am i supposed to paint figures before i cement them or after. if i paint them before cementing wiil this effect the look afterwards

Hi SK

There is no hard-and-fast rule on this... Basically you'll find which way works best for you....

Personally I like to assemble the figure, bar the personal equipment and weapons, and any other fiddly bits, and then procede with painting....

I believe many of the hard-core figurists assemble the figure in its entirity before painting...

HTH

Rudi

I assemble everything I can before painting. All small personal items also, so straps can be added when needed. I find this easier than painting small pea-size items and fixing them later.
Heads I keep seperate when possible, as these get the most attention. But as Rudi has said previously, theres no fast rule ... its what you find easier or what works best for you, that is important.

I look at the parts breakdown of each figure and make my call then. If there are going to be hard to reach places, such as inside cloaks, etc. then I'll paint it in sub-assemblies. If it's a straight forward 'up & down' piece then I'll completely assemble before painting.

I am a lazy guy who assemble the figure first, except the head and weapons, then paint it. The head require special attention hence painted separately.

Drawbacks: a steady hand is required for those areas which are hard to reach; dry fit the weapon first if you don't want to leave the rifle hanging in the air.

The method you choose is all down to personal preference.

the first figures i modelled, i painted them on the sprue and assembled them then. that was back in the day of the good old stinking enamal-color from revell.
you always have to repaint all the figure parts once assembled because of the connection point to the sprue or spots of glue.

now i first assemble them nearly completly. attach rifle sling and so on. then i gave them a base overspray of buff/sand-color (tamiya acylics) and paint them with vallejo acrylics.

i leave the helmet off, till the final stage. this make the face-painting easier.

I assemble the base figure and paint that. I paint the head, helmet and all the kit separately and then glue that stuff on with CA. As far as painting the small parts goes, I drill small holes in the back sides of them where they won't show, stick them on toothpicks and paint them that way. Oh, I stick the toothpicks in a block of florist foam while the stuff dries...

Shaun