trickier, but not impossible. You're also assuming that he's applying highlights from an imaginary point light source, which generally isn't the case. Even then, you'll generally know what pose the model will be in.me_in_japan wrote:*MiJ's eye twitches a bit*
Sprue painting
Bad auxryn! BAD auxryn!
Here's why:
1) impossible to do lighting properly - which way is up? Which bits should be lighter/darker? It's far easier to tell of everything is assembled.
How so? You're still painting all the bits at once, with the same paint mix. It's no different to painting a squad of individual models in the same colour.2) unity of colour - getting colour matches across all the bitz will be very difficult(assuming its not all just monochrome)
You can usually remove some of the attachment points, while leaving enough to hold the part on the sprue. Other than that, yes, you'll need to touch up some areas.3) how exactly do you intend to remove all the mould lines/sprue nubs once it's painted? Surely you'd just end up filing off all the paint you just on?
A good, sharp scalpel will leave you with a minimal cut area.4) assuming by some miracle you could manage (3),
If you're doing a simple base-shade-highlight, especially if you're not mixing colours, the touch-up is easy. In fact, you likely won't need to shade, since sprue attachment points tend not to be in recesses.you'd still be left with little grey spots all over the mini where the sprue had been attached to the bit. You'd have a hella time matching those spots with the surrounding area. I suspect you'd end up repainting the whole bit.
Looking at the new Space Marine Tactical Squad sprues as an example, the legs are easy - attachment points are the hip joint and soles of the feet - you won't be painting them anyway. Shoulder pads have three points on the rim; You could remove one of those before painting, and the touch-up won't be onerous. Torsos at the shoulders and heads at the neck so again, no paint. Bolters are at the wrist, muzzle and top of the gun. Of those, the only awkward point is the top of the gun. The muzzle can be easily drilled out and painted gunmetal when you remove it from the sprue. The only awkward points are the backpacks and some of the arms, and some of the fiddly greeblies.
If you do paint models unassembled or partly assembled, make sure you scrape the paint of the surfaces to be glues. Poly cement might soften paint, but it won't actually move it out the way. Glue two painted surfaces together and the strength of the join is as weak as the bond between two layers of paint; bits will fall off.
Having said that, generally I part-assemble the mini, so I can paint the bits and still reach all the parts that will be covered by the gun or an arm or a cape or something.
