Just curious as how you guys build your kits, workflow wise. I know a lot of people do it different. Some paint on the sprue, other build first, etc. I would think it would be easier to build before painting as cleaning pin marks and seams would be easier and necessary off the sprue to get everything. Do you build and paint in sections prior to final build? I haven't built a kit in 20 years. Planning to start one in the next couple days. I was a teenager when I was doing it before, really didn't know what I was doing. Just wondering the order you guys usually work in as far as getting started with a new kit.

Yes to all you said.It definitely depends on the kit.Most jobs are a combo of all those techniques.For the most part I would say assemble and paint.But then there's cockpits,running gear and tank tracks,sub assemblies on ships,interiors of cars and armor.So it really depends.

I build as much as possible before painting.
My building rules:
1. All the big parts first and the small/fragile parts last to avoid crushing small parts when glueing big parts together.
2. Assemble as much as possible until it gets absolutely necessary to paint. i.e the point where assembling more would make it impossible to reach some area that needs painting.
3. For tracked vehicles: Mount the tracks just before it gets impossible to get them in place (this may imply that some painting needs to be done first).
4. Movable parts? Aaarghhh Especially wheels that can turn and tracks that are supposed to be movable. I let the main gun and turret on tanks be movable, the rest gets glued down so that it doesn't wiggle around.
5. Since I'm a lazy sod I usually close all hatches so that I don't need to bother with interiors. I leave them open if the interior is correct and nicely detailed

/ Robin

I dont do that very often but in some case is handy,small parts difficult to handle if dont require cleanup etc... why not?...especially if the color is not the same as the rest of the neighboring parts, like shovel in my FT-17 or the base colors of the muffler