Every build is different,got to think it out and see what works best.Sometimes its sub assemblies,other times its the whole model.

On a Sherman,its mostly one color,I would assemble everything except the tracks and do the overall paint job,then hand paint the details tools and the rubber on the roadwheels.

I'm sure you will get another opinion,got to decide what works for you.

Hello!

That question keeps comin' up all the time on the forums. The answer is usually: "It depends!" If you think you can cut it, paint after all is glued up - this way you get stronger glue joints. If you want to paint something that would be unreachable after glueing, paint first, glue later.

In your case - a tank - a big factor would be if you want to build it "factory clean" or "field dirty". My take is if you build a dirty tank, it's mostly no good to paint clean colours first and then put dirt on top of that - best way is to paint it dirty right on. That would mean the whole running gear is mostly dirt colour with just a hint of raw metal or rubber looking through. In this case it would be perfectly OK to build the whole running gear, then paint it dirt colour - with airbrush this will be easy - and then just pick out the centers of the wheels in OD and just a hint of rubber tyres on the outside of the road wheels and some worn metal on the track teeth and the drive sprockets, and there you go - weathered tank!

I hope this helps you - thanks for reading and have a nice day

Paweł

Thank you! This gives me a much better idea in the direction I'd like to go with this.

Thinking ahead is "The KEY".

Yeah it's as the guys have said it's all the same colour so personally I'd assemble the whole thing excepting the tracks and tools and hose it down with olive drab. 

Each model is of course different, but I tend to do all my painting after assembly, leaving road wheels, tracks and sprockets off until the very end. Shermans are nothing out of the ordinary, and I've seen people build them with the suspension units off the hull, but keep in mind glue will not adhere to paint, so some scraping will be necessary to get down to plastic, not a big deal.

FWIW i build as much of the hull and turret as posible. that way i can fill and sand seams, etc. i paint the road wheel outsides on the sprue and brush paint steel on the insides next to the center guides because any real paint would rub off with movement. NOTE if you are showing the tank staionary they will rust up quickly as will the end connectors on the tracks. i hand paint the rubber or steel on each road wheel. i use rubber cement on the axles before painting the hull and peel it off to mount the wheels.

i tend to paint tools off the kit because i paint them wood and steel but i am good enough to glue them first. granted most would be painted the base color but my way adds a little contrast.

my big annoyance is modern vision blocks and periscopes. Laser resistant? armored thick? clear blue? clear green? purplish? ww2 would most likely be clear or maybe some clear smoke.