Not sure how to paint miniature tanks

I am still undecided how to paint model vehicles. Particularly the sorts of tanks and APC's that are used for grim dark future tabletop games.

The process I used the previous time that I painted tanks, was not entirely to my satisfaction. To find better ideas, I've been watching YouTube videos. Most are in some way similar to what I had already been doing, however they gave me some ideas.

For the most recent vehicles I did the following.

I started by airbrushing the base colour. I tried using a gradient on each side, but the wash obscured that, so for this process, it was a waste of time.

I painted in some of the details, before using a couple of washes. The undercarriage, wheels and tracks are washed in black. The undercarriage is in shadow, so it did not need anything else.

Behind airbrushed, front sepia wash

The sepia wash on the panels brings out the contrast however, it also makes it look a little too yellow, not surprising. Pushing the wash about with a brush to get rid of the tide marks was not as effective as I had hoped. The result at this stage was still a little mottled. It gets fixed by the next stage.

An alternative I saw on one video was to use a cotton bud to clean off the outer surfaces of the panels more thoroughly. I did a test panel and that looked tidier and nowhere near as yellow. Something I may consider for future use.

Front washed, behind dry brushed over

For these models, I used a large dry brush to reinstate the base colour to the panels. The tip I got from several YouTube channels, and the change I made from my previous process, was to leave a little more paint on the dry brush and apply it in a circular motion. I think this worked well. It covered the panels while still leaving enough contract.

The light over painting of the edges of the tracks from the dry brushing, in this colour, is a good dusty effect. In a different body colour, I might have to repaint some of the tracks or use another dirt colour to replace it.

Adding in the final finishing touches is the quick bit to do. This included re-instating the colour on some of the pipes, edge highlighting a couple of areas and a touch of silver dry brushing to the edges of the tracks and other areas that would get worn.

With a darker base colour I would have probably done some edge highlighting of the panels with a dry brush, but I didn't think that would be noticeable with this sand colour.

As these are for tabletop use and are not display models, the final stage was to spray with a matt clear coat. I painted these over a number of weekends and evenings, so I am not sure exactly how long they took. I feel the process is a little more time consuming than it needs to be.

I'm happy with the end result. 

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Reference videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9BmFT-tfV8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvsFy0eK298

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShNRW82j3nE

Models:

https://www.myminifactory.com/profile/WarZoneMiniature/store

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Miniature paint schemes reference

Many years ago, I wrote reminders in a little lined book. This contained the proportions of each paint I had used to create a specific colour and notes on what painting techniques achieved a particular result.

I can afford to buy more paints now, so I rarely mix a colour from scratch, therefore I don't need to keep a record of that, but what colours and techniques I have used for specific models and results is still handy. This page will become a reminder of those and an index to other more detailed articles.

I'll refer back here, as I used to with my little book. It will be handy when creating additions to an army or just to produce something similar.

Power armour - green

Base: Russian green (71.017) airbrush.

Wash: black

Dry brush edge highlights: Goblin green (72.030)

Gecko skin - blue scales

Base: Royal Blue (70.809)

Wash: Sepia (73.300)

Dry brush: Sky blue (70.961)

Saurian skin - greenish yellow scales

Base: Beasty brown (72.043)

Wash: Black

Dry brush: Gold yellow (72.007)

Reptile - green scales

Base: Olive green (71.007) airbrush or black primer

Dry brush: Goblin green (72.030)

Green reptile skin and steel plate

Steel plate

Base: Silver metallic.

Wash: Black.

Dry brush: Silver or silver highlight.

Suit of armour

Suit of Armour

Base: Black primer

Dry brush: Silver metallic.

This technique covers a lot of surface very quickly.

Reptile - green with brownish scales

Base: Olive green (71.007) airbrush

Dry brush: Beasty brown (72.043)

Cast Iron

Base: Gunmetal metallic.

Dry brush: Silver metallic.

Cast iron, dark bronze and green with brownish scales

Dark Bronze

Base: Bronze metallic (70.998).

Wash: Ancient copper shade (Vallejo 77.144 from the true metallic metal set.)

Dry brush: Bronze metallic.

Reptile - green with reddish scales

Base: Olive green (71.007) airbrush

Dry brush: Gory red (72.011)

Dry brush edge highlight: Orange fire (72.008)

Red reptile skin

Washes

See the separate page.

Dry Brushing

For edge highlighting, see the separate page.

Bases

See the separate page for how I prefer to base my armies.

Gold Visors

See the separate page for how I have done gold visors.

Vehicles

See the separate page for some ideas of how I paint tanks and APC's.

Paints

I nearly exclusively use acrylics. Oil based paints irritate my sinuses, so with all the jobs I do I try to select water based paints. From a modelling perspective, I like the very fast drying time of acrylic paints. Although, obviously that makes blending colours more difficult than with oils.

I mainly use paints from the various Vallejo acrylic ranges. Model Colour, Game Colour, Game Air and Model Air.

Unless otherwise stated, the part numbers listed refer to Vallejo paints.

I also have a very small number of AK Interactive paints. I find the pigments in these dry a little thicker, which gives them good coverage but they are more prone to hide fine details. I bear that in mind when using them. I'm unlikely to replace them when they run out.

Years ago I used Citadel paints, but I have not tried them recently.

I'm sure there are plenty of other good paint ranges, but as I like the Vallejo that I have, there is no point in me trying alternatives.

Primer

See the separate page for a review of primers.

Clear Coat

See the separate page for matt clear coat reviews.

Brushes

See the separate page for a review of the brushes I have tried.

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Dry brush for edge highlights

I'm sure there are lots of reasons to use dry brushing. It's a technique I like to use for highlighting texture on fur and hair and for edge highlighting.

I can remember the first time I successfully used dry brushing. That was for fur, well over 30 years ago. It was on a troop of Ork Wargs. I was so pleased with the results. It is when my painting results changed from "just colour on tin lead" to "these look nice."

I have had good results with metallic colours. Silver dry brushed on to black and copper dry brushed on to brown. I now think I have the technique sorted for edge highlighting with dry brushing.

The edges of the containers and barrels are highlighted

I've written these notes as a reminder to myself.

Edge Highlight Colour

I find that I need to use a lighter brighter colour than I expect.

Edge and curved surface highlighting

Light grey on black, white on light grey, very pale green on dark green etc. If in doubt, regardless of the base colour, I might use light grey or white.

I like my models to have a lived in look. I often use a black or sepia wash and then add highlights. A similar technique to edge highlighting can be used to add a little brightness to curved surfaces such as shoulder pauldrons and the pipes in the above picture.

Brush

I've tried specialist dry brushing brushes, but I find those too large for miniatures and their round shape make them difficult to direct the brush to the specific edge that I want to hit.

What I do use and my favourite is a makeup brush designed for eyeshadow. They have soft flat bristles about 8 to 10mm wide.

These are great for most edge highlighting, from small scatter terrain down to delicate miniatures. Being flat I have two choices of direction. The wider is good for long edges and by dragging the brush with the narrow face forward the brushes can get into fairly small spaces. In that rotated position they have a long enough stoke to deposit sufficient paint.

In tight spots where I need to avoid getting paint on adjacent surfaces, I use a 3mm angled shader brush. Again a flat bristle brush. This gives me lots of control and I can be very specific about which edge is highlighted.

Paint Loading

This I find a bit trial and error every time.

For cleaning I use a sponge with just a finger or two dipped in water to dampen it. I also use this to slightly dampen the bristles before I start loading the paint.

Most of the time I use undiluted paint for dry brushing. I find that if the paint is watered down, it smears rather than it catching the edges.

I like to get paint on all sides of the tip of the brush and then wipe nearly all of it off on a cotton cloth. If I can see paint depositing on the cloth, there's usually still too much paint on the brush. That's not a perfect guide, just a starting point.

My first stoke will be very light to see how easily the paint applies and either add or remove paint, as I feel. It varies by colour. Some paints work with very little effort and others need constant care to get the amount of paint on the brush just right.

Technique

I lightly drag the brush over the edge I want to highlight and can usually see the layer build up as a fine line. As the paint gets used I need to apply a little more pressure on each stroke.

The more I've use the technique, the more control I've gained about where I get the colour.

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Sci-fi scatter terrain

As a diversion from army painting, I've been adding to my scenery collection.

I've designed, printed and painted a few of my own.

In addition, I've downloaded a few that fitted the aesthetic I was looking for.

The crates are my own. The comic unexploded bomb is made of two models both downloaded from Thingiverse. The larger crater by "Terrain4Print" the smaller crater with the missile by "twistedpancreasgames". My thanks to both of those designers.

The junk piles are by "ImperialTerrain", again downloaded from Thingiverse. Many thanks for the models. I scaled them down to the sizes I wanted, printed and painted.

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Modular gothic mission ruins

I was asked to print enough modular building components for a small firefight size game.

This is what I came up with.

There are a few new components and a new download for my modular scenery range.

Downloads:

CC BY-NC-SA

Download That_Modular-Sets 6-9 Gothic mission ruins

These buildings require all of the original downloads in addition to the above.

The following article has the original downloads:

https://blog.discoverthat.co.uk/2026/05/modular-scenery-buildings.html

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Less is more painting miniatures

I did not have enough time to complete any complex models ready for the game today, so I opted to paint a unit of Prime Strikers from Puppetswar Miniatures. As it happens, I ended up using a different army, so they didn't get to the table, but they were ready.

Very Quick Process

The order was significant in making sure there was minimal time wasted.

• Prime with black from a rattle can - this had been done weeks ago
• Airbrush army dull green all over
• Dark grey paint in the folds behind the knees and between the legs
• Black wash all over
• Dry overnight
  
  
• Dry brush in light green to highlight some of the edges - using an 8mm flat makeup brush
• Paint the eye lenses in yellow - using a 00 short bristle sable brush (W&N s7 miniature)
• Tidy up the yellow - edge in black wherever I had gone over with the yellow
• Paint in any details I want, could be; missile caps, belt buckles, sergeant's pauldrons, banners etc.
• Paint all the weapons black
• Dry brush the edges of the weapons in light grey - using a 3mm wide flat angled shader brush
• Base using grass flock which sticks to thickly applied brown paint
• Paint the edge of the base in black
• Dry overnight
  
  
• Clear matt spray varnish

I am very pleased with the finished result even though very few of the details have been painted in. This is a very good example of "less is more."

I don't know exactly how long it took for this unit of 11 troops, but I spent a few hours on each of two days and 15 mins to varnish this morning.

Where a model has well defined edges, I prefer the subtle result from dry brushing rather than my attempts at hand painting edge highlight lines. I will use individually painted edge highlighting where the alternative would not work.

Some models by their design are complicated and time consuming, no matter what paint scheme is selected.

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Matt clear coat reviews

I made a mistake varnishing some miniatures and they ended up a little bit glossy. I put too thick a coat on. Pretty much any matt spray will end up satin if it is applied too thickly. This got me thinking that it is far too easy to go wrong with matt clear coat.

I decided to try a few clear coats to see which gave the best results.

For as long as I can remember I've struggled to find a matt varnish that I'm happy with. I already had a small selection and I bought a few more to test. The one that gets the best reviews by others, Mr Hobby, was not available, so I have not been able to test that.

I used the figures that were glossy to try out the varnishes.

The photo's did not show the variation in surface finish sufficiently to be of any use in comparing the results. I have looked at the models themselves, carefully, side by side. In the following images, the miniature on the right, with the tuft of grass, is my control, which remains as the glossy mistake..

I checked the instructions for everything I was testing and followed them as closely as possible. All the spray cans said roughly the same. Shake well and spray from about 30cm (12") in thin coats. For my tests I did two quick passes to get a fine mist over the surface.

I've included the hairspray because I had it to hand and it's what I've previously used to help hold grass flock in place.

Results

None of them were able to completely reverse the gloss of the starting surfaces. I have done further experiments and the results are much more matt if the starting surface is also matt.

My testing was very limited, so do not take my results as definitive. I have only tested one can or pot of each and only done one test with each. With that in mind, these are my opinions of the finished surfaces.

Wella Silvikrin Hairspray

• Application: Spray can
• Cost: £
• Result: More glossy.

Hycote Matt Lacquer

• Application: Spray can
• Cost: £
• Result: Slightly matt.

The Army Painter Matt Varnish

• Application: Spray can
• Cost: ££
• Result: Acceptable matt finish, joint best of the batch.

Winsor and Newton Professional Matt Varnish

• Application: Spray can
• Cost: £££
• Result: Acceptable matt finish, joint best of the batch.

Rust-Oleum Crystal Clear Matt

• Application: Spray can
• Cost: ££
• Result: Slightly matt.

Vallejo Matt Polyurethane Varnish

• Application: Brush or airbrush. Tested by brush.
• Cost: £
• Result: Slightly matt.

Xtracrylix Flat Varnish by Hannants

• Application: Brush or airbrush. Tested by brush.
• Cost: £
• Result: Barely matt.

Conclusion

Of the two that gave acceptable finishes, The Army Painter Matt Varnish spray is the best value. I will probably use that from now on.

I prefer the spray nozzle of the Winsor and Newton, but at nearly twice the price including delivery, The Army Painter is the clear choice for value for money.

For some finishes a matt that is less matt and more satin may be appropriate. I am likely to use some of the other clear coats specifically for those effects. I'm thinking of steel armour, for one. The Rust-Oleum Crystal Clear Matt is my go to for those surfaces.

In Practice

When using a clear coat to protect model figures, I do two quick passes from the front, the same from the back and usually a single pass from above and either side, if necessary. Depending on the base finish, I often do an extra layer over the base, trying to avoid getting any more on the miniature. This last step is to help hold the basing materials in place.

Another thing to note is that the finished result does depend a lot on the starting surface. All of the clear coats I have tried are more matt if the original surface is already matt. 

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Update: September 2026

I've used both the Winsor and Newton and The Army Painter clear coats for a lot of models and the results are always good. Most importantly where I have done too many coats to get to a difficult area or to hold the flock on the bases, the result is still matt.

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