Mold line removal - do you?

[broyston]

So a simple question, do you remove mold lines from your models? I ask this for a couple of reasons, firstly from a personal standpoint I always remove all mold lines, even on scenery, just got to do it or it bugs me. It is just part of the assembly process. To keep costs down I buy a lot of 2nd hand models, from eBay, bring and buy stalls at game shows etc. I think of the hundreds of 2nd hand models I have that every single one still had mold lines on it when I bought it which I have then had to remove. So no one else seems to bother. Recently I was reading a Facebook gaming group comment thread where this was being discussed and I was surprised at the number of responses along the lines of "facist hobby dictators telling me to take my mold lines off, I won't, it takes too long and doesn't make a difference anyway" (it then descended into an argument about drilling out barrels....). So I am just weird and do most people not bother with mold line removal as it seems?

[yoritomo]

I always remove mound lines.

It bugs me how much time I spend cleaning off mound line on my models. But it bugs me more when I start painting and see that little raised line.

When I first started I really didn’t care about mound lines. As I started getting better at painting I realized how bad they could make my model look, so I became religious about removing them.

[hivefleetkerrigan]

I try to remove them where possible. I have issues removing them if there's a lot of texture where the mold line is located or if it's on tiny detailed bits. If it looks like I'm going to break a piece or I can't get my hobby knife at the right location or no one can see it, I won't remove the mold line.

[Grythic]

It's not fun, but it must be done.

[trashcan01]

On smaller models I don't bother. Warriors and everything bigger I tend to remove as it can be spotted from tabletop distance.

[infornography]

I try to remove mold lines but sometimes they just look natural where they ended up or removing them would look worse than leaving them.

[hivefleetkerrigan]

Does anyone have advice on removing mold lines on textured elements? I can't figure out how to do it on the power coils on plasma weapons. I tend to just leave them in those cases

[infornography]

not really. Those are always hard for me too, I always either overdo it and lose some detail or just leave them be.

[Snaekhar Venomblood]

Nah, once I've painted my models no form of mould lines are really visible, so I don't bother removing what my paint will be able to hide anyway.

[Grythic]

You're applying your paint way too thick if it's hiding mould lines, even when I first started and wasn't thinning paint the lines where easily visible on my first few models before I learnt to remove them.

[Trygon]

Back when I was in the hobby I religiously removed mold lines. If you are going to be spending potentially hundreds of quid on miniatures you might as well put in at least the bare minimum amount of effort to build them.

I used to use a hobby knife set for the job. Here is a pretty cheap set off Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-251094-Hobby-Knives-16-Piece/dp/B002QRYFVK/ I had files too, but I barely had to use them for mold lines.

[mattblowers]

Of course I remove them. I'm not a barbaric Neanderthal!