How to Paint Warhammer Tanks

[@SherlockSpiner]

I was worried about how in the world I would make that camo pattern, THIS SAVED ME! Thank you sir!

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Glad it helped!

[@savagex466-qt1io]

@@ThePaintingCoach Hey bud nice job ! Could you give me just a lil more details on why you chose Contrast Medium ?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Because that's the best medium to thin out the contrast paint 👍🏻 if I was using oils I would use white spirit. Water can make the contrast paint go a little streaky

[@SherlockSpiner]

@@ThePaintingCoach Question on the wash stage, would using acrylic mediums like matte medium be an ok alternative to contrast medium?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

I honestly don't know - my sense says you would have to use a lot to thin enough wash - I have only used matte medium with normal paint in the past. I guess you could try it on some spare parts/sprue

[@SM0RN124]

Ty

[@Mr_Waffle.]

Absolutely love that dead-easy dirty tread trick with paint then drybrush, don't need to stuff around with powders or anything, I just did it on my first leman russ and looks great, thanks!

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Awesome!

[@SwtorSateleShanFan]

YES! Finally! A nice tutorial on how to paint bigger models without airbrushing. I do own one (spent nearly 500 Euros on it) and it just can‘t work out for me. Can‘t wait to use this trick on my Militarum Tanks! Thank you very much!

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@onebulletcurse6104]

As someone who is picking up the hobby and decided its an amazing idea to go astra militarum with multiple vehicles this is gonna help alot

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Welcome to the hobby!

[@Kid_illithid]

I recently decided to paint blood axe orks in a cadian style scheme. I tried silly putty masking and rattlecans to do the camo. I can’t believe how cool it came out. I’m probably going to follow the rest of the tutorial for the color scheme. Your tank looks so good.

[@CMTechnica]

0:40 Don’t forget if you’re running track guards to put the camo on them Don’t ask where this advice comes from

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Great tip!

[@deandoyledeandoyle]

Holy crap. I've been putting off painting my ONE leman russ for MONTHS! Thank you 🫡

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Enjoy!

[@nathano2329]

New drinking game - take a shot every time The Painting Coach says 'Take your time.' in a tutorial :D. Great video, nicely done!

[@lonstrickland6571]

Liked the method you used to dirty up the tracks. Thanks!!

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Cheers!

[@TitusCastiglione1503]

Honestly, if you wanted to save some time, cleaning up the edges of the camo stripes might not even be be necessary. In real life, I think a lot of tank crews would have applied any camo themselves over a factory applied case color. I bet that would look stippled like what the brush is doing.

[@CMTechnica]

Not particularly. Old tanks with camo don’t especially have much “bleed” between colors, it’s very much solid color splotches. Same goes with Cold War tanks. Thats because they painted the camouflage with automotive grade paint guns to cut down on the time spent painting the tank.

[@TitusCastiglione1503]

@@CMTechnica ah, I guess that makes sense

[@rataca100]

​​@@CMTechnica decided to word it better. It depends when and where and who. Field expedient paitning was done with what ever so could be brushes, mops etc fsctoried could also be done with what ever. The prefered choice and most advanced amy be using a airbrush but not everyones factories had them and if you didnt have them you just use something that holds paint. Field expediency can go into thr modern era as well, if you cant really oulla vehicle out kf rotation to change its oaint you use what ever you have to recamo it. (You can find videos of U.S soldiers in european exercises in tan tanks etc covering them in enoigh foloage and netting where you cant actually see the tan) Addendun: it alsod epenxs what type of device you want to replicate, seen painting tehcnqiues to mimick spray cans be diffrent from brushes and there isnt a exclusion to what device you use to paint them. By thst i mean you can paint brush camos with a airbrush or spray camos with a brush

[@seanmalloy7249]

It depends a lot on where the camouflage was applied. For example, the early-WWII German tanks were a uniform Dunkelgrau ('panzer grey') until an order was issued for them all to be repainted in Dunkelgelb (a sand yellow), and after that for them to be overpainted with Rotbraun (red brown) and Dunkelgrun (dark green). If a new vehicle was painted in the factory, it would have nice, smooth sprayed patterns of green and brown over the base yellow, but in the field, units were issued spray guns and cans of pigment paste, which were to be diluted with gasoline and sprayed on the vehicles. Because of ever-present fuel shortages, the paint was often diluted to different degrees -- the red brown could be anywhere from brick red to chocolate brown, and the green from pea green to a dark olive -- and applied with whatever tools the crews had to hand, including sheets dipped in the paint or brooms, using whatever pattern they felt appropriate. So depending on where the vehicle was and under what conditions when it was camouflaged, it could have anything from a factory-standard camo job to something haphazardly slapped on the vehicle in colors that only roughly approximated the color standard -- you have _enormous_ latitude to let your imagination run free with what you want. As an example of the extremes some crews would go to, in winter on the Eastern front, tanks were often given a coat of whitewash to blend in with the snow that could be scrubbed off later, or have white sheets tied across the vehicle, or in one case a crew with more time than supplies scribbled lines of chalk all over the vehicle.

[@christopherpeery7436]

Dang that turned out good

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Cheers

[@GordonMcLachlan]

Love the commander conversion! Looks a lot more in line with the new releases.

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Cheers Gordon - nice and easy too!

[@dustinzaccaria7644]

@@ThePaintingCoach hey great tune, will definitely try out some of the techniques. Just curious, where is the tank commanders head from

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Thanks - it's from one of the new set of cadian plastics - i think it comes with one of the field artillery units - that's where the arms also come from

[@KennedyA53]

I've desperately needed this. Have a Baneblade thats been sitting collecting dust for a year instead of killing heretics and xenox

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Awesome - should transfer across directly!

[@WilliamJessiman]

I used to wargame,not any more but the tanks and knights are well detailed so i bought a couple. I dont play warhammer,and dont want to but as stand alone models they are ok.I dont do unit or squad colours but do my take on them.

[@britishlad3689]

A very useful tutorial thanks

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Glad you liked it!

[@Kgcottawa]

What an awesome tutorial. Thank you 🫡

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Glad you liked it!

[@theoneandonlyweener]

Thanks alot for this!

[@praetoriandorn3154]

This is exactly what I wanted. Subbed. Thank you good sir!

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Thanks! Glad it helped!

[@hellglazer]

Loved this! Excellent vid mate!

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Cheers mate glad you liked it!

[@chickennuggetswithbbqsauce3105]

1:15 Do you put on the contrast medium before or after the agrax earthshade has dried?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Before 👍🏻

[@user-5th]

like this video helped me start my guard army your great

[@ThePaintingCoach]

That's awesome to know!

[@justinsong7279]

This was so helpful to a new painter! Quick question - how long should we be waiting after applying the Agrax / Nuln washes? I suspect i'm not waiting long enough...

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Thanks! It really depends on a lot of factors such as how much you use, how warm it us etc - you'll know it's dry when it stops looking glossy - I'd say about 30 mins to be safe.

[@justinsong7279]

@@ThePaintingCoach oooo thank you so much. I've definitely not been waiting long enough (around 5... oops)

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Might be ok for some bits if you don't use much

[@goforitpainting]

Cool as always

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Cheers

[@_fissure1441]

Hey Coach! I'm getting ready to paint up my first few vehicles (Dreadnought, Land Raider, etc), and am planning to sponge/stipple in order to get a more worn, organic look. Potentially silly question: do you thin your paints before sponging/stippling them? Ive seen people argue both ways. Some say no need to thin, others say thin them to the point of being watery.

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Probably a trial and error thing depending on that you want - I don't, unless I want it really subtle - key is to make sure you wipe most of it off!

[@_fissure1441]

@@ThePaintingCoach got it; thank you! Love all of your tutorials!

[@southpaw5483]

What is the reasoning for the "Contrast Medium" over the Agrax Earthshade Wash?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Thins it down and helps it flow into recesses a bit like an oil wash. Reduxes staining making next steps easier

[@southpaw5483]

@@ThePaintingCoach Thank you. Is the "Contrast Medium" applied right away on the non-cured "Agrax Wash"?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

@@southpaw5483 yes 👍🏻

[@skyraptor62]

Can you Prime with Death guard Green instead?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

You can - it will be paler and take a bit more work to get the lighter coat down 👍🏻

[@Mornomgir]

Except for a rattlecan for priming i do everything with brush. I frankly think that in most cases the airbrush makes the model "dead".

[@seanmalloy7249]

For the base colors, it can be easier to get smooth coverage with an airbrush, but if you watch videos about painting US WWII armor like Sherman tanks, the big expanse of OD green does look flat and dead, so what many modelers will do is randomly overspray light coverage of slightly lighter and darker shades to add some tonal variation. Now, this can also be done with a drybrush and stippling the shades over the base coat -- whichever you're more comfortable with. But once you have the base camouflage down, virtually all of the weathering and highlighting will be brush work, so go with what you're happy with.

[@theredestshirt9726]

I’m going for a more Africa/safari for my army? Would i get the same results with Skrag brown if i did Zandri dust or something similar?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

I think Doombull might be a bit better than Skrag - I did a camo video on infantry too - might give you some ideas

[@seanmalloy7249]

For ideas about appropriate colors/patterns, do a Google image search for "Africa vehicle camouflage" to get a wide range of suggestions; a lot of them will be sand/green, sand/brown, sand/brown/green, green/black, green/black/sand, and in many different styles.

[@denmasterben2348]

incredible!!!

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Thanks

[@BrugerJimmy-tw8eu]

do you have a recommendation for certain brushes to use?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

I use Rosemary and Co series 33 - if you can't get these where you are then W&N Series 7

[@robertrequardt380]

Trank you für the good video.

[@Cordayne]

What effect does the contrast medium have when mixed with the earthshade?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Removes some of the surface tension so it flows into the recesses better

[@victorzuim]

I'm still trying to figure the mediums out... did you apply the contrast medium while the agrax was wet? Why was that?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Yes while it was wet - this thins it on the model so you can move it around and run it into the recesses, a bit like an oil wash works

[@seanmalloy7249]

If you thin acrylics too aggressively with water, they can 'break' and give you uneven coverage. An acrylic medium contains the binder that will hold the pigment, so you can use it to thin the paint more than its normal wash level, making it less opaque, while still giving you even shading.

[@imadequate3376]

Alright so my theory is confirmed. Prime in zandri, however I am going to be masking off and airbrushing the castallan instead. Thank you. I am, however rather annoyed GW doesn't offer a rattle can in castallan. Especially for the folks who don't want to invest in an air brush. I did a tank by hand in pure castallan and I ended up stripping it, the dabbing technique probably helps with this but I had alot of brush strokes and I didn't like the look. I did however paint some battle names on my tank and I did like seeing brush strokes there for obvious reasons as it looked like the crew slapped it on.

[@ThePaintingCoach]

If you are in the UK, check out Governor Green spray by Colour Forge - it is an exact match for Castellan Green 👍🏻

[@imadequate3376]

@@ThePaintingCoach states, I'll look around. I heard Vallejo has one that's a near match, I already plan on using either Russian Uniform Grey or German Feldgrau for my Kreig Command Russ.

[@cooljoe500]

What kind of brush are you using for applying the shade?

[@ThePaintingCoach]

That's actually a large drybrush from GW - but any big brush will help!

[@cooljoe500]

@@ThePaintingCoach thank you for your quick reply! I have another question. when you switch between colors during drybrushing, are you cleaning the brush? my brush takes forever to get dry again after cleaning it in water, which makes drybrushing kinda timeconsuming.

[@ChangoWango69]

Amazing work 💯 thank you for this 🙏 question for the Tank commander did you just use spare arms ? Or did you use other parts as well ? 😅

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Cheers - the arms are from the artillery set and the helmet is from the cadian shock troop sprue - body is the one that comes with the kit

[@nordenp]

Just built 2 leman russ tanks and a chimera. Got them looking good and ready to be sprayed...the tracks...why on God's green Earth did I glue on the tracks. Why didn't I spray them silver before gluing them on. The way I feel looking at those tracks fills my soul with despair and I damn myself 3 times over for it. Please people, do NOT glue them on before spraying Anyway that was a great video tutorial, very easy to follow

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Top tip right here 👆🏻! Glad you enjoyed the tutorial!

[@Waltusb0yuas]

I dont have an air brush so i always paint my tanks like this

[@knightsljx]

3:05 that brush is waaaaaayyyyy too wet for dry brushing

[@SteelStorm33]

eavy metal comic painting.

[@ck112358]

Pro tip, vehicles painted red get buffed M+1

[@ThatLemonGuy]

So in your “brush only” tutorial you still sprayed the primer on. Ok…

[@Ushankaguy9786]

Bruh

[@Ushankaguy9786]

Really man

[@J9m3s]

he posted!

[@TabletopGameBreaks]

You must have painted it camo cuz the video is just a brush floating in the air.... #dadjokes

[@ThePaintingCoach]

🤣

[@andrewwoodhead3141]

Wow ! lovely paint job. Pity about the subject matter😃 if you'd waited a bit you could have done a Rogal Dorn...

[@privatespoon77]

I understand why you have them but those speeded up sections make me want to throw up. It’s a problem I have with many different artists that use this technique for their videos.

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Thanks for the feedback - I'll take it on board next time

[@parko246]

I think I can pivot to your style even though I'm halfway through. Any tips for a yellow and black quote unquote libertarian colour scheme? Really enjoyed your level of dry brushing. I'm a total noob and am definitely going to give this a go

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Hmm I would say spray it yellow to start with - if you can get them where you are, Colour Forge do a great yellow spray

[@parko246]

@@ThePaintingCoach thanks mate I'm in Australia. I'll have a look for them. For my first one I've painted it averland sunset yellow as a base

[@ThePaintingCoach]

Not sure they are out in australia - but certainly averland base is the way to go!

[@parko246]

@@ThePaintingCoach thanks dude. I appreciate the help.

[@ThePaintingCoach]

No worries

[@jamiehurricane]

As an ex tank driver, why in fuck would you paint it camo, then have a chrome shiny barrel?

[@benrichardson5662]

Because it looks cool?

[@Ushankaguy9786]

It’s warhammer no logic needed