Some of you may laugh, but remember that I'm a beginner.

So there I was, waiting for the glue to dry after carefully placing the landing gear doors in open position on my P40-B Tiger Shark airplane model when I realized something wasn't right. I looked at the instructions and there was no mistake, I'd done everything according to the directions. But those landing gear doors were not painted! At least an interior green should have been applied, I thought...

And then I had to spend some more time being very careful not to paint anything else but those open doors already in placed and cemented.

So here's the question I ask you veteran modelers: Should I always paint the parts before assembing them?

I now know not to trust the instructions on explaining me what to paint and which color...

Norwood, one of the great things to remember about this particular site is: NO ONE will laugh. You will see a lot of good natured ribbing and one upsmanship from time to time, but our Webmaster and moderators carefully keep watch to make sure everything stays sane & civil. That's why this remains the Best site on the Net!
As to your question- no Hard & Fast rule really applies. If in doubt, paint it. If you think it might be difficult or impossible to paint it after assembly, paint it then mask it during general painting. Just make sure you clean the paint off of any ares to be glued. I'm sure that Many others will have different & diisenting opinions on this, but thats the beauty of the site. Choose what works best for you and go with it . Learn from your mistakes. Never be afraid to ask for help, & don't hestate to give advice. Welcome to the community!

Hi, I think it just depends on what feels good for you as far as 'when' to paint. One great thing about this hobby is that there seems to be many different ways to do each thing and what my work for one person may not work, or work nearly as well, for another.

You'll pick up that which works for you and discard that which doesn't as you go along. The main thing is to remember is which is which. This seems to me one of my main problems. ha, ha!

Welcome to the site and take care, Sgirty

Welcome to the site, we promise not to laugh. Unless you're as funny looking as some of these folks are here. :-) (that was a lame example of the "good natured ribbing Bob spoke of)

This is one of those debates that pop up from time to time. It really matters to you. I make mainly armor, but when I've done small scale wingy things, 1/144, I've built them then painted them. For armor many people build in sub assemblies then paint the sub assembly before putting the whole thing together. If that works great. I don't like trying to get glue to stick to paint, or scrapping the paint off so I assemble in sub assemblies first.

Norwood,
I laugh at myself a lot. One look in my photo gallery and you will see why. :-)

Anyway, with experience you will learn what works best for you. As you build new kits you will discover it becomes intuitive what should be painted first, what can be assembled and painted later.

'Dryfitting' parts (reading the instructions and then placing them together to figure out what-the-heck the picture means) can also give you some indication as to what needs to be painted first.

There has been many a time I have forgotten to paint a piece and had to do the old squint-the-eyes, stick-out the-tongue, thread the paintbrush through the open canopy, to paint the gunsight 'lens.'

Then there is also the touch up. Sometimes you may have to cover up some of the excess glue where a gear door meets the fuselage, or a missile to a weapons rail.

Whatever works best for you.

Welcome to the site. You will enjoy yourself here

Determining which components or sub-assemblies which require painting prior to final assembly will be a matter of study and dictate the actual final assembly sequence. I use the instruction sheet as an exploded view of the model to determine which actual assembly should take place prior to painting the overall model.

Cody

Wow! Thanks for the great replies and words of encouragement.

I'll keep building and I'm sure good results will start to show up. With the help of this forum it's going to be a great experience.

Thanks again!

I think this is a good question. For me, I do like the follows:

For Armor:

It's all assembled, I mean all. then paint.

For Plane:

It's more down to sub assemblies, especially if you have a modern jet on your hand, with tons of ordances. I will paint the cockpit first, then assembled the whole plane leave off the ordances. Then paint the plane, and ordances seperately. then hang the ordances on.

HTH.

Norwood:

Logansdad is right to an extent. Noone will laugh at you but with you. This is because whatever mistake you, me or anyone makes. Someone out here on this site has done the same thing.

Now the question at hand is basically up to you. What I do is while dryfitting. What would be the easiest way to paint this? On the model or off.

Like Dave said. Subassemblies are you friends when workingwith aircraft. cut the model up into 5 little modelets and go from there.

Keep going and show us some pics soon.

Paul

P.S at least you got the right gear doors on the right sides. I once put one togather with them on the wrong sides.. but shhhhhhhhh that is just between us.

Son,
Everyone here was a beginner at one time, and part of the learning process is making mistakes, so no one is going to laugh, after over 40 years of building, you would be amazed how many times I have forgotten to paint something before gluing it on, and it still happens.

For myself, I have found it easiest to do things in a logical manner, sometimes things need to be painted before assembly, sometimes after assembly, and again, it all a learning process, and no matter how long you've been building, and no matter how many kits are under your belt, mistakes and forgetfulness creep in.

As for laughing, I learned over the years, it was much better to learn to laugh at myself, than to laugh at others, I could write a book on dumb things I have done in life, and have you rolling on the floor.

You have 3 options:

1. Paint before assembly
2. Assemble, mask the edges and paint the interior
3. Paint the interior, assemble, then paint again unpainted areas.

Out of these 3 options, I prefer no.1 (but sometimes do no. 3)

I prefer working on it before assembly because I can detail each button the way I like it.

Don't be depress on ruining the first few kits. Everybody starts a beginner. Mistakes are bound to happen. Sooner or later, you'll be one of the pro

I like the idea of the sub-assemblies, especially if there are details I need to work on that would be impossible to do after assembly... the cockpit of a fighter jet is a great example.

I guess every model may require different approaches and as shonen_red said, I can't be discouraged because my first few models don't look like the ones we see in the picture gallery of the forum

Cheers!

welcome aboard . u ll have all the support and encouragement u need from all of us. Just ask and ask again till u have the help u need

Costas