I've been meaning to start Epic for a while now... I have a bunch of minis (maybe too many to start with) and I've assembled some of them, but I've found it time consuming. Which is great, I want a full hobby, but it takes me forever to shave five infantry figures down until they're all clean before sticking them onto a stand. How far should I be going with that? I don't have as much time to dedicate as I'd like, and I haven't even gotten to the painting stage! Unlike painting (and because of it) you can't just do a sloppy construction job to get the models on the table and then go back and make it better later.

Realistically my time constraints aren't that bad - I don't even have kids yet (though we do have a house) - I'm just terribly inefficient at all this and need advice. Thanks.

If you're prepping metal models I completely understand your concerns but unfortunately there's really no option unless you want to ignore the mould lines altogether.

Plastic however is a different kettle of fish in my opinion. I use a scalpel or a brand new exacto blade to scrape my minis down. Both are dead sharp so prepping is fairly quick. I don't do more than run the blade edge firmly down the mould lines and the minis are usually good to go. Sometimes they require a quick nick at either end to clear the sprue join mark but I try hard to get a good separation when I remove them from the sprue. The one thing I usually do is do all the models in a formation at once, get a production line going and drop them into a tray once they're done. That usually helps cut prep time as I know exactly what I need to do and some minis don't even need a scrape which also cuts down on time. Then I can just blu-tack them to an icy pole stick and spray undercoat ready for painting.

I normally try listening to an audio play or online interview/discussion while doing this kind of stuff, as you pay attention to that and don't notice spending time on the boring bits so much. Try to do one formation at a time or something too, rather than sitting down with 1-2 armies (or all your epic models) at once, as it'll look too daunting. As you get models, stands and formations done you start getting more of a sense of achievement and getting there.

Some people use files to clean up, some craft knife, some a mix. I'm in the knife camp myself. I face the model so the mould line of the models runs in a direction pointing towards me. I use the knife by scraping it perpendicular to the mould line, at a diagonal angle towards me, getting rid of the mould line and making the two sides match. I can take care of mould lines pretty quickly and I imagine I could clean up a single individual plastic epic trooper in 20-30 seconds or so. Are you taking that sort of time or much longer? Maybe the more you do it the more it'll come naturally and you'll speed up?

I'm in the knife camp when it comes to the infantry and sometimes use a file on armor.
The quality of the tools makes a difference. For a knife I use a jewelers tool called a graver. They come to a sharp, finer tip.
They come in sets, all of which are useful.
You can get then pre-formed and sharpened or blanks you sharpen yourself. They are designed for silver and gold and hold their edges for a long time with white metal and plastic.
You can sculpt a bit with them too.

Yeah, I'm working on some Old Chaos Squats ... They look like they all have to "go under the knife" ... X-Acto/Scalpel ...

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Legion 4 "Cry Havoc, and let slip the Dogs of War !" ... "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

It's mostly infantry that's the problem. Some of the plastic sprues I have are not that great - there's a bit of flash all around the models which doesn't respond well to scraping. I'll keep at it though. Thanks for the tips!