# Building/Painting Marines. Leave bolters off?



## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Just got back into 40k after over a decade away from TT(fluff is still my home!), and have now got some Blood Angels on the go again. Being quite a bit younger last time round, I never really painted that much beyond a spray of Blood Angel Red and then painting the bolters and others quickly.

Now though, I really want to put a lot of effort into painting them. Hell, I've half started again just to paint. With the marines though, it seems like it's going to be a lot of effort and quite tricky to paint the chest plates, if the bolters are already glued on as well. Does anyone else leave the bolters off to paint the marines first? If so, do you then paint the bolters before gluing them on or after?

Cheers.


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

I always assemble my miniatures as much as I can, without hindering myself to any details. In the case of a marine, I would leave the bolter off, as that hinders me from painting the chestplate with any real detail.

Some would argue "Why would you want to paint something that is hidden behind a gun?". I always say that it's not about what others see, but what I see myself, when looking at it. And I would always notice that unpainted area behind the gun, that I can see when looking from the right angle.

I would leave the bolter off, paint it and put it on afterwards


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## Roganzar (Feb 16, 2014)

I leave bolters of of marines when it covers the chestplate, as well. Usually I've built the arms and bolter together then paint the pieces at the same time. Then I glue the arm assembly on after both are painted.

And just like Nord said, I know those parts are unpainted and can see the missed areas on any miniature I look at.


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## Loli (Mar 26, 2009)

I used to glue the Bolters. But the longer I played the Hobby, the more it came to bug me, because I know it's unpainted. So bolter off now.


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## SwedeMarine (Jun 3, 2013)

Nordicus said:


> I always assemble my miniatures as much as I can, without hindering myself to any details. In the case of a marine, I would leave the bolter off, as that hinders me from painting the chestplate with any real detail.
> 
> Some would argue "Why would you want to paint something that is hidden behind a gun?". I always say that it's not about what others see, but what I see myself, when looking at it. And I would always notice that unpainted area behind the gun, that I can see when looking from the right angle.
> 
> I would leave the bolter off, paint it and put it on afterwards


This. Exactly. All of my marines have painted chest plates and arms are the last thing to go onto them. If you are ok with it however don't let that stop you from doing it the way you want to.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

What I thought then. Is it not as a little tricky putting the whole arm assembly on once glued together? Thing I'm most worried about now is gluing the pieces together, then when trying to attach them on, they're slightly out of place.


EDIT: also got basing issues, as described here.


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## SwedeMarine (Jun 3, 2013)

Angel of Blood said:


> What I thought then. Is it not as a little tricky putting the whole arm assembly on once glued together? Thing I'm most worried about now is gluing the pieces together, then when trying to attach them on, they're slightly out of place.


if you leave the shoulder pads off and paint them separately (which is what i do) then when it comes time to mount the arms on the model you can cover a lot of the imperfections using the shoulderpads. use Blu Tack to dry fit the pieces and when glueing the bolters leave the arms in the position you want them to be and glue the bolter. I only glue the arm that has the pistol grip (unless i'm doing a conversion) this allows both arms to be free and moveable until i find the best placement for them on the model.


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## ItsPug (Apr 5, 2009)

Definitely leave the bolters off, I used to glue the bolters on and then try and paint around them. Best bit of painting advice I've ever been given.


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## Old Man78 (Nov 3, 2011)

I leave the arms and bolter off and paint the mini, it would drive me demented not being able to paint the chest plate as for my marines it is a bright contrasting color and helps the mini stand out. Bolters and arms painted seperately and then assembled


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Yeah, I'm of the same thoughts, especially as it's the new Blood Angels tactical marines I'm doing at the moment, and the chest pieces are all amazing.

How do you go about painting the arms, bolter and shoulder pads when separate? Just hold the other arm whilst you paint one, or.....?


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## SwedeMarine (Jun 3, 2013)

for shoulder pads i use either tooth picks or bamboo skewer and cut them into 3 inch lengths a=then ball up a small wad of blutack and squeeze it around the back. this also helps mask the plastic so theres no need to scrape the paint off when done. this is a pretty good representation of how to do it. 









This is typically how i hold my weapons and arms when painting them









Marines themselves are put up like so. you'll notice one arm is glued on as a reference but it doesn't interfere with working on any of the details. 









If i have a specific weapon loadout that i want to keep then i ten to stick all the pieces onto the same cork piece. makes painting the whole model cohesively work a bit better.


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## ItsPug (Apr 5, 2009)

Test fit the arms first, then glue in place as normal leaving the bolter aside.

Glue the bolter onto a spare piece of sprue by the hand (same place as you'll be gluing in when you put it on the model). Thisgives you something to hold onto when painting the bolter.

paint both seperately, the glue together.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

First, I totally agree with @Nordicus and @Roganzar.
But when it comes time to build and paint I don't go quite as far as @SwedeMarine.

When working on marines I create 4 working pieces:
》Left arm + weapon + shoulder pad
》Right arm + weapon + shoulder pad
》Head + torso + legs + base
》backpack

I always dry fit everything using blutac. Then I work out the poses and glue each of those groups together. This gives me enough flexibility to access pretty much everything, see how it will go together, and give me enough to hold onto. It is important that you wan your hands regularly though, pulls from your skin can cause issues in painting/inking when it won't adhere as well.


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## SwedeMarine (Jun 3, 2013)

I admit I do take it alot further than most. Following kreugers steps is more than enough to.get good results


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

SwedeMarine said:


> I admit I do take it alot further than most. Following kreugers steps is more than enough to.get good results


I'll probably be doing it your way actually. I really do want to put a lot of time and detail into this army. Is that a toothpick on the gravgun and how's it held there?

Cheers for all the responses though guys! Exciting times getting back into TT after all this time, so questions everywhere!!!!


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## SwedeMarine (Jun 3, 2013)

Angel of Blood said:


> I'll probably be doing it your way actually. I really do want to put a lot of time and detail into this army. Is that a toothpick on the gravgun and how's it held there?
> 
> Cheers for all the responses though guys! Exciting times getting back into TT after all this time, so questions everywhere!!!!


it is indeed a toothpick held there by sheer will (just pushed it in really hard) bedum tsssss. but a paperclip with a dollop of superglue actually works better. youve just got to touch up the barrel once the model is assembled.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

SwedeMarine said:


> I admit I do take it alot further than most. Following kreugers steps is more than enough to.get good results


I'll probably be doing it your way actually. I really do want to put a lot of time and detail into this army. Is that a toothpick on the gravgun and how's it held there?

Cheers for all the responses though guys! Exciting times getting back into TT after all this time, so questions everywhere!!!!


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## Nordicus (May 3, 2013)

Angel of Blood said:


> Exciting times getting back into TT after all this time, so questions everywhere!!!!


You know where we are if you need anything else :good:


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