OK, I'm returning to to what I used to do as a kid: Modelling WW1 German scout aircraft in 1/72 scale. In those days, even though I thought my models were good standard, they were all handpainted (usually Airfix, with Humbrol). Now, I want to start modelling at a high standard, detailed and rigged level. I'm fully equipped with quality airbrush etc, but though I've looked at some stuff online I can't easily see the answer to this.... Do we airbrush the wings and fuselage before assembly? Access is very difficult when built, it's not like doing a Spitfire or similar!!! Would appreciate some opinions or actual processes. Many Thanks.

Usually you'll want to do the major painting before assembly. Build the fuselage as a subassembly paint it, then paint the wings, then join everything together in final asembly. If you pop over to the early aviation forum, you can follow along in the build threads of the Knights of the Sky group build and you can see how they're being done.

Thank you for that: Fairly obvious. But I guess I was thinking 'what happens when the interplane struts are a bad fit' etc and there are repair processes involved using modelling putty in which the finish would need fixing. Even worse if there are lozenge camo decals involved. At this stage I imagine the answer is jigged pre-adhesion assembly and modification plus very fine brushwork. I'm just at the planning stage at the moment, having bought a few of the cheaper kits and gathering materials, and am thinking of starting with something like a British Sopwith as the paint scheme will be essentially down to two main surface colours. Learning curves eh?

Yes, if you need to do surgery to the kit you have to modify the process accordingly. Quite often the solution is to attach the struts to the lower wing and mask and paint before applying the upper. If you have a question or concern about a particulat kit, just ask about it in the forum. We have quite the collection of experts there who will be happy to offfer you their opinions.