Hi everyone,

I plant built a figure kit of Dragon (machine gun kit, german). Is it better to paint after the figure is totally built, including all accessories (gaz mask, ammo cases...), or should I paint them on the sprue?
Thanks (and the answer will also applie to the Tamiya kit with a machine gun MG42 + servants, that is on the waiting list).

Depends on your preferences, the kit, etc. Me personally, I like to build the entire figure and sort out things like the joints where arms meet body etc before adding paint. Then, I spray on some primer, before going at it with paint. But if there are hard-to-reach areas that will still be visible I might build up sub-assemblies and paint them before final assembly.

Tom

I agree with Tom.It really is a personal preference.I usually assemble the body and add prepainted gear after painting the body.It depends on what is envolved.Right now I am working on MB's "Head for the Heuy" set and with the large amount of parts it is better for me to add all the gear,except weapons,before paint.Try doing 1 figure one way and another the other way.Then you may find what works best for you.

Tom

Same as the other guys,I build them all the way for the most part and then paint.most of the gear I add before painting and some I paint off the figure.its really what you get comfortable with

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I will try both ways. The Tamiya figures are often molded in one piece (body and ammo cases). It might be easier to paint.

Best luck with your work.

The "classic" rule-of-thumb promoted by Shep Paine ever since the early 1970's has been "If you can see it, you can paint it."

Basically, this means that all things being equal, the best course is to assemble as much of the figure as you can while still being able to reach all the areas to paint. Clearly sometimes you have to leave a part or parts un-attached until later, but doing so should be the exception rather than the rule with figure painting.

Normally the areas that you can't reach easily are in deep shadows anyways, so if you paint from "inside to outside" and from the "skin out" (also considered to be classic fgure paintng rules) the areas that are hardest to reach are painted first in the darkest colors. The next, lghter colors are painted in layers outwards from there. Details that sit on top of everyting else are usually painted last. This means that the "if you can see it..." approach is actually more practical than it might first seem.

This approach usually means that you have much less "touch up" painting to do, too, especially around uniform areas such as arms or legs. Because these also often require filling and sanding, attaching them later means either that you have a lot of extra work painting back over areas messed up by the attachement or you're leaving unsightly seams.

The most common exception to this rule is with heads and faces. A lot of figure painters (myself ncluded) paint these separately. I know that I do because it's easier to work my way around the head if it's the only part that I'm holding. However, this approach does require some extra work up-front to dry-ft the head and neck to the body so that the seam / joint will be invisible after final assembly.

https://hfmodeling.kitmaker.net/features/4490

This figure was painted in one piece except for his head and the arm holding his rifle. This included all of his equipment and his backpack.

HTH,

Dear Mike,

Thanks a lot for this extensive answer. The link is also very interesting. I will remember "what you see...".

I just bought today a new Tamiya kit and I will put this in practice.

Thanks again

I usually build as much as possible first, so that everything is placed properly, securely and cleanly. I use aftermarket heads a lot and these I keep seperate when possible, but not always the rule. Smaller itms of personal gear I usually fix, but if there are items that can easily be set in place afterwards, I will keep these seperate.
IMO, its impossible to clean up and maybe use fillers on a half painted figure.