subassembly painting howto/questions

[CommissarRotke]

I hear of this sometimes, and I wanted to ask if anyone has tips on how to best balance building with painting like this? Pictures in progress etc.

I understand leaving off shields, heavy weapons, backpacks, pauldrons, etc the EXTRA stuff like that which covers up the main body/armor--but I haven't seen what this actually looks like or what sub-assembling even further looks like. I've left parts of my Soul Wars stormcast unglued to try this out, however I don't always want half built models just because I'll *eventually* paint them.

Is this something for advanced painting, or a trick I can utilize as a beginner/middling painter? Is it worth accounting for during building, outside of the extras/finishing touches?

[Overread]

As a slow/reluctant/fearful/omg make it go away type of painter I sympathise with your plight. 

I'm much the same in that I'd love to "finish" models and have them fully assembled. That said for a good few models leaving them in a few bits can greatly make the painting process easier. Some areas are very hard to reach on a fully assembled model so leaving them off makes it infinitely easier to paint. If anything as a lesser skilled painter it makes things a lot easier because you're not trying to paint into tiny cracks or areas where you might end up doing a lot of retouching because of paint landing in the wrong places. 

On some models some areas are totally inaccessible if assembled before painting. 

 

I did pick up one good tip though. Before you start painting, paint any areas that are very hard to reach and shadowed/covered/part covered - pick them out and paint them in black. If you've primed in black your job is already done, whilst if you've primed white you can just use a black paint. The idea is that one thing layer of black won't damage details, but it also means that very ahrd to reach areas are naturally shadowed and blacked in already. So if you can't quite get to them they've already got a dark shade to them. 

 

Of course like all tips you have to learn when to and when not to use it and also what works for you. 

[CommissarRotke]

I know for things like cavalry this ends up being a must for rider vs mount, and even just looking at the Stegadon kit you can tell the howdah is painted separately. Biggest problem I run into is knowing how to do this with infantry it seems.. not least because they are the hardest to stop building before you finish it. This was bad with Soul Wars since everyone is in like 3 or 4 pieces too.

I left shields off sequitors and greatbows off a couple castigators, didn't glue most into bases because they have pegs, etc so hopefully that experimenting pays off. Ironically the ETB sequitor my local shop gave me to try painting feels harder to do than the starter kit sequitors!! The mounted lord and hero are pretty 'open' models so with any luck my painting confidence will be high enough after infantry to try a mounted character 😅

[Overread]

I don't think there's any one best way. If you youtube some tutorials you can find people painting good to amazing quality on part built all the way to fully built models and all in between. It really depends on yourself I think as to where you draw the line.

 

I think the trick is to dry fit (no glue) and make your choice on if the assembly works for you or not. Being prepared to change your viewpoint as your painting developse

 

 

One of the hardest things with learning anything about painting is that there's a huge range of skills, tips, approaches and styles. When you're learning it can be hard to work out which one is the "right one" or even sometimes when the choices are purely a visual style or a result of what the painter has to work with etc..

[hammer49]

Some people leave heads off models to make it easier to paint the armour etc to avoid continuous touch ups.

Its hard to say how to paint sub assemblies as every model is different. Infantry models are probably easiest ..shields, heads and arms but also sometimes put them on the base after as well.

Cavalry Mount and rider and treat rider like an infantry model but again with the mount don't base it until after.

Some people even start painting parts on the sprue, but ive always found that hard myself when cutting the model out of the sprue.

[kaaras]

I just completed this model in multiple assemblies:

He is a standard Hero sized model but to make life easier, I left the head off to get underneath the tiki mask, as well as do justice to the face. I would not have been able to blend those blue feathers with him fully assembled. I also did the base separate (his foot is pinned with a bit of brass rod to hold it together) and I could also get the cork dry brushed and the bell painted up. The squiggly beast was also done separately then attached. As stated above, doing cavalry with rider and mount is definitely the way to go, having just completed a bunch of boarboyz fully assembled, well, that wasn't fun...

[Overread]

2 hours ago, hammer49 said:

Some people even start painting parts on the sprue, but ive always found that hard myself when cutting the model out of the sprue.

I get why some people think this is a good idea, but honestly its a bad to odd idea.

 

Leaving bits on the sprue so you can paint them better is a bit odd to me because:

1) You can't clean mould lines off easily/at all when the parts are on the sprue. Even if you do clean them off its going to take you a lot longer and its far more difficult - esp if the sprue is somewhat large. So you're taking so much time to improve the painting, but you're leaving a mould line on every single bit! Brand new castings from a fresh mould (ergo new models) you might get away with as the mould lines can be fairly reduced on them, but its still and issue.

2) You're going to get big blank chunks of plastic exposed on every single bit when you clip them off. If you then scrape clean those areas now you've got little patches you've got to repaint. If you've done multiple layers you've created a nightmare for yourself. Basically you've saved no time and created more problems for yourself. 

[hammer49]

2 hours ago, Overread said:

I get why some people think this is a good idea, but honestly its a bad to odd idea.

 

Leaving bits on the sprue so you can paint them better is a bit odd to me because:

1) You can't clean mould lines off easily/at all when the parts are on the sprue. Even if you do clean them off its going to take you a lot longer and its far more difficult - esp if the sprue is somewhat large. So you're taking so much time to improve the painting, but you're leaving a mould line on every single bit! Brand new castings from a fresh mould (ergo new models) you might get away with as the mould lines can be fairly reduced on them, but its still and issue.

2) You're going to get big blank chunks of plastic exposed on every single bit when you clip them off. If you then scrape clean those areas now you've got little patches you've got to repaint. If you've done multiple layers you've created a nightmare for yourself. Basically you've saved no time and created more problems for yourself. 

Totally agree. The only time it may be of any use is on very large models like tanks where the sides will usually be hidden but doesn't really apply to AOS.

[deynon]

if you want Ive realized a series of video that can be useful to you. Even if it's about diorama the steps are the same. Ihave posted a topic in this forum if you are interested:

Road to Diorama