Prime and paint cannons on sprue tree or glue and assemble first?

[Admiral Beez]

I’m starting my first kit in years, Heller’s 1/150 Le Superbe.   I’m using AK and Vallejo acrylics and Tamiya’s spray-on white primer.   The first step are the cannons.  The cannons and trucks first need sanding to remove flashing, which I can do on the trees.  But would it be best to cut the parts off the tree and glue and assemble the cannons before priming and painting?   It would be easier to prime and paint the cannons before they’re glued to the carriages, but I’d have to scrape some off to glue them.  If I’m going to prime and paint them before assembly I might as well prime and paint when the cannons and carriages are on the tree, since otherwise much of my spray-on primer will be wasted.  Thoughts?

[Paul Jarman]

Depending on the colour I  would paint them on the sprue. As I would with most of the parts. 

If some parts are glued together and painted one colour than I would glue them together first then paint them.

The only important thing to remember is not to get any paint on the area's that will be glued.

Paul

[wefalck]

Painting on the sprue may sound attractive, but based on my plastic-kit experience from some 30 years ago, I would not do it, because it is difficult to remove flash satisfactorily, while the parts are still on the sprue. This applies particularly to round objects, such as cannon. The risk is that you flatten them. 

 

However, I appreciate that it may be difficult to hold 1/150 scale cannon for painting. Are the cannon attached at the muzzle ? Then I would perhaps cut off a small piece of sprue with the cannon still attached. This give you good access to the cannon for flash removal and a handle for painting. After painting you can slice the cannon off with a scalpel, clean up the fron of the muzzle, drill it open (if not representing tampions), and touch up the muzzle, if needed.

[europapete]

If you can, I would recommend assembling first and sanding the seams, then painting. Push a length of wire or cocktail stick into the muzzle for painting. stick the other end into some modelling clay or polystyrene to hold while it dries. If you paint first while on the sprue, all your guns will have seam lines. Regards, Pete in RI