I want to put some chains on a titan to hang banners from. Here are my questions:

1. should I paint it? Presumably if I spray undercoat and then paint it, the links will be stuck together, and if they're moved, the paint will crack and fall off, making an icky mess. How can I avoid this?

2. What's the neatest way to join it to the miniature? Just gluing each end to the mini would look pretty crap, but cutting a link in half and drilling holes for it to insert into sounds like a really awkward job.

Experience and advice greatly appreciated.

Jodders.

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Depends on how you paint them. I haven't experienced this as a big problem (although it probably also depends a bit on how you arrange them on the model), but if you want, you could drench the chains in spuerglue so they're less likely to move about before painting.

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Wouldn't that fill in the gaps and wreck the detail of them though?

I've wondered how to do this too, as I definitely want chains with banners on for all my titans and other large models.

In gluing some small components together myself, yes, the superglue would form a web in each opening of the links via surface tension, but running a small toothpick through the openings cleared that up.

Blowing lightly did the trick in a few instances as well.  Tedious on a chain, yes, but I'd wager it would work fine.

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There is also the option of getting a chain that doesn't oxidize and use it loose just pinned/glued at either end. There is the problem that the only options I can think of is yellow/white gold but if you really want it a 9ct gold chain might do and isn't that expensive.

I wouldn't have thought unpainted chain would look quite right. It's like using stones without painting them, they look like little stones rather than big rocks and ruin any sense of scale.

I'd agree that fixing the chain with a little superglue would probably be the best option, although as everyone has said, it would be important not to let it fill in the gaps too much.

As for attaching it to the model, I'm not really sure. It might be possible to make some kind of fitting from putty.

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Apart from the gluing issue, I would have thought a wash with one of the GW washes would dull/shade the chain enough without forcing a cracking paint issue.

Measure your chain on the model & blu-tack it.  Pull it off, give it a light coating of clear matte or primer, lay it on your painting desk, & drybrush/semi drybrush with the chain off the model.  Attach it afterward.

You can also use conservatively thinned PVA brushed carefully onto the chain if you are looking to convey movement etc.  PVA is less brittle than CA and works fine so long as you don't gob it on.

If all of it seems too daunting, just look for some suitable bits in GW's plastic models.  There are more than a few lengths of plastic chain to be cropped from GW sprues.

For joining your chain to the model, use a pin vise to drill holes and run suitably sized floral wire through the last link & into the model.  This is still going to take some handy work with tweezers at Epic scale, but it looks good & is easier than monkeying with the actual chain bits.

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