Is paint water restricted movement?

 So you have you're lovely new models rattling about in a box, but you want to use them to fight dinosaurs the shallow of a pond so you'll need to get them ready.

Now I'm far from an expert painter (far from an expert anything to be honest) but I can give you a rough guide for how to take your models from bits of metal to a single lump of colourful metal.

First thing you need to do is clean and build the models, by clean I mean take off any flash (excess material left over from casting) tackle the mold lines (lines where to cast molds met). For this you'll want some tools, I normally have a Stanley knife, a pair of clippers, and a small file. The general idea is to cut or scrap off any flash, smooth down any line with the back of the knife or the file.  Both of these things can be as thorough or brief as you wish. the cleaner the model the better end result but if you don't get everyone it's not the end of the world (well it is in game but that was years ago) just make sure you take care of any excess material around where parts join as you'll want to get a got fit later on.

Next it's time to put the pieces together. With these models I'd use super glue, it's inexpensive and readily available. Dry fit the parts together first so you know how it goes and what order is best to attach thing (sometimes parts can cover a area you need to get to) Next step is to add a bit of glue. Try to avoid drowning it in glue you'll just end up gluing the parts to your fingers not together.
Once it's all together you may find some gaps and noticeable join lines, this can be filled with a bit of greenstuff a putty like product that you mix and the push into or over the joins. once its cured you can file it down and smooth it off.

 Now it's built before you paint it you need to prime it. Priming is simple putting down a layer of paint for your following paint job to stick to. You have a few options for primer but simply put you can either brush on or spray, and you can pick a colour. My preferred method is to spray on a grey primer. lots of people swear by a black or white base to start from. But to start go with whatever you pick up first and work out personal preference later. Things to remember, don't over do it. A primer should be a fine layer of paint not spreading butter. White will help you get light bright colours. Grey is neutral and black is for deep darker tones. Play about with it is the best advice. Further on you can also mix in zenithal priming which is basically a dark base colour then primed from above with a light colour helping to simulate how light effects a model.

Now the fun step painting. Most advice you'll get on painting is quite "you must do this" or "there are three steps" ignore all of this paint how you want to paint but learn a few basics to get you to that point. If you want to hit the ground running I'd give a few bits of advice. Choose colours that work together, it helps. Make sure each area is defined, you're working on a small model most often seen at 2-3 feet away, the more definition the better.  A colour has lots of shades but try and think where is the mid-tone , shadow, and highlights.
Final time, mess around with it, you can always paint over things that don't work.

Final step, the step that make it come to life. Basing. You have endless options here from the simple bit of sand and pva, static grass, or a fully molded scenic base. If it's your first time I'd suggest a layer of pva and a sprinkle of sand covered in a brown paint then a few patches of static grass for variation. It's not ground breaking but its simple and effective.

Hope you found something useful in my ramblings if you have any great advice for painting feel free to share.