3) Preparing your model - So now your tools are ready and you are drooling in front of the box of your kit to start assembling it. But before starting to do it, there are still a couple of steps to be done. In fact, before the assembling phase, I strongly suggest to wash your kit thoroughly, even before starting to cut the parts off the frame. The kit surfaces need a good washing in order to give the paint a better grip on them, removing the thin film of grease that usually remains the industrial printing and handling of plastic. All you have to do is to put all the frames of your kit in a basin with cold or warm water and a small amount of dish soap, the best for removing grease and oil, and wash them. Then you will remove all the soap under running water and wipe the frames with a clean cloth.
This operation is absolutely necessary for garage kits, because there is much more grease covering the vinyl or resin parts of those kits than in the mass-produced plastic ones. Actually I found a small bottle of soap in the box of some garage kits! They know how to keep their price high! It's my opinion that a good washing is necessary for all models anyway.
The next step is to think about the parts of the finished model that you won't be able to reach and paint when everything will be assembled. You have to find out those parts and paint them before they are assembled with the others. They are the most inner parts (engines, joints, cockpits, nozzles, etc.), that can't be painted without soiling some other finished part or simply can't be completely painted anymore. But they will be visible in the finished model, so they need to be painted. It can be quite boring to have to use your paint a long time before you will use them again, when the model is finished, but it's the only way to do it right. So pull out your paints and do with the colour you chose (black, gun metal or whatever) all the parts that you think need this pre-painting, before cutting them off the frame. They are much easier to handle and paint in this way. Remember that all of the external surfaces of your model will be extensively worked upon and modified (gluing, filing, filling, etc.) and can't be painted now, but on the contrary the internal parts will probably need only this first painting.
When all the parts that you have painted have dried up, it's time to start assembling your model.

4) Assembling your kit -  The instructions for assembling your kit are divided in sections. Some sections follow a strict sequence, others have a looser connection to the whole assembling schedule (for example, you can't finish the arms section without assembling together the shoulder to the arm, the arm to the forearm, the forearm to the hand, but you usually can build the weapons whenever you want). So the first step to be taken is to choose the section to work upon and study it. This study may or may not suggest some modifications that could benefit to the general look and/or functionality of the model. This is the moment to plan this modifications, having in mind your initial expectations and the picture of the finished model that you should have created when you studied the kit at the beginning. Remember that the kit is designed to work well with the parts as they are. When you decide to change something, be sure to make the new parts work well with the other sections of the model, in particular with those directly connected with what you are modifying.
Now it's time to start cutting!! Individuate the parts of the section you are working upon on the sprue tree and cut them off the tree, using the cutter. Don't cut too much! Sometimes to cut off a detailed part from the tree can be tricky, and some useful plastic remains on the tree. It's better to cut some additional sprue attached to the part, that can be easily cleaned off later, than ruin a very important component.
Once the single part has been cut from the tree, it's important to clean it up with sandpaper, files and knife, eliminating the residues from the sprue tree and any other imperfection. This is absolutely important for the parts that cannot be easily accessed again when assembled.
When all the parts of the section are cut and cleaned, try to put them together without glue and see if they fit well together or they need some changes. There are often small and simple modifications made on single parts that can greatly enhance the finished model, such as opening holes, cutting off plastic from arm and leg sockets, reduce or increase some edges, make some inner spaces visible, etc. . Some of this stuff must be done at this stage, on the single part before it's assembled, so be careful and think ahead. You should also be careful to not break the parts that you are trying to fit together. These components can often stay together without glue and can be quite hard to separate them after this try.

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