Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

[BlueWotsit57]

Probably a daft question but when doing a final coat on the tank - do you also spray the wheels and cogs etc ?

Can the tracks be sprayed in-situ or do they have to be removed. Can you brush paint varnish sealant onto tracks ?

I've sealed the smoke oil input with a bit of tape, and the ends of barrels and guns so far.

Any tips would be great, especially on what to avoid

thanks

[tomhugill]

I'd remove wheels, sprockets idler and tracks and spray individually to make.sure you get everything. Tbh I don't varnish the tracks but if you want to protect the bit that doesn't contact the ground its an option

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[ronnie42]

If you have an airbrush with a fine needle you can sit the tank up with the tracks clear of the ground. Run tank and spray the wheels and sprockets saves pulling everything apart , need to airbrush close in to avoid overspray. If you don't have an airbrush mask up the tank and spray with a can.

[Max-U52]

I always remove the road wheels, sprockets, and idlers to make sure I get complete coverage, I don't clear flat coat my tracks, and I use testors dullcote in the rattle can and it works great.

[jarndice]

A hard learned tip,
DO make sure that the ambient temperature is above 17c or you may end up with a Tank covered in a milky matt varnish mist,
It is the very devil to get off

[Kaczor]

And before spraying test it somewhere. Many "matt" varnishes are glossy in reality Anyway, WW2 tanks don't have matt finish. That kind of paint was rare back then. When you see recovered or preserved period vehicles they have more like "satin" shine.

[Timbo68]

I gave my HL Sherman top hull a light spray with Tamiya TS-80 matt varnish, mainly because the stick-on decals were very shiny. It looked very good, but found two things - any subsequent attempt to apply an oil-based weathering wash resulted in white streaks, and also that the surface was very prone to a sort of scratching. Light scratches show up as shiny marks. Neither are huge issues, but I wish I'd finished all the weathering before varnishing. My other tanks have a nice satin finish, but I quite liked the idea that olive drab should be drab...

[BlueWotsit57]

Thanks everyone, Im glad I asked what I thought might be construed a daft question

I have been planning to use Testors dullcote as I have used that on my large scale boats in the past but they are a lot easier to do !!

With the weather forecast being warm the next few days I was hoping to get the spraying done (thanks jarndice for the comment about temperature).

For today I have just sprayed a couple of accessories that I was not worrying about fitting to see how it took - seems to be reasonably fine - so all being well tomorrow will be the big day

[jarndice]

To expand on Kaczors comment,
After returning from operations/exercise our Company's vehicles would be pressure washed and before they were inspected the drivers would go over them with a kerosene soaked cloth,
This would indeed give a "Satin" finish,
The REME Artificer Sgt Major would then go ballistic because as he never tired in telling us the Paint was a very expensive well researched anti-infra red application which became worse than useless when covered in paraffin

[BlueWotsit57]

To expand on Kaczors comment,
After returning from operations/exercise our Company's vehicles would be pressure washed and before they were inspected the drivers would go over them with a kerosene soaked cloth,
This would indeed give a "Satin" finish,
The REME Artificer Sgt Major would then go ballistic because as he never tired in telling us the Paint was a very expensive well researched anti-infra red application which became worse than useless when covered in paraffin

wow

I only want to make sure the weathering stays weathered - hopefully nobody tracking me with infra red LOL