[Golden Hawk Boy]

Hi all completely new here and to the hobby, got my first box of figures for xmas Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard.

The models are a lot small than i thought was gonna be and was wondering do you build the model first or paint then build? the details are so small looks difficult to paint when fully assembled so just looking for some advice.

Many thanks for you time and fingers crossed replies

Enjoy the rest of your festive holidays

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

Models are harder to paint when fully assembled, however it can be hard to conceal seams, keep paint off the areas you need to glue together, &c. if you paint before any gluing. So, many painters start with some assembly, paint the sub-assemblies, then finish the assembly.

For example, assemble the marine's body, paint the body, arms, and weapon, then attach the arms; this avoids the arms/weapon getting the the way of painting the chest detail.

 

[BayouJuju]

I agree with Dave, it's best to assemble the big parts before painting them and do the small ones that need more detail separately.
If you paint everything in one block, some areas will be inaccessible, while if you paint everything separately, you'll have differences in hues...