To Paint on the Sprue or off the Sprue

[lunchboxfl]

That is the question.

What does everyone in here do?

Paint the parts on the sprues then assemble or put different sections together and then paint?

Thoughts...Experiences...Suggestions...

[Nansen]

I usually put sections togheter and then paint. I rarely paint on the sprue since it will demand a touch up when finished. I paint some PE on the fret though.

[MM2CVS9]

Depends on the part. Hulls, flight decks and large assemblys I do after assembly including gun tubs, small boats, etc. 1/700 and 1/350 aircraft, assemble the wheels, wings, and fuselages on the spru, spray, decal, cut from spru, touch up body, add last fusilage decals, add props, hand paint props, prop tips. Sometime more work for a deckload of carrier planes than the ship itself.

[davidwaples]

I normally remove parts from the sprue before painting. I prefer to build up small sub assemblies as mentioned earlier, make sure they are all cleaned up and ready for paint. In some cases I will cut the sprue into sections with the parts still attached, clean them up, and then paint. One reason for doing that is to keep the part numbers printed on the sprue oriented with the correct part. I don't like building the entire model and they spraying because that can result in rough overspray. You can control your paint better with sub assemblies.
Dave

[lunchboxfl]

Thoughts or opinions on this for a starter.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CE ... DOZFIJNPFB

http://www.amazon.com/Airbrush-Compress ... d_sbs_hg_2

[robertmelvin]

I usually do a mix of painting on the sprue and doing up smaller assemblies and then painting. It all depends on the build order I'm following. I tend to paint the smaller, more easily lost parts on the sprue and then clean them up and touch up before assembly. But, if the parts are going into a sub assembly that I can paint once assembled I will use that approach. I almost always pre-paint the PE on the fret unless the camo scheme I'm using makes this impractical, which is not usually the case. You just need to think it out before you paint to try to plan ahead and get a sense of what will work best for your particular situation. On that note, one thing I find very helpful is to carefully review the instructions before I ever begin to build, even making notes on them, to see how I actually want to build the kit. Sometimes following the instructions to the letter (a good example is Trumpeter's standard instruction to attach the completed deck and superstructure as one of the latter steps) does not result in the best build sequence. I find that spending time fully familiarizing myself with the instructions and deciding when to follow them and when to deviate saves me a lot of grief during the actual build process.

On the question of compressors, don't rule out sources like Wal-Mart, Harbor Freight, etc.. I picked up a very nice Campbell Hausfeld compressor from Wal-Mart for well under $100.00 that does all I need it to do. Has enough power for both bottom feed as well as gravity feed airbrushes. Only down side is that it is relatively noisy, but that is seldom an issue for me. In my experience you'll pay a lot more for "hobby specific" compressors than you will for an equally good, or better, compressor from another source. I'd shop around.

Hope this is at least somewhat helpful to you,

Bob M

[lunchboxfl]

Thanks bob for the great information as usual.

[robertmelvin]

You're very welcome, I hope the information is helpful to you. I'm sure that others can give you other suggestions about a good first airbrush. I've found that having an airbrush is, at least for me, almost a necessity since I'm not that good at brush painting, except for touching up, and I've not really found all that many model paints that brush paint all that well. As I said, I look at a good airbrush as an investment that will make your modeling easier to accomplish and more satisfying in the end, especially for larger projects like hulls, decking, etc.. Shop around and save your money on your compressor and put it into the airbrush. A wide range of compressors will work just fine, but the same isn't true of airbrushes.

Bob M