GW Standard Method
This method is extensively documented on a variety of sources, most notably the Games Workshop YouTube channel with their fantastic walk-through for painting Cadian Armour. I usually make some slight modifications to this base depending on the colours I'm using.
Prime Black
Like with most simple painting projects I tend to start with a black priming coat using GW Chaos Black spray. Sometimes I might use some additional zenithal GW Corax White rattle can priming for highlights, but I usually only do this when I'm aiming for higher levels of quality.
Base Flat Colours
I usually use an airbrush for this step, however many layers with a broad flat brush will also work. With an airbrush I apply many successive layers of my first base colour until the entire model has an overall even layer of the base colour.
Optional Camo Patterns
Next I apply an even layer of my pattern colours using my chosen pattern. I apply this with a broad flat brush first stippling it on, then I use a smaller brush to define a hard edge between regions of colour, using the first stippling pattern as a base. Repeat this process with each of your pattern colours, then you're done.
Pinwash
This stage involves lining all the cracks and recesses with a shade of some kind. For the most part the GW washes are fine, though you can make your own with a colour of your choice and glaze medium.
Drybrush Colours
For each of your pattern colours apply a drybrush layer with the distinct highlight colour for each of your pattern colours. I'd recommending using a smaller drybrush for this stage to maximise the control you have for each section colour.
Final Drybrush
This is the final highlight for your model. This should generally be a light brown or off white colour for vehicles that are brown or green in colour. For vehicles that are predominantly grey and black you can use a variety of grays. This layer should go over the entire model and will generally bind all of the different colours together.
This should give you the overall hull colour, all you need to do now is finish the other relevant details and you've got a finished model. I find that this method works best when you have a relatively complex camouflage pattern that you need to paint in by hand.
Airbrush Preshade/Gradient Method
This method is fairly common for airbrush users, as it allows the rapid painting of armour to a pretty good tabletop standard. However, not every wargamer has access to an airbrush, so this method may not be accessible to everybody. This method is particularly effective for batching mono-colour vehicles quickly, though additional steps are needed if you need to add a camouflage pattern to the base colour, that step will need to be accomplished with either extreme care, masking, or brushwork.
Prime Black
First thing, start with an overall black primer. This will act as our first deep shade and cover the bare material.
Zenithal Prime White
A fairly heavy 45 degree zenithal prime will generally catch the raised surfaces while leaving the deeper recesses on the original black primer, this is especially useful for airbrush painting as it means we can rely on the opacity of the main layers to play off the white and black for shading.
Airbrush Deep Shade
At this stage we need to lay down our preshades for the main colour. This is typically our darkest shade colour based on our preselected triad of shade, base and highlight colours. The purpose of this is to establish the spots where our deepest colours are in shade. In the above model, the Cromwell, these spots are the ninety degree angles between between the main hull and the track guards, the hull front glacis and the sloped front of the hull, the lower areas of the hull, the underside of the hull, and so on.
Airbrush Overall Base
At this stage we will establish our mid tone colour across the entire model. The goal is to lay down many very thin layers of colour so that the opacity is sufficient to allow for the shade colours painted in the previous step to show through.
Zenithal First Highlight
This stage is our first highlight and will provide a general highlight of our first highlight colour over most of the uppermost surfaces of the model. Again, we need to build this up over many subsequent layers to get a gradient of colour.
Improvements to Shading
In the very deepest recesses it may be necessary to enhance the deepest shades. This can be some with selective pin washing and line highlighting with a brown or a black as appropriate.
Final Drybrush Highlights
This stage should be carried out generally as the final steps of the painting process. Like with the final drybrush highlight of the GW Method, the colour you use should be a tan colour. Vallejo Dark Sand is perfect for this. It doesn't matter too much if you highlight metallics or other colours with this stage, as it adds to an overall slightly weathered looked, which is perfect for armoured vehicles.
This method is extensively documented on a variety of sources, most notably the Games Workshop YouTube channel with their fantastic walk-through for painting Cadian Armour. I usually make some slight modifications to this base depending on the colours I'm using.Prime Black
Like with most simple painting projects I tend to start with a black priming coat using GW Chaos Black spray. Sometimes I might use some additional zenithal GW Corax White rattle can priming for highlights, but I usually only do this when I'm aiming for higher levels of quality.
Base Flat Colours
I usually use an airbrush for this step, however many layers with a broad flat brush will also work. With an airbrush I apply many successive layers of my first base colour until the entire model has an overall even layer of the base colour.
Optional Camo Patterns
Next I apply an even layer of my pattern colours using my chosen pattern. I apply this with a broad flat brush first stippling it on, then I use a smaller brush to define a hard edge between regions of colour, using the first stippling pattern as a base. Repeat this process with each of your pattern colours, then you're done.
Pinwash
This stage involves lining all the cracks and recesses with a shade of some kind. For the most part the GW washes are fine, though you can make your own with a colour of your choice and glaze medium.
Drybrush Colours
For each of your pattern colours apply a drybrush layer with the distinct highlight colour for each of your pattern colours. I'd recommending using a smaller drybrush for this stage to maximise the control you have for each section colour.
Final Drybrush
This is the final highlight for your model. This should generally be a light brown or off white colour for vehicles that are brown or green in colour. For vehicles that are predominantly grey and black you can use a variety of grays. This layer should go over the entire model and will generally bind all of the different colours together.
This should give you the overall hull colour, all you need to do now is finish the other relevant details and you've got a finished model. I find that this method works best when you have a relatively complex camouflage pattern that you need to paint in by hand.
Airbrush Preshade/Gradient Method
This method is fairly common for airbrush users, as it allows the rapid painting of armour to a pretty good tabletop standard. However, not every wargamer has access to an airbrush, so this method may not be accessible to everybody. This method is particularly effective for batching mono-colour vehicles quickly, though additional steps are needed if you need to add a camouflage pattern to the base colour, that step will need to be accomplished with either extreme care, masking, or brushwork.Prime Black
First thing, start with an overall black primer. This will act as our first deep shade and cover the bare material.
Zenithal Prime White
A fairly heavy 45 degree zenithal prime will generally catch the raised surfaces while leaving the deeper recesses on the original black primer, this is especially useful for airbrush painting as it means we can rely on the opacity of the main layers to play off the white and black for shading.
Airbrush Deep Shade
At this stage we need to lay down our preshades for the main colour. This is typically our darkest shade colour based on our preselected triad of shade, base and highlight colours. The purpose of this is to establish the spots where our deepest colours are in shade. In the above model, the Cromwell, these spots are the ninety degree angles between between the main hull and the track guards, the hull front glacis and the sloped front of the hull, the lower areas of the hull, the underside of the hull, and so on.
Airbrush Overall Base
At this stage we will establish our mid tone colour across the entire model. The goal is to lay down many very thin layers of colour so that the opacity is sufficient to allow for the shade colours painted in the previous step to show through.
Zenithal First Highlight
This stage is our first highlight and will provide a general highlight of our first highlight colour over most of the uppermost surfaces of the model. Again, we need to build this up over many subsequent layers to get a gradient of colour.
Improvements to Shading
In the very deepest recesses it may be necessary to enhance the deepest shades. This can be some with selective pin washing and line highlighting with a brown or a black as appropriate.
Final Drybrush Highlights
This stage should be carried out generally as the final steps of the painting process. Like with the final drybrush highlight of the GW Method, the colour you use should be a tan colour. Vallejo Dark Sand is perfect for this. It doesn't matter too much if you highlight metallics or other colours with this stage, as it adds to an overall slightly weathered looked, which is perfect for armoured vehicles.
Enamel Shading Method
This method can also be combined with the above airbrush method for a result with more colour variation.
Prime Black
Like with all stages, start with priming the model black.
Flat Mid Tone Colour
This stage involves getting an even coat of the mid tone over the entirety of the model. This can be applied with either airbrush or a large flat brush. If you use a brush make sure you break it down into two to three layers.
First Colour Drybrush Highlight
This stage involves laying down the first highlight for your base colour. If the hull is a single colour you can go ahead and do a fairly heavy drybrush over the entire model. If your scheme involves a camouflage you will have to do several passes of targeted drybrush passes over each colour.
Other Colours
At this point you may want finish off other non-hull colours such as tracks, metallics, cloth and tools. I also wouldn't worry too much about shading these colours as the enamel wash stage will take care of shading these colours as well.
Floor Polish Seal
The next few stages are particularly hard on the underlying paint job, so sealing the work so far down is essential. This stage involves using a high gloss wood floor polish to seal in the model. If you are an American the product to look for is Pledge Future Shine. For my fellow Australians the product to look for is Long Life Self Shining Floor Polish, available at Bunnings across Australia.
You want to put down at least two decent coats of this stuff, though three to four is ideal, because the enamel wash will attack your paint job
Overall Enamel Wash
In this stage we will apply our overall wash. Obviously, make sure that your gloss layers are completely dry. Once that is done all you need to do is slather the entire model with the enamel wash, don't worry about it looking like rubbish, we'll end up removing most of the colour in the later stages. The idea is to make sure we have total coverage and all the deepest recesses of the model are covered with this layer. Once the application is down the next stage is to wait for the model to be touch dry, overnight is preferable. At this stage it does look like you've ruined your work so far, but don't worry, it'll be fixed in the next stage.
Wash Removal
Before you start this stage make sure you've purchased, stolen, requisitioned, or otherwise acquired some high quality cotton buds, or Q-Tips if you are an American. You'll also need some mineral turpentine, or a solvent specifically designed for the enamel wash. A cloth or a load of paper towel is also required.
What you need to do is use your solvent to slightly dampen the Q-Tips, then you use them to start rubbing away the wash on the middle areas and high areas, while leaving the wash in the recesses and lower parts of the vehicle.
At the end of this stage the look should still be a little grubby, but only in the deepest recesses, and 80% to 90% of the wash should have been removed. The good thing about this product is that you can remove as much or as little as you like.
Second Floor Polish Seal
Once you are satisfied with the wash, you need to seal in the results with another layer or two of the gloss polish that you applied in the earlier stages. Again, let this dry overnight, preferably under the cover of a plastic container to prevent dust from settling on the model and getting sealed in.
Satin Varnish
Now we need to kill the gloss. You can use any matt or satin varnish you like, either spray on or brush on. My preference is a thinned out Vallejo Satin Varnish, thinned with Vallejo Thinning Medium, a thin layer applied with an airbrush.
Final Dark Sand Drybrush
To bind all of the colours of the model together and to give the tank a slightly dusty and weathered look, I give the model a very fine drybrush with Vallejo Dark Sand or equivalent. This
Flat Mid Tone Colour
This stage involves getting an even coat of the mid tone over the entirety of the model. This can be applied with either airbrush or a large flat brush. If you use a brush make sure you break it down into two to three layers.
First Colour Drybrush Highlight
This stage involves laying down the first highlight for your base colour. If the hull is a single colour you can go ahead and do a fairly heavy drybrush over the entire model. If your scheme involves a camouflage you will have to do several passes of targeted drybrush passes over each colour.
Other Colours
At this point you may want finish off other non-hull colours such as tracks, metallics, cloth and tools. I also wouldn't worry too much about shading these colours as the enamel wash stage will take care of shading these colours as well.
Floor Polish Seal
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| The Good Stuff |
You want to put down at least two decent coats of this stuff, though three to four is ideal, because the enamel wash will attack your paint job
Overall Enamel Wash
In this stage we will apply our overall wash. Obviously, make sure that your gloss layers are completely dry. Once that is done all you need to do is slather the entire model with the enamel wash, don't worry about it looking like rubbish, we'll end up removing most of the colour in the later stages. The idea is to make sure we have total coverage and all the deepest recesses of the model are covered with this layer. Once the application is down the next stage is to wait for the model to be touch dry, overnight is preferable. At this stage it does look like you've ruined your work so far, but don't worry, it'll be fixed in the next stage.
Wash Removal
Before you start this stage make sure you've purchased, stolen, requisitioned, or otherwise acquired some high quality cotton buds, or Q-Tips if you are an American. You'll also need some mineral turpentine, or a solvent specifically designed for the enamel wash. A cloth or a load of paper towel is also required.
What you need to do is use your solvent to slightly dampen the Q-Tips, then you use them to start rubbing away the wash on the middle areas and high areas, while leaving the wash in the recesses and lower parts of the vehicle.
At the end of this stage the look should still be a little grubby, but only in the deepest recesses, and 80% to 90% of the wash should have been removed. The good thing about this product is that you can remove as much or as little as you like.
Second Floor Polish Seal
Once you are satisfied with the wash, you need to seal in the results with another layer or two of the gloss polish that you applied in the earlier stages. Again, let this dry overnight, preferably under the cover of a plastic container to prevent dust from settling on the model and getting sealed in.
Satin Varnish
Now we need to kill the gloss. You can use any matt or satin varnish you like, either spray on or brush on. My preference is a thinned out Vallejo Satin Varnish, thinned with Vallejo Thinning Medium, a thin layer applied with an airbrush.
Final Dark Sand Drybrush
To bind all of the colours of the model together and to give the tank a slightly dusty and weathered look, I give the model a very fine drybrush with Vallejo Dark Sand or equivalent. This
Other Techniques
Painting Tracks
I personally find that tracks and road wheels are often the most irritating component on the model to paint. Getting them to look right is often one of the more overlooked aspects of painting armoured vehicles for the table top. Most painters simply layer metallics, wash, then drybrush and call the job done. This is fine as a stylistic choice, but if you are going for a realistic look, it is not accurate. Some tanks don't use fully metallic tracks, most are a common of metal links and rubber treads, some are entirely rubber. So when you are painting a real world tank, either contemporary or historical, I'd always hit wikipedia first and look for some good colourized images.
Decals
Decals, when not done properly look terrible. They have a sheen that doesn't sell the illusion of a painted on symbol. This is the result of the decal not properly bonding with model and air bubbles getting trapped in between the surface of the model and the decal. The greatest secret when dealing with decals has to be Micro Set and Micro Sol, by Micro Scale Industries.
These two products are designed to be used in conjunction with each other, though in reality the Micro Sol solution is definitely the better and more important of the two products.
To use this product the first thing you need to do is apply a gloss coat to the surface of the model. The purpose of this is to provide a smooth surface for the decal to adhere to. Once that is dry prepare the surface by coating the target site with a layer of Micro Set. Then soak the decal in water and slide it onto the target sight as you normally do, then give it a quick coat of Micro Set, then sponge off the excess. Once the decal is relatively secure apply a layer of Micro Sol, this is when the magic happens.
This works particularly good for curved and uneven surfaces, as this substance will melt the decal and cause it to form around the detail of the model. This works particularly well for shoulder pad decals as many subsequent coats will cause even the most stiff decals to gradually conform the the surface of the model over many subsequent coats. To use this to best effect, apply a single coat, let it dry completely then apply another coat of Micro Set and let it dry. Repeat this process until the decal is completely flat and totally formed around any detail on the model. Once the decal is completely flat, apply another coat of gloss varnish to seal the decal in, then once you've finished any other detailing kill the gloss with a thin layer of Satin or Matt varnish.
Pigments
Pigments are more for display models than for table top models, as if they aren't properly sealed down, they will not stand up to the constant handling from tabletop usage. For this reason I certainly wouldn't recommend them for tabletop models. However, if you do opt to use pigments, I'd definitely go with the more is less philosophy when it comes to applying pigments. The best way to apply pigments is with two brushes, a medium to small brush that is generally used to dip into your pigment and do the initial application, and a second larger one to brush off the excess. I'd definitely use cheaper brushes for this purpose. Dust tends to accumulate in the deep recesses on the vehicle, that is where you want to concentrate your effort, you can start by generally applying it to the target area, then use another brush to clean most of it off. Other pigments can also be used to stain the model, for example use black pigment to stain areas of the model to create a sooty effect. This is best applied sparingly with a cotton bud rather than a brush. Another use for pigments is to build up solid clumps of mud to work into the tracks of your armoured vehicles. To do this you can use a small amount of pigment mixed with some static grass to create clumps of mud. Once they is applied and dry you can further shade with washes and highlight the mud with drybrushing.
Final Thoughts
I find that tanks generally easier to paint than most other things in the tabletop wargaming hobby. They lend well to simple colours, heavy weathering and the lack or organic surfaces that require more subtle shading than most, and the large, flat areas lend well to airbrushing and drybrushing, thus drastically speeding up painting time. Anyway, I hope this helps out with your own painting projects.
Painting Tracks
I personally find that tracks and road wheels are often the most irritating component on the model to paint. Getting them to look right is often one of the more overlooked aspects of painting armoured vehicles for the table top. Most painters simply layer metallics, wash, then drybrush and call the job done. This is fine as a stylistic choice, but if you are going for a realistic look, it is not accurate. Some tanks don't use fully metallic tracks, most are a common of metal links and rubber treads, some are entirely rubber. So when you are painting a real world tank, either contemporary or historical, I'd always hit wikipedia first and look for some good colourized images.
Decals
Decals, when not done properly look terrible. They have a sheen that doesn't sell the illusion of a painted on symbol. This is the result of the decal not properly bonding with model and air bubbles getting trapped in between the surface of the model and the decal. The greatest secret when dealing with decals has to be Micro Set and Micro Sol, by Micro Scale Industries.
These two products are designed to be used in conjunction with each other, though in reality the Micro Sol solution is definitely the better and more important of the two products.
To use this product the first thing you need to do is apply a gloss coat to the surface of the model. The purpose of this is to provide a smooth surface for the decal to adhere to. Once that is dry prepare the surface by coating the target site with a layer of Micro Set. Then soak the decal in water and slide it onto the target sight as you normally do, then give it a quick coat of Micro Set, then sponge off the excess. Once the decal is relatively secure apply a layer of Micro Sol, this is when the magic happens.This works particularly good for curved and uneven surfaces, as this substance will melt the decal and cause it to form around the detail of the model. This works particularly well for shoulder pad decals as many subsequent coats will cause even the most stiff decals to gradually conform the the surface of the model over many subsequent coats. To use this to best effect, apply a single coat, let it dry completely then apply another coat of Micro Set and let it dry. Repeat this process until the decal is completely flat and totally formed around any detail on the model. Once the decal is completely flat, apply another coat of gloss varnish to seal the decal in, then once you've finished any other detailing kill the gloss with a thin layer of Satin or Matt varnish.
Pigments
Pigments are more for display models than for table top models, as if they aren't properly sealed down, they will not stand up to the constant handling from tabletop usage. For this reason I certainly wouldn't recommend them for tabletop models. However, if you do opt to use pigments, I'd definitely go with the more is less philosophy when it comes to applying pigments. The best way to apply pigments is with two brushes, a medium to small brush that is generally used to dip into your pigment and do the initial application, and a second larger one to brush off the excess. I'd definitely use cheaper brushes for this purpose. Dust tends to accumulate in the deep recesses on the vehicle, that is where you want to concentrate your effort, you can start by generally applying it to the target area, then use another brush to clean most of it off. Other pigments can also be used to stain the model, for example use black pigment to stain areas of the model to create a sooty effect. This is best applied sparingly with a cotton bud rather than a brush. Another use for pigments is to build up solid clumps of mud to work into the tracks of your armoured vehicles. To do this you can use a small amount of pigment mixed with some static grass to create clumps of mud. Once they is applied and dry you can further shade with washes and highlight the mud with drybrushing.
Final Thoughts
I find that tanks generally easier to paint than most other things in the tabletop wargaming hobby. They lend well to simple colours, heavy weathering and the lack or organic surfaces that require more subtle shading than most, and the large, flat areas lend well to airbrushing and drybrushing, thus drastically speeding up painting time. Anyway, I hope this helps out with your own painting projects.
