Sorry to bring this up if this has been discussed before.
Today I picked up a Japanese book on modelling Stug IIIs called Sturm Model Fibel 2 - Long Barrel Models.
It's got some great pictures in it with before and after sort of photos.
Now the guys who made these models had constructed the vehicle entirely including all the cables, tools, machine guns, schurzen rails, wheels, and track links etc before a single drop of paint has been sprayed on.
I have the following question:
Is it good practice to do so?
I understand the need to maintain consistency of shading at least for the basic camo scheme and sticking everything on in its final position helps in that regard.
But it seems to me very odd to do so since you will be obstructing yourself when it comes to painting the hand tools, machine guns, wheels, tracks especially. Now I assume that in the photos I see, the in-progress photos, every last item has been stuck on with glue in its final position. The wheels and individual track links especially cannot now move.
What happens if you get severe butter fingers when painting a shovel or a track and ruin the neighbouring camo scheme that took you ages to perfect?
I'm interested to hear how other modellers tackle this problem.
Many thanks
Danny