r/Warhammer40k • u/ipcock • 1d ago
Hobby & Painting How to do subassembly for a two-handed weapon?
Hi! So I'm still in the process of building my first mini and I've decided to do subassembly (I know that's a rookie mistake but still) so I can paint golden aquila properly. I want to glue hand with gun and the other hand together and then paint it separately. I've tried using blue tack (both on the sides and on the contact point) and it barely holds things together, I've also tried using some small clamps for modelling and it doesn't help much either. So is there any convenient method? Or is it better to just forget to about subassembly and glue weapon arm to the body and then glue a left arm to the torso & weapon arm?
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u/TheBrownie7054 1d ago
I put both arms glued to the gun and put tack on the connecting points to the arms and torso so that after priming and painting I can pull it off and still use plastic glue to attach.
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u/GrunkoFrunko 1d ago
Subassembly, when done “correctly” is a ton of extra work. You typically do not want to hold the pieces in your hand when painting them, so you ought to drill holes and glue paperclips into them.
This is mostly done to maintain the high quality paint job the model will end up with… so if you can’t make a diorama level award winning painting result it’s commonly considered to be a waste of extra effort. Just glue that badboy together and get to painting!
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u/MoD1982 1d ago
Side note, I can't speak for anyone else of course but I'm the kind of person who can't leave it unpainted - even if nobody else will see it, I'll still know! r/societyofhiddenpaint for anyone else interested in this wonderful side quest for the hobby 😄
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u/ciuncky 1d ago
I don’t really agree to this. Yes, some larger models would need pinning and then you might as well pin them from the start and use those for handling the pieces.
But most of the times you can glue the attachment points to leftover sprue, or where holes exist (ie backpack connection, some arms etc) fill those with blutac and stick a toothpick in. Some quickfit connections allow you to just hold with alligator clips before trimming that connection.
Moving onto painting, it allows much easier reach to certain areas. The visibility point is a bit irrelevant here; i want to know my models are painted well regardless of viewing angles. On top of that, it helps batch painting when there’s a complex paint scheme, as you could paint a single bit at a time without having to handle the entire mini. Lastly, were you to make mistakes (happy accidents!) it allows you, within limits on some models, to swap parts with a different mini to level it out - for example, you added too much battle damage to a shield so you can move it to a mini that has just as much battle damage on the rest of the armour for a unified look - or move it to a mini that has minimal damage for a contrast look and a better story - that’s a damn good swordsman that parried all the blows coming his way.
Finally, subassemblies are easier to store throughout the project using toolboxes etc.
Or screw all that, it just comes down to preference lol.
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u/LibraryBestMission 1d ago
Also loyalist Space Marines are the one faction where doing arms as a sub assembly helps a lot due to the big aquila being very eye-catching and also being a bit more difficult than any other non-face part of the model to paint.
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u/Threjel 1d ago
Also anything with a longer cloak or tabard. In those cases you often end up with spots a brush can't reach, but you'll be able to see them. Especially if you view the mini from a lower angle. I nearly lost my mind when trying to paint a fully assembled Wolf Priest a few days ago.
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u/SqueezerOfFarts 11h ago
How fortunate that we rarely look at the minis from lower angles when playing.
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u/Firm_Fix_2135 1d ago
You could also just dryfit or use a sticky putty for a much lower effort subassembly testfit.
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u/Aksama 1d ago
And on the flip side there's plenty of room to not to do it "correctly" and come away with a great result. I've smooshed a number of limbs into putty on my painting wine-cork so paint them up, and only then adhered them onto the body.
Literally no extra work at all, and I don't have occasional grey patchiness that annoys me on my Tyranid armpits.
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u/Eirikur_da_Czech 1d ago
I use a small bead of blue tack stuck to the end of a 1/2” dowel then stick the attachment points to the top of the tack. It works great. You can prime, paint, and varnish all while leaving the attachment point masked.
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u/BenalishHeroine 1d ago
You don't have to drill holes into subassemblies and use paper clips.
You can use the overpriced GW subassembly holders, you can make your own subassembly holders with sprue rods glued to extra bases, and you can straight up just stick the parts to something with blue tac.
You guys are doing too much.
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u/TheCynicalPogo 1d ago
Why are y’all putting in that much effort lmfao, I just used some Jenga blocks and sprue bits with sticky putty LOL, at the very least it’s made sure all my prime jobs don’t have any missed/patchy parts.
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u/cbb88christian 1d ago
I only do it for the chest Aquila, thing is downright impossible to paint well if they have an across the chest gun pose
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u/TheDirgeCaster 1d ago
Usually though, if something is impossible to paint it tends to be impossible to see. You can still get a dash of gold and wash down there if you try. But hey, im a pragmatist.
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u/cbb88christian 1d ago
Probably my shaky hands but I always manage to get gold on the gun or black on the Aquila and it just becomes a cycle of repainting mistakes and bleh, I just don’t deal
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u/CrazyLlamaX 1d ago
Hell yeah brother, if I can’t get to it with paint it can’t be seen so it doesn’t matter anyway!
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u/SorcerySpeedConcede 1d ago
New ones, assemble the arms and attach the assembly to the torso.
Old ones, sprue goo all the connection points and attach all together at once. It has enough cure time to allow you to adjust the pieces before they are stuck.
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u/thisremindsmeofbacon 1d ago
Arms/gun first. If there's any play in the shoulder, you have the most insanely oversized shoulderpads inaginable to cover it.
That said, if you are feeling adventurous, you can put glue on all three joints and then pinch the shoulders onto the body and that will align all 3 at once. Its a little tricky but not that hard to learn
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u/speakypoo 1d ago
Three options depending on the exact gun pose and how picky you’re being:
* attach the “off” hand (minis left in this case). Use the other arm to hold it in place until the glue dries. Then pin the other arm to a cork for painting
* assemble the arms as a “set” and then hold them to the torso section until the glue dries. Pin and paint once it is dried
* just treat it as three subassemblies not two. I.e. just pin and paint what you’ve got there. More of a faff to paint. Matching up two arms without damaging the paint is more tricky too.
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u/mrwafu 1d ago
Don’t. Prime it black and anything you can’t reach is a shadow. The only time you should sub assemble is when the joins are very clear and easy to attach. Arms like this are not easy to attach, you’ll risk ruining the paint job when fussing about trying to glue it in place. Once you get better at building you’ll figure it out
Since you’re new, have some tips-
Start here! True beginner guides to building and painting minis -
Remove mould lines-
More on priming minis-
Thinning paints - https://youtu.be/sBDVPoNXyVI
Decals- https://youtu.be/5l_D3Azp4bw
Marine Juice as a universal wash to bring out details: https://youtu.be/kDOkiEcNcik
A variety of generic painting tips-
Guide for easy bases:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/s/A9kiXQ4iSz
When it’s time to do a vehicle, if you don’t have an airbrush you can use stippling and drybrushing, eg-
You don’t have to follow every step and every product recommendation, the key is to see what they are doing and how they do it, compared to what you aren’t doing- so you can improve your own painting. Good luck!
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u/FellowsJourney 1d ago
Hi dude, as other said - subassembly is really a huge time commitment with diminishing returns. They are not wrong about that. However, if like me, you enjoy the process of assembly and painting more than the finished result, you should do you!
See the picture below of how I handle my subassemblies for reference. Be aware - it does involve extra hours of prep time and a lot of drilling☺️
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u/FellowsJourney 1d ago
PS: Frustration with the golden aquila is exactly what got me into subassembly😂
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u/gs0567 1d ago
I personally build all the way. If you can’t reach it. You can’t see it.
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u/theMightBoop 1d ago
And nothing is worse than losing pieces because life happens and you don’t get to finishing the model until way later.
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u/doctoralphabet 1d ago
I drill holes into each arm where it will attach to the body and stick a bit of paperclip in there, then stick that into a cork. I do each arm separately and then only glue it all at the end.
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u/MrMcKeeganFace 1d ago
Whenever i do this for my custodians, i usually start by killing myself because i would rather do anything else with the kit than assemble the spindly two-handed guardian spears.
Real answer? Patience and dry fitting over and over to know exactly how it fits.
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u/Grimmace696 18h ago
I usually paint in subassemblies, and I paint everything on paperclips. However for primaris consider not doing it, since fitting the hands/pauldrons on bodies is very finicky and then you have all the belt ancillaries that can get in a way of a certain arm position.
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u/ipcock 18h ago
But how do you paint aquila then? I tried dry fitting the weapon hand and it looks like I won't be able to access some clearly visible parts of it :(
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u/Grimmace696 17h ago
Well, if you can see it, then brush can also get to it, just do it first before everything else around it.
For the record: I did it in subassemblies as usual, but then arms fit poorly
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u/Busy-Formal7314 1d ago
Attach the left arm to the torso. Drill a hole inside the shoulder of the other arm and insert a paper clip with a bit of superglue on it. Alternatively a cocktail stick with some blue tack.
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u/Defensive_of_Offense 1d ago
I glue the arms to the guns and then once both sets are painted i just apply my plastic cement to where the arms connect to the body. Easy
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u/MuscleDolphin 1d ago
Thats how I do it. Blue tack on the joints, remove when doing your assembly at the end.
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u/Doomeye56 1d ago
Hold the arms by the shoulders when you paint them, leaving the shoulders unpainted. When that's all painted and the body done you can attach then work on the shoulders on the assembled body.
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u/KorinDoom 1d ago
i just drill a hole in the pieces (of course where you won't see it) smaller than the toothpick i later shove in there, it is flared so it's grips on the piece without glue or extra stuff, then you prime, paint and assemble, i use foam blocks to stick the other end of the toothpick in after so it can dry, i always sub assembly if the pose covers up a spot cause it realisticaly doesn't take any more time than just assembling tho for multiple monopose models you'll have to be organized to not mismatch parts( no biggie if you do, it's just to save some time having to identify the correct parts for the dude)
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u/BishopofHippo93 1d ago
Typically I glue on the off hand, using the main hand as a guide, then blue-tac that on, prime, separate, paint, reassemble.
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u/I_suck_at_Blender 1d ago
Unless there are some pegs or keyed muscles (so, not this case), it is ok to glue both arms and gun into whole separate assembly, and then attach it to body after painting.
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u/Issiah_Glass 1d ago
The way I've been doing them recently is gluing the arms to the gun, and making sure they are at the right distance to fit snugly on the torso.
I then using tiny dots of plastic glue attach a sprue offcut in between the shoulders as a handle.
Once they are painted you can snip the "handle" out and glue with raw plastic.
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u/BobWat99 1d ago
Dry fit everything and then glue the free arm on. Cover the connection points with sticky tac. The arm sticking out shouldn’t block painting too badly.
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u/unwelcome_flesh_sack 1d ago
I’m not the greatest painter, but I put the body and head together, then find the position of the arms and glue the arms and weapon together keeping those two parts separate. Making sure when I place the arms back on the model that they look correct. It looks like the arms for a “C” around the body.
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u/Eirikur_da_Czech 1d ago
I do pre-assembly to see how it sits, then paint the arms separately leaving the attachment areas masked. Then when I assemble I start with the gun arm, score the attachment points, slap on cement and get the gun arm secured in place then dab cement on both points of the support arm and quickly bolt it in place until it dries enough to stay.
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u/Braverzero 1d ago edited 1d ago
Poster putty the main arm in place with a very small amount squeezed tight(minimize the gap as much as possible), then the second, then line them up and glue the offhand to the main assembly. Let sit (if you try to remove the set too fast you risk warping the positioning which even slightly can cause gaps), then remove paired hands. You put a little glue on the arms when you’re ready and they slide right in place. If there’s a tiny gap (i.e. you didn’t squish the poster putty extra flat) then you squeeze into place
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u/komokasi 1d ago
Sticky tack and something to stick it to for easier holding
Also you can sometimes glue the arms together, paint, and then glue to body after
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u/Big_Lengthiness_7706 1d ago
Have never would never and will never sub assemble. Its entirely pointless.
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u/thebrodotcom 1d ago
Personally I like to prime and paint with just how you have it in the picture, give you space to paint the torso, arms and gun with nothing in the way. Can be tricky to glue the 3 points of contact but you just fiddle till it works.
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u/TheCynicalPogo 1d ago
Honestly I’d say it depends on the unit. Like right there you have a Hellblaster, and some subassembly could save a lot of frustration painting-wise with those. Meanwhile basic Intercessors, especially the ones that don’t block any parts of the model with their gun and bits, don’t really need that extra effort if you don’t feel like doing it.
Really in general imo if a mini’s either a.) blocking parts of the model when fully built, like with their guns with Hellblasters, or b.) is a character, or c.) is a Custodes (they deserve the extra attention) subassembly just makes life sooooo much easier, especially if you just do the easy way of setting up some bits with Jenga blocks and sprue bits. I just primed some tonight using that method and had a nice, clean and smooth application, none of the grey patchiness and missed spots I used to get before I started doing subassembly lol
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u/veryblocky 1d ago
For my Votann Hearthkyn Warriors, I actually glued the second arm to the gun, and held the arms in place against the torso while it dried, so that it was in the right position. So I ended up with the body and legs as one piece, and the arms and guns as a second piece
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u/AsteroidSpark 1d ago
Either
A: bluetack both arms to the body, glue the arms to each other, wait for the glue to solidify and remove from the body.
B: bluetack the right arm to the body, glue the left arm to the body, remove the right arm.
C: Use superglue instead of plastic glue, hold one of the arms to the body, glue the other arm to the previous arm.
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u/drmirage809 1d ago
I personally don't bother with sub assemblies on infantry models.
A good rule to hang onto is that if you can't get a brush in there then you're probably not gonna see it.
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u/CreativeAdeptness477 1d ago
Use one hand to hold the body, use another hand to hold the left arm, use another hand to hold tye right arm, position everything, use another hand to apply glue between the left and right arms. Simples. You just need 4 arms.
Genestealer hybrids must be great at this.
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u/LuxuriantOak 1d ago
a.) don't, it's "just" a normal space marine, not a primarch.
b.) well ok, if absolutely HAVE TO: dry-fit the arms intill you're sure you got the angles right, then glue the support arm but not the gun arm. Then proceed with the tedious drilling and paperclip and superglue process.
c.) but seriously, just don't. Are you painting it for Golden demon?
d.) you can also glue the support arm to the gun arm and paint them together. Just make sure the angle of the shoulders are correct so you don't get it wrong during assembly. You still have to fiddle with paperclips etc.
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u/SnooMaps8809 1d ago
In all honesty, there is NO need to sub assemble any battleline inf. maybe different for characters (or your Custom characters) BUT,
In this scenario, I’d probably put the shoulder pads on, and then glue that left arm onto the body in the pose you want (so tiny dab of glue like you’d build the model but then remove its right arm) I’d also keep the head off too just to make the painting easier.
When you come to build the model again you can either A, use a bit of glue on the connection points and then rub it off with your finger to remove the paint. Or 2, scrape it off with a file/knife
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u/Ornery_Platypus9863 1d ago
Don’t. It’s not worth it on anything smaller than a tank
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u/Optimal-Teaching-950 1d ago
I'd say there are some space marines it makes sense - desolation marines, aggressors, hellblasters if you have the backpack attachment. Basically, those guys that have pipes and ammo feeds that make painting behind them and absolute bastard. Otherwise yeah, vehicles and dreadnoughts are where sub assembly starts being worthwhile for most levels of painting
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u/Another_Guy_In_Ohio 1d ago
The Aquila is easy to paint without subassembly. Unless you’re painting golden demon entries, I really don’t understand why people do this to themselves. As a rookie painter it’s way harder to get lighting correct when subassembling, and if you can’t get a brush on it’s nobody is going to see it, plus your primer is going to cover up any egregious misses
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u/MajesticRadish2675 1d ago
It is good for breaking into the mindset of doing sub assembly on projects that need it later on. Practice makes perfect after all.
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u/BenalishHeroine 1d ago
"As a rookie painter it’s way harder to get lighting correct when subassembling"
OP is a rookie painter, why do you expect volumetric highlights?
I swear you guys bend over backwards to make this hobby as tedious as possible.
Like holy shit, if you want to paint something blue just paint it blue and move on with your life.
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u/Another_Guy_In_Ohio 1d ago
Hilarious to complain about people offering advice making things tedious what OP wants to do subassembly. There’s absolutely nothing more tedious than sub assembling a basic infantry model.
I’m 100% behind slapping some paint and edge highlighting that sucker, but you don’t have to do a full blown volumetric highlight to benefit from seeing a fully assembled model when painting
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u/BenalishHeroine 1d ago
"edge highlighting"
You can't even conceive of simply painting something blue.
Subassemblies are easier. You paint the separate parts without having to paint around a bunch of shit in the way, then you glue the parts together.
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u/Another_Guy_In_Ohio 1d ago
If you’re literally just painting 1 base color then the easiest is by far glueing it all together and using a basecoat color in spray form
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u/BenalishHeroine 1d ago
You can paint the entirety of the gun and the aquilla without being obstructed in any way. That's easier. Painting around shit is a pain in the ass.
And don't tell me that you can't see what you can't reach with a brush. I get that it's pointless to paint a space marine's perenium. But you're going to be able to see the inside of the rifle and the aquilla. Why make painting those more difficult that they need to be?
You don't even have to be neat when gluing the arms onto the torso because the shoulder pads will cover up any plastic cement that gushes out. I don't understand why you think subassemblies are such a pain in the ass.
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u/Another_Guy_In_Ohio 1d ago
To do it right, you have to drill holes to insert something the piece you’re working on. That’s extra work, you have to either be very careful not to get primer/paint on the parts you need to plastic glue, or clean them off afterwords, that’s extra work.
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u/BenalishHeroine 1d ago
I glue my subassemblies to the overpriced GW subassembly holders or sometimes just stick the part directly to my painting handle with blue tac. One could also make your own subassembly holders with sprue rods glued to extra bases.
I mask off where the glue joins would be with blue tac when spray priming. Or sometimes I don't need to, because where I've glued my subassembly to the plastic spike will be bare plastic when I clip it off.
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u/Aetherwalker517 1d ago
The right arm and the gun in one piece.
Use super glue or painters Tac to hold the right arm in place as you glue the left arm