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What is the point of painting while still in the sprue?


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Not necessarily. Some of my armor builds have literally hundreds of parts, many of which are really really small. I cut so a piece of the sprue can be used as a handle. Once the glue dries, I can sand or scrape the mold lines.

Same with painting small parts, some are just easier to paint when attached to the sprue. You could cut it off, sand away the mold lines/attachment points, then how do you hold it for painting?

I assemble entire engines, then paint it as a whole.

G

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I never got this either. In order to sand the mold lines and such, I have to take the parts off of the sprue. I guess this works best for parts without seams, or builders who don't care if they're there.

Removing seams is easier on the sprue as well- all you need is a sanding stick or some sand paper folded back on itself. The only time I ever remove small, fiddly parts to take care of the seam is if the sprue attachment points are weak, and the part will break loose during the process.

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It's just a matter of personal preference.

I take every part off the sprue, do any cleanup/sanding, test fitting, etc. first... then I use a piece of sprue and attach the prepared part to it with a dot of superglue (in a spot that won't be seen on the finished model), then paint it. When the paint is dry I just snap the part off my sprue handle.

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Doesn't make sense to me either. I remove every part,sand/clean them up. Then I re attach them to scrap sprue with a tiny drop of super glue in an area that will be glued,primer,paint and detail. It makes handling,painting and detailing so much easier. Every part and sub assembly literally has a handle. When the parts are dry,just snap the parts off and assemble.

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Mr Most ,

Far be it from me to tell you what to do , but .... Lol ! If you tackle any of these newer kits from Revell , the first stroke of the sanding stick is going to launch a part into the stratosphere !

Bad words ! Bad words ! And ... Even more bad words !

Yes- the newer Revell kits were actually what I had in mind when I said that... just didn't want to name any names. :lol:

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For me , everything comes off the sprues , sanded , cleaned up , and then placed on masking tape for overall painting with the airbrush . After that , any parts requiring fine detail painting goes onto a masking tape wrapped stand and finished up in this manor . Look , Ma , no hands !

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so.... now my painting and assembly methods are under scrutiny and criticism. we build in the manner that best suits the kit, the detail wanted, and the wishes of the builder themselves. i tend to clean parts of flash and such while on the sprue; i paint most of the parts that don't go into a sub-assembly on the sprue. engines, etc., paint as assemblies.

this comes from my time building armor models with sometimes dozens of identical small parts... darn sight easier to touch up a few bare spots than come up with replacement parts that go missing.

how many "wanted" threads are for parts that were being detailed or painted and went missing?

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Harry... the point i was making seemed obvious to me, but i suppose i came off a little oblique. what i meant, and still mean, is that everybody has their own style of working, and having your methods questioned as poor procedure in relation to another's methods is kind of irritating. i usually have pretty thick skin but some things do manage to get under it.

the best method... is whatever you find is easiest and most productive for your own satisfaction.

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I also remove every part, clean up, then paint them. I have some pretty ingenious [to me] ways of attaching parts to toothpicks, old sprue and spray can tops for either brush or spray painting.

I remove every parting line that is visible [and some that are not] for as clean an item as can be possible.

But that's me.

Bob

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100% true and agree!

Simón P. Rivera Torres

For me , everything comes off the sprues , sanded , cleaned up , and then placed on masking tape for overall painting with the airbrush . After that , any parts requiring fine detail painting goes onto a masking tape wrapped stand and finished up in this manor . Look , Ma , no hands !

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I guess we all have a different degree of quality we're willing to accept from a model. Painting is more difficult, but I have to rid each part of basic imperfections before it's painted and you can't do that when the part is attached. But there are also little things I let slide that the next guy has to make better.

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