painting of seperate pieces

[samson]

ok so lets say your working on a bust where there are separate pieces such as separate arms or a shield etc etc . i know the basic procedure is to put as much as you can together to be able to paint . so my question is if you have to paint the bust and arms separate what is the best way of doing this ? as i am slowly getting my den/ painting room together i was looking at my older plastic figures i have done and can see the gaps from the separate pieces . trying to take my painting skills up a notch . so if anyone understands what i am saying here i would apprecjiate some tips LOL .

 

[Tubby-Nuts2]

Paul, I suppose this will always be a tricky subject to answer. However, the 'Test Fit', will answer most questions.

E.g. If the arms are a bit dodgy and fit poorly due to casting etc., and/or requires filling and sanding prior to 'Priming',. then attach! and fill then sand, prior to prime. .. however the prime will also show defects, so you may need to repeat/tweak the process.

If the fit is sound! then you can work in 'Sub-Assemblies'.

It all depends on the quality of the cast.

Regards,

Mark.

 

[sippog]

Always assembling as much as you can - bearing in mind the access to paint areas - is a good principle

Otherwise it really depends on where the joins occur because 9 times out of ten you're going to have to do some kind of filling when you glue. On well-designed figures, joins are usually 'disguised' by folds of cloth, sleeves etc making filling easier as well as touching up. (I've found Black Milliput a good 'cheat' for this on a number of occasions).

Sometimes however you're going to have a join on bare skin or something that needs to be seamless. I've seen a technique of filling with a film of vaseline on one side of the join so you can pull it apart afterwards, wipe it clean and glue later seamlessly. Never tried it but maybe someone here has?

I would recommend pinning and drilling a join regardless of whether you glue it before you start painting

 

[Bailey]

Definitely dry fit your parts together to see whether or not you'll have large gaps you need to fill. Filling after you've started painting is not easy and something I try to avoid. However, sometimes you just can't. If the fill won't be easily visible or can be disguised somehow, then it's not as critical. I find using clay shapers can be helpful in smoothing out a full transition on a painted piece. Here's one I did on a current project. The cuff did not fit onto the arm as well as I had hoped. It left a gap which is circled in the center image. I was able to fill it with putty, smooth out the transition, and then repaint the end of the arm. Again, this isn't ideal, but you can make it work if you have to.

It also doesn't hurt to use the black variety of milliput, so if you miss a section (or can't reach it to paint over), it will not stand out as much.

As for actually painting the parts separately, I try to only do as much as I have to. Often that means just giving them a dark base coat and perhaps a little bit of highlighting. It's the sides that won't be accessible after it's assembled that I care about. Often these won't be easily seen and will often be in shadow anyway, so a dark base coat is enough. I need to know the final angle of the piece to get the highlights and shadows to look right, so painting it off of the main figure is a challenge.

Another challenge for painting parts separately is how to hold them while you paint. If you're pinning the piece on (which is generally a good idea), you can use that and a pin vice to hold it. I find this technique works well for banners too as you can just slide the pole down into the vice.

I've got a universal jeweler's vice that I often use to hold the figures while I paint. I just clamp is on to the pins in their feet.

But using the little pegs, you can grip off shaped parts as well. This can be useful for shields as you can see below.

And for another project I'm currently working on, I just used some sticky tack and stuck the extra bits to a piece of cork while I was painting them.

 

[samson]

great tips everyone thank you . bailey great work on that cuff.

 

[John Bowery]

I have also used a small blob of two part epoxy putty on one part and covered it with a small piece of thin "Cling wrap" and then pushed the second part to mate with it. The cling wrap stops the second part from sticking to the putty. Cling wrap in the USA is a thin clear plastic film to cover dishes to heat in the microwave. A coat of vaseline on the second part only will also so the same thing.
Cheers
John

 

[samson]

great idea john when i get started i will use it thanks again.