# Advice painting tanks



## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

Hey guys.

I now have 2 Rhinos and 2 Predators I need to paint, in Iron Snakes colours.

Basically, I am looking for general help and advice with painting tanks. Is it exactly the same as painting an infantry model? What about washes? Any other advice would be graetly appreciated 

thanks a lot 

jack.


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## Trevor Drake (Oct 25, 2008)

Really, with a tank, you just gotta man up, find the biggest brush you can, and dry brush that puppy into submission. Other than spraying that fine mist of paint at it (never understood this train of thought, how manly is it to cover an engine of war in a light spray of paint >.< ). For your smaller areas, especially in whites, you need to water the white down and go for layers, as doing just straight white paint will leave it uneven and patches of the basecoat showing through, looks horrid as an end result. Atleast that is my esperience painting imperial tanks.


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## Marneus Calgar (Dec 5, 2007)

You need a large flat brush, no point painting a tank with a piddly little brush unless you're going to the extreme detail look. Make sure you water down paints, a small bit of thick paint on an infantry model isn't as noticeable as a Vehicle. Even if its a foundation paint, you need to water it down . 

Brushes I would reccommend are Army Painters Tanks/Terrain Brush, its awesome!


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## Jayeldog (Aug 23, 2010)

Yep, large brushes and use watered down paints. If you have access to a decent airbrush, they always speeds things up for bigger projects like vehicles. Also allows for a flat, even coat across large areas.

I'm still working on a chaos rhino I keep putting off. What I've learned so far: its easier to paint the different pieces ,that are different colors, before assembly. As in, the spikey add-on bits chaos loves, which I want with a silver base coat, I should have left off to paint. Instead I ended up having to touch up a bunch of silver paint flicks on the rest of the vehicle.


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

Great!
So far in short...
1. Buy a big arse brush.
2. water down all paints.
3. lots of drybrushing.

thanks for help so far 

any other general tips?


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## Unforgiven302 (Oct 20, 2008)

Before anything, you need a good primer laid down on the model.

A spray primer is the best way to go. I buy my spray primer from my local auto parts store. For your color scheme I would recommend a gray primer, it will work the best. 
If you use a spray can, make sure you keep the can in an upright position while painting. Keep the paint well mixed by shaking the can often. Apply in light, quick back and forth motions. Keep the can at least 8-12 inches away from the model and always keep the can moving, never stop or give a quick squirt to cover a small section, it will cause a puddle of paint to form and you will regret it. Quick, smooth flowing side to side motion is the key to a smooth finish when using spray paint.

After priming, you can go two ways. Spray or brush. Spray is the easiest and leaves the best finish. Either spray paint in a can or an airbrush will give good/excellent results. Spray cans are cheap and easy but finding a good color match for your existing army is going to be difficult unless you use pure white or black as your main color. You can take a small piece of paper or plastic painted in the color you looking for to see if you can match it up.

Brush is the harder option. You need to thin your paint down a lot and go in small sections at a time. You will have to put down multiple layers and the process becomes time consuming. You can also leave brush strokes on the model which are undesirable. The largest, flattest brush you can find is the only way to go. Small brushes will leave stroke marks and a poor finish.

For washes, it can be real easy. You do not want to just slap a wash all over the model, it will dry leaving streaks and blemishes in the finish, not what you want. You only want to apply a wash in the recesses and hard corners of the model. You can also apply a wash around rivets to make them really stand out. This can be a very time consuming chore, I know, I have done it to every vehicle model I own, and I have an ork battlewagon... thousands of rivets... 
Just take your time with the washes, and use a brush size that will fit into the recess nicely. Too big a brush and you run the risk of the brush popping out of the recess and making a smudge on a spot you don't want. 

Paint the model in pieces if possible. Leave the tracks, turrets, doors, etc. off the model and paint everything separately. It will give a much cleaner and crisper finish when finally assembled. 

Hope that helps a little.

P.S. Dry brushing can ruin a nicely painted vehicle, especially a tank. A rhino or pred does not need to be dry brushed, if anything, on the treads and that is about it. 
If you are going to weather it, mud, scratches, etc. then dry brushing is NOT the way to go. Fine detail brush and thinned paints applied to the edges will give you a nice highlight.


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

Unforgiven302 said:


> Before anything, you need a good primer laid down on the model.
> 
> A spray primer is the best way to go. I buy my spray primer from my local auto parts store. For your color scheme I would recommend a gray primer, it will work the best.
> If you use a spray can, make sure you keep the can in an upright position while painting. Keep the paint well mixed by shaking the can often. Apply in light, quick back and forth motions. Keep the can at least 8-12 inches away from the model and always keep the can moving, never stop or give a quick squirt to cover a small section, it will cause a puddle of paint to form and you will regret it. Quick, smooth flowing side to side motion is the key to a smooth finish when using spray paint.
> ...


Wow, very detailed answer mate, +rep for you!

Does anyone have a website I can buy a decent spray primer and spray can from for my models?


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## Unforgiven302 (Oct 20, 2008)

Ultra111 said:


> Does anyone have a website I can buy a decent spray primer and spray can from for my models?


Easiest place to get spray paint is at hardware stores, mega marts (Wal Mart) and auto parts supplier stores.


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## King Diablo (Nov 2, 2008)

Tanks tend to look good when you give them some wear and weathering. I doubt your army is going to get brand new tanks for every battle (unless they tend not to make it through your battles  ).
For weathering I start by painting the tank as everyone suggested above, so that it looks fresh off the assembly line. I then go and drybrush black, boltgun metal, and brazen brass (in that order) over the edges of the tank, especially the body panels around the tracks, and teeth of the rear door. I do this with a dead drybrushing brush which makes the drybrushing erratic. Once this is done you can use brown ink in blotches over some of the areas you drybrushed to create rusty spots, and you can drybrush on different shades of brown to simulate dirt. I have seen people glue sand and static grass to the treds and bottom panels of their tanks and then paint it brown to make it look like you drove your rhino through a mud hole. 

However, this is more work so if you decide you want things done quickly, ignore my post.


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## gen.ahab (Dec 22, 2009)

Airbrush, defiantly airbrush. I could pretend I know what I am doing, but that would be insulting to your intelligence. So I will let this dude say it for me.


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## Unforgiven302 (Oct 20, 2008)

Before anyone jumps on me for saying dry brushing is not the way to go, I want to explain what I mean.

Below is an example of straight up dry brushed weathering on a tank. You can see that the effect is not very crisp or sharp and tends to look rather flat or sand blasted. The dry brushing is picking up on the actual rough finish of the paint on the model and not just the edges of the tank itself. The act of dry brushing is also allowing paint "dust" to contaminate the model. The flicking back and forth motion of the paint brush is throwing off little particles of paint into the air and then landing on the model. This can be frustrating as it gives the model a perma-dusty look that isn't the effect you desired. I think the final effects of this method of painting/highlighting look a bit off and dull. Dry brushing works best on small surfaces such as faces, gun barrels and extreme edges, and not so well on large flat surfaces.










Below is one of my own personal rhinos with a wear and tear weathering. I highlighted the edges with a thinned boltgun metal and used just the edge of my brush to go along the hard edges of the tank. For the chips and scratches I again used a thinned boltgun metal but used just the tip of a fine detail brush. I started from the center and moved to the edges which gave a sharp pointy effect all while blending into the previously applied highlight. I think it looks more accurate and striking. But that is my personal tastes too. This is a rather tedious method and requires a lot of patience and time to do an entire tank or large model. 










Below is an example of mud and dirt weathering. This was done with either an airbrush or by stippling the paint. Stippling is when you use a flat tipped brush and directly push the loaded brush onto the model repeatedly. Kind of like you were poking it. It gives a very unique and natural effect, which is good. You can do a wear and tear with a dirt and mud effect that can make a model look really good. The key is to do it in moderation. Sometimes less is more.










The best thing to do is to practice on either spare pieces or even on old sprues. Eventually you will find an effect you like and can accomplish with a little patience and practice.


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

Ok, were can I buy a decent spray paint and spray primer from the internet? I can't leave the house at the moment because of surgery, so I have to order it online? Also where can I get an airbrush thing online?
Thanks!


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

Air brushes and such are alot of expense and do require some decent knowledge on how to use them correctly, for iron snakes you could just get a can of black primer and dry brush the models with silver metalics or you could just get a can of silver spray acrylic and save your self several hours dry brushing. Tanks are different to infantry as they have alot of flat surface area and often putting washes and high lights will spoil the look, keep the wash in the recesses, use chipping of paint as highlights and dont be afraid to weather and dirty up the tracks and such to add depth to the model.

some GW stuff
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/c...100019&section=&pIndex=3&aId=15900003&start=4

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/c...ryId=cat1350001&pIndex=3&aId=13100001&start=4

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/c...tegoryId=1100019&pIndex=2&aId=9600014&start=3


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

For stippling on mud you can also use small sponges. I've seen some very nice weathering done using this.


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

Varakir said:


> For stippling on mud you can also use small sponges. I've seen some very nice weathering done using this.


I have a stippling brush, won't that do the same thing?




bitsandkits said:


> Air brushes and such are alot of expense and do require some decent knowledge on how to use them correctly, for iron snakes you could just get a can of black primer and dry brush the models with silver metalics or you could just get a can of silver spray acrylic and save your self several hours dry brushing. Tanks are different to infantry as they have alot of flat surface area and often putting washes and high lights will spoil the look, keep the wash in the recesses, use chipping of paint as highlights and dont be afraid to weather and dirty up the tracks and such to add depth to the model.
> 
> some GW stuff
> http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/c...100019&section=&pIndex=3&aId=15900003&start=4
> ...


Firstly, thanks for the links, will definately use them on the 2 rhinos, 2 predators, and 2 vindicators I have to paint.
On my shopping list I have black spray primer, which I can get from GW, but where can I get good silver spray acrylic? I ask because I don't wanna ruin my lovely models 
Also, as I may not get the silver I wanted from the acrylic, could I just get a spray gun from GW and spray with boltgun metal? I wouild have my base colour then.

But that is where I get stuck. Normally then I would wash with badab black and light drybrush mithril silver. How would I do this on a tank :S



Thanks for all the help guys, I will +rep you in the morning 

Sorry if I'm getting confused, I am pretty tired at the moment but I wanna get this sorted.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

if you already have the GW spray gun then i would say give it a try, test it first see how it goes, if you dont then i would avoid it.
out of a can i would go with this
http://www.wonderlandmodels.com/products/humbrol-27003-polished-steel-metallic-150ml-spray/
or
http://www.wonderlandmodels.com/products/tamiya-as-12-bare-metal-silver/


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

I don't own it, so I will take your advice 

That acrylic is looking good, and I trust your judgement.

Almost have my little confused head sorted now, just need to know how to do the badab black/mithril silver part differently. I got different opinions, eg yes to drybrush and no to drybrush, but I can't think of another way other than drybrush to get the samme look. 

I know to save the wash for the recesses only, so I'm ok with that, it's just that last bit


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

personally i would dry brush the models , huge brush, pot of bolt gun metal and a load of kitched roll and an afternoon, pile the dry brush on, almost to the point were you can see no black under the silver. then highlight the tank by dry brushing it again with mythral silver and then again with silver and white 50:50 mix

this is how it looks 









its much duller in real life, the brightness is due to the flash, but you can see the grainy drybrushing on the side, then for your guys were my model is black you would do the white with the snake symbol in blue.
same again on my pred from the side 








and land raider








all done with a large flat drybrush, no washes applied to any of these , the shade was created by not dry brushing as hard or as long in the recesses.


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## Ultra111 (Jul 9, 2009)

thanks a lot for your help mate, will +rep you now 

I plan to start an IS project log soon, when I finish my first TS and CC terminators, you will see the tanks (which you guys have helped with) in there when I finish if you're interested


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

Ultra111 said:


> I have a stippling brush, won't that do the same thing?


Yep! The sponges are just a bit bigger, and not everyone has a stippling brush 

Good luck with your tank decorating :victory:


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