Spraying and painting on the sprue or sub assembly?

[Snakeb1te]

Looking for advice from ye fine comrades of the dark gods!

I recently finished my first box of 16 Chaos Warriors. When I started I cut all the pieces off the sprues, drilled holes and magnetised every single weapon, and attempted to spray them black. I did not enjoy this, and for some individual weapons I ended up just basecoating them black with a brush.

Going into my second box of Chaos Warriors, as well as the beautiful Chaos Knights, I want to know what you guys do to make it easier on yourselves to paint, without hampering the quality. I'm guessing you don't want to assemble the model completely and paint it, as it'll be pretty easy to ****** up some of the fine detail.

For example, I was thinking of spraying everything on the sprue black. Then either painting some things on the sprue or cutting them off and painting them loose... then eventually assemble them.

 

Anyway I was just looking for general advice on your steps taken re painting and assembly when it comes to these models.

[Overread]

You can't spray on the sprue because there will be lots of gaps where the parts attach to the sprue itself which will not be covered; plus you will still have the mould lines on the model itself to clean off.

Instead I would clip all the parts off, clean up the mould lines and then dry fit (ergo hold bits together) to see how the model looks. From there you can start to identify where one part overshadows another (eg a weapon held across the chest might cover large areas of the chest and make them hard to paint). Similarly it starts to show you where there are good separation lions on the model. Ergo an arm that connects at the shoulder joint can be more easily painted separate than one that connects at a wrist with bare skin (ergo no armour); since the shoulder connection creates a clear divide between teh surfaces to paint; whilst the wrist is supposed to be one continuous part and thus should have an even tone of colour (not easily done if the parts are glued together after painting).

 

Another common good join area is for the head onto the neck; again that creates a clear division area which means you can paint both halves with ease.

 

 

 

 

As for your spraying that is one stage that should complete without the need for touching up. Remember to shake the can a lot, in fact keep shaking it at any moment that you are not spraying (don't shake and spray otherwise you get a mess). Spray in short bursts and as you spray sweep the spray can to the side or up and down - a smooth slow motion. This is to help spread the spray rather than having it puddle at one spot. Rotating the model and don't forget to tilt it up and down to get every part. Again light short bursts are all you should need to build it up to a smooth covering. 

 

You might find this of help 

https://warminiatures.wordpress.com/2016/01/27/relthoza-vaxiss-ground-attack-leviathan-assembly-guide/

It deals with resin, though the basics of clipping off contact points from the mould and cleaning off mould lines are the same (the only bit you shouldn't have to worry about is the filling in of air bubbles as that doesn't happen with properly cast plastic - also most plastic warriors shouldn't need pinning either, but its a good method to learn for the future). 

Note that the greenstuff methods described are good to know as well, GW plastic miniatures are normally very good at not having gaps or bits that need filling, but sometimes there are minor imperfections that do require a little fixing.

 

In general this also comes down to experience and personal preference; there are those who have practice and an artistic style that lets them assemble nearly everything and then paint; whilst others assemble far less. Practice and experimenting all help - and often as not in your basic troop box you might sacrifice a few models to experiment with different painting methods ('ve a handful of tyranid gaunts that I respray white and play with different colours and such - sure the details get a bit fuzzy with more and more paint layers but its good to experiment and test things out there than on a final model) 

[Easygrin]

I sometimes basecoat on the sprue and paint some places that will be hard to access when fully assembled when you put it together later. You have to file and fix the attachment points from the sprue later with a brush but it's always on the outside so that's never really a problem. But I've also partly assembled and paint first before putting the final 2 components together and finish it up a little. Some people are so pro they reach everything fully assembled. Like they said its personal preference and experience 

[Melcavuk]

I paint fully assembled because it gives a better context of lighting and blends. The idea of painting on Sprue pains me as you’d end up having to patch up the finished paint job from all the clipping points and filing plus would inevitably miss mold lines and have to further destroy the paint job to clean them 

[syph0n]

I don't magnetise joints, but what I do depending on the model is pin, but not glue. It means I can dry fit it all together or even use blue tack. For example, I'd glue the lance arm on a Drakespawn Knight, but not the shield arm, which I'd pin. I wouldn't glue the Knight to the mount either, but I wouldn't bother pinning the Knight.

I could never imagine painting on the sprue, least of all for the mold lines, let alone any joins. I find I need to use greenstuff on quite a few models, even the new easy to build stuff occasionally isn't that smooth a join. 

[Lobeau]

I tend to prime on the spruce to get better angles on the spray, then cut them out and stick things together leaving off shields, weapons, helmets, etc. Then batch paint the armor and weapons and then do a final attachment for the bit that I left off.

 

I'd advise against painting much on the spruce, to many things can go wrong and ruin something that you love! Best of luck.

[RuneBrush]

I don't think I've ever sprayed on the sprue.  I'm a real pedant about mold lines and gaps and they're significantly easier to deal with before any paint has been applied.  I tend to use sub-assemblies for two reasons.  Firstly because it'll make painting easier - so it might be you can't access something behind a weapon or a model is physically huge.  Secondly because I want to use different undercoats - so I might want a mount sprayed blue and the rider gold.

I also don't magnetise individual units that often.  Don't get me wrong, I love magnets and use them at every opportunity, but some models just aren't worth it.  Generally one weapon option will shine at a certain unit size and that's what you'll use for the lifetime of that unit.  Sure you'll kit some stuff out oddly when you start out (I've got a lot of Blood Warriors with Gorefists rather than dual axes), but wouldn't have said that magnetising weapons is worth it for rank and file.

The way I'd probably tackle Chaos Warriors would be to fully assemble everything apart from the shield.  Knights are similar, but would have the mount and rider separate, with the shield and possibly the weapon arm separate.

[Snakeb1te]

Interesting insights guys. I'll give you an update since I started this topic.

 

I asked in relation to the Chaos Knights box. I cut out every item from the sprues. I assembled the horses, and glued them to the base. I glued the rider legs to the rider torsos.

I will paint all the horses first, then the bodies and all the arms, heads and shoulder pads. Finally I'll do the shields, weapons. 

I will magnetise all weapon options. I understand you've said there is no need - but as someone who is brand new to the game and would not want to have to buy a whole new box for different weapon options, I like the idea of having all weapons options being interchangeable between the 30 chaos warriors that I will eventually end up with. With four options to choose from when it comes to Chaos Warriors, I believe it is easier to drill and magnetise everything and then be able to swap out as you wish depending on the size of game and opponent. 

With the Chaos Knights I definitely want to do this as I love the look of the lances, but gameplay wise the ensorcelled weapons are more useful. Also, there are rumours of a StD battletome being released sometime in the next year, so things may change and I don't want to regret gluing everything together. 2x1mm magnets aren't all that expensive in reality.

 

As for painting on the sprue.. I don't have the heart for it. I don't much care for mould lines, but what I DO care about are the remnants of the sprue plastic when you clip items off. I usually end up needing to file this down, and if too much is painted on the sprue... well its simply not realistic. However I will try using a spray primer on the sprue next time, and see how that goes. If it doesn't turn out too well, I will simply use the spray on mostly assembled parts (such as horses), and use a brush for manual priming for things such as heads and arms which would not yet be assembled onto the main part of the miniature.

Thanks for the advice.

[Overread]

I'd much easier to spray when parts are off the sprue; you've already said you hate mould lines and also the clipped parts of sprue, so if the spray on the sprue you are still going to have to clean around all the edges, which will scrape off some paint. Then you'll have to respray it all.

Plus if you use a file it will choke up faster if its going not just over plastic, but also paint as well. 

Remember if you've part assembled you can spray then; you can even stick the model to a pin or one of those wooden cocktail sticks (the other end in a bit of foam) to give a stand for parts that are not connected to a base. Long as you connect to a bit that won't be seen you'll be fine. 

[AGPO]

Out of curiosity do you use a spray stick when you prime? I've found it a lot easier to cover the whole model when I adopted this method.