Ever finished painting a model, only to realise you can't reach the chest behind a raised arm, the inside of a cloak or a rider's legs against the mount? Painting in sub-assemblies, leaving some parts unglued until after painting, solves that problem. Done well, it improves both your painting and your speed. Done badly, it leaves you with visible joins and parts that won't fit.
What a sub-assembly is
A sub-assembly is a group of parts glued together and painted separately from the rest of the model. Instead of building the full model or painting every part individually, you split it into a few sensible chunks. The guiding principle is simple: separate only what blocks access; build everything else.
Parts that are often worth leaving off
- Heads: faces and eyes are easier to paint when you can hold the head on its own.
- Arms and weapons held across the body: they hide chests, belts and details behind them.
- Backpacks and cloaks: they often block the back of the model and the inside of the cloak.
- Shields: handy for freehand designs and transfers.
- Riders and mounts: nearly always better painted separately.
- Large vehicle sections, such as interiors, tracks and weapons.
Plan before you build
- Dry fit the whole model with sticky tack and look at it from every angle.
- Note any area you couldn't comfortably reach with a brush once built.
- Decide on the sub-assemblies, keeping the number as low as possible.
- Check that each split point will rejoin cleanly and won't leave a visible seam in an obvious place.
Clean, then build
Remove mould lines and clean the sprue gates on every part before you glue anything, including parts in the same sub-assembly. Fill any gaps within each sub-assembly at this stage, because filling a gap between already painted parts is much harder.
Keep the glue points bare
Glue bonds poorly to paint and primer, especially plastic glue, which needs bare plastic to melt into. Protect the contact points before priming:
- Cover them with a small piece of masking tape or a blob of sticky tack.
- Or scrape the paint off the contact points with a hobby knife just before gluing.
Holding the parts
Each sub-assembly needs something to hold while you paint it. Stick parts to corks, old bases, bottle tops or lolly sticks with sticky tack, or pin them on a short length of wire pushed into a pre-drilled hole. Our guide on how to hold miniatures while painting covers more options.
Painting order
Paint each sub-assembly through to a finished or near-finished state, then glue them together. It's best to leave final edge highlights and varnish until after assembly, so you can touch up any damage and blend the joins.
Reassembly and touch-up
- Dry fit the painted parts again to check nothing has thickened up with paint.
- Glue, using superglue where paint is present and plastic glue where you've kept bare plastic.
- Touch up any scuffs and paint over the seam.
- Apply final highlights across the join so the parts look continuous.
What about painting on the sprue?
It's tempting to prime and paint parts while they're still attached to the frame, but it rarely saves time:
- You can't remove mould lines properly on the sprue.
- Every gate leaves an unpainted mark when you clip the part off, which then needs touching up.
- Glue points end up covered in paint.
The exception is small, simple parts with gates in hidden places, where painting on the frame can be practical. Even then, clip and clean the parts first, then reattach them to a holder. Good clipping technique, covered in our guide on clipping miniatures off the sprue, makes clean-up much easier.
Sub-assemblies for faster batch painting
Sub-assemblies also speed up painting a whole unit. Paint all the bodies of a squad together, then all the heads, then all the arms and weapons. Each batch uses fewer colours, so you spend less time switching paints and cleaning brushes, and every model in the unit ends up consistent.
Common mistakes
- Too many sub-assemblies: more joins to hide and more parts to manage.
- Not dry-fitting: parts that fitted before painting can be tight afterwards.
- Painted glue points: weak joins that pop apart later.
- Skipping the final touch-up: visible seams spoil the finished model.
Independent resource published by Blubbercove Ltd. This page is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, authorised by or licensed by Games Workshop Limited.
Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Warhammer: The Old World and the names of associated armies, characters and places are trademarks of Games Workshop Limited, used here without permission and solely to identify the subject. This is an unofficial fan guide.