THE....DUMBest question......

Stretchie

we all develop our ways of doing paint jobs. Last night I demonstrated basic assembly to a small group of cub scouts and this question came up.  Sub-assemblies is THE way to go, finish a particular module/ gun/ engine/ component and set it aside in a safe place them move on. Some kits are a pain this way, such as older monster/figure kits where you trap the head and neck between two body halves that must be glued up, an most likly you are using some crazy custom colors.  Gundams can be just as frustrating, trapping one half of a completed assembly inside another (arm / shoulder inside of the upper chest). There, paint the inner/ trapped portion first, mask as best you can, and move to the next larger assembly.   Large resin figures are the same, which do I paint first, the armor or the skin?  Considering most of my figures are balanced between skin and armor, and it is all cast together, I tend to paint the skin first, mask that off and then paint the armor which is likely to get a lot of metallics.  Here is a great case in point: to get the lower leg paint of this Kempfer to match up and look right, I had to mount it on the previously painted inner leg support.  I used teflon plumbers tape (cheap and slips right off the metallics) to mask while I painted the snow camo. This is a perfect case of painting the interior (that due to internal wiring had to be hard mounted to the hip) first and masking.

HTH
David

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b244/ThePlasticFanatic/Scale%20Modeling%20Album/kempferlegpaint.jpg

Duke Maddog wrote:

DURR wrote: bad title to this thread  it is not a dumb question at all here is a dumb question   How long is an 8ft. 2x4   I know this one! 96 Inches! LOL!!

The sad part is these educated idiots were going to harvard, and tufts, and bc and bu 

DURR wrote:

bad title to this thread  it is not a dumb question at all here is a dumb question   How long is an 8ft. 2x4

I know this one! 96 Inches! LOL!! 

DrewH wrote:

DURR, you may think that's dumb, but we have guys at work that can't use a measuring tape  Your question isn't dumb. A dumb question is: When the snow melts, where does the white go?

I worked with a guy like that back in the '70s!!

We would be measuring something and you could ask him what the measurement was and he would tell you 74" and uhhhhh, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 lines past the long one!! True story!! 

My good friend Al wrote this about prepainting parts.

The only dumb question is the one you were afraid to ask that cost you your life.

DURR, you may think that's dumb, but we have guys at work that can't use a measuring tape 

Your question isn't dumb. A dumb question is:

When the snow melts, where does the white go?

bad title to this thread  it is not a dumb question at all

here is a dumb question   How long is an 8ft. 2x4

or on a 4x8 sheet of plywood which side is the 4ft side and which the 8ft side

now those are dumb questions

mfsob wrote:

It depends on the model ... I know, "it depends" isn't the answer you wanted. In general, I tend to build a ship or airplane in sub assemblies, paint those, do final assembly and then touch up all the, ummm, screwups.

i appreciate all the feedback. actually mfsob (i just got that btw ), i'm getting the impression that that is part of the charm and excitement of building. looking at the kit with shrewd eyes....studying your adversary for a moment....trying to gauge what to do first......

i don't specialize in any one type of model, so my interests are all over the place....as well as paint and glue.   From reading all the build threads, i see different approaches for different models....and from different builders. I learn from the good and the bad......but i've yet to find any bad here.

thanks again for the info..... 

Would you believe i break into other modelers hobby rooms at night, swipe a freshly completed build, replace it with an unstarted kit, and try to convice him that he never built it in the first place?!?!?!?

   Actually, when i was growing up and just first starting out, i used to paint all the parts on the sprues first, assemble, then touch up. I've found that is a little inefficient when it comes to filling lines and seams and such. Now i kinda follow suit with Frank and Fred

Gigatron wrote:

Well, as  prophead myself, I tend to build and paint subassemblies and then paint the overall.  I'll build, paint and weather the cockpit first.  Then maybe wheel wells or gun/ammo bays.  Then I assemble everything together, mask parts that have already been painted and paint the rest of the plane. -Fred

About your Arizona, those lines are pain aren't they?!

Easy fix, straight forward, just takes a little time. Use thin sheet styrene placed over the whole bulkhead. I used .005" on mine but .010 would be better as the Tenax wanted to melt and deform the thin sheet. Or you could use a less volitile glue, white glue would work ok, just take more time. I hadn't tried tamiya at the time so maybe it would work ok too. After covering all the bulkheads wiht the sheet go back and drill out the portholes. The kit holes are to big anyway, amounting to about three feet across! I used a small bit in a  pin vice but I don't remember what size. When you are done the kit looks tons better than OOB.

Well, as  prophead myself, I tend to build and paint subassemblies and then paint the overall.  I'll build, paint and weather the cockpit first.  Then maybe wheel wells or gun/ammo bays.  Then I assemble everything together, mask parts that have already been painted and paint the rest of the plane.

-Fred

Speaking strictly as a treadhead, I have to differ with your basic premise of "paint first" then assemble. My experience and the standard practice I see most frequently is, at a minimum, all major sub-assemblies are completely assembled then painted. On more than one model, I've completely built everything - and I mean everything - before ever applying a single drop of paint. There are of course exceptions, but this is my experience. In those instances where sub-assemblies are painted, I always (nearly) mask off the attachment points in various ways to avoid having to remove paint later. I think the bottom line is that every build has to be analyzed individually to determine whether painting during assembly is 1) necessary, 2) not necessary but better, or 3) not necessary at all.

yeah Berny....thats what i figured. i'm still learning. problem is, i have expensive tastes so i hate "experimenting" on a $100 kit......but it wouldn't be the first time.

once i get a couple of these kits off the bench, maybe i'll be able to muster the courage to finally finish the old girl........Arizona that is.