. I actually put quite a lot of thought and effort into figuring out how to keep some things separate for painting and what my assembly sequence should be so as to not mess up those separately finished parts. Often I create a written sequenced list of the finishing and final assembly steps that I want to follow once I have a good plan for a particular project. Also, my finishing and building sequence is closely tied to the final look (especially the weathering and basing) for a particular project, so I don't follow any set sequence for all my models.

I feel this gives my work a degree of finishing and painting precision that I can't get otherwise. However, this is just what works for me.

I'd suggest that you try building and painting in the sequence that makes the most sense to you without too much concern for what methods other guys use. Visualize your desired final result, that is what you want your model to look like when it's done. Then, deconstruct that final result working mentally backwards step by step in a sequence that makes the most sense to you. Then build your model in that sequence working towards that final goal.

(I think of finishing and weathering in "layers." My assembly and painting steps allow me to "layer" each successive finishing or weathering technique, one on top of the next, while adding those parts that require separate finishes or which would have prevented me from reaching all the places that that finish or weathering "layer" needs to go.)

If you make a mistake or are not happy with the results, chalk it up as a learning experience and incorporate that lesson into your next project. I don't know any model builders who are 100% satisfied with every aspect of every project. Most guys just strive to make each successive model better than the last, and as they develope their skills, they're also constantly raising the bar.

IMO, there is no single "right" building and finishing sequence except the one that works best for you on the project you have on your bench.

Anyway, that's how I approach the issue...

I'm pretty much in the same boat as you Neu and have been wondering the same things myself. I've been trying out several different techniques to see what works out best for me. Basically for armor I've found that it works best if I build up subsections as much as possible before I start base painting. It works best for me if I leave the tracks off and paint them seperately, this works well for any details that you feel are too delicate to have on the vehicle while handling. After base painting, I assemble the vehicle and add my decals and start weathering.

This is just what's been working for me, and as pointed out already there is no right answer. Just experiment and find out what works for you

DITO Matt,
Matt put it perfectly. If you paint before assembly, you will also find it almost imposible to correct seems where two major components are joined.
It may seem awkward and foreign at first but you will find that with the exception of road wheels, pioneer tools, & "little fidly bits", you will be much better off to learn to prime and paint after assembly. I would also suggest that you DO NOT glue your turrets down as these are also easier to deal with if they can be held seperately while painting. You can simply place your fingersinto the turret ring from below to handle while painting.
The one major exception would be the interior, if you plan on leaving hatches open.