Repainting Tanks

[pete the noob]

Hi Guys, I have just received my first tank and would like to repaint and weather it, My question is do I need to airbrush at all or can it be done by hand brush, I'm hoping the latter will be ok as I have no airbrushing equipment at the moment, All advise and comments welcome. Thanks, Pete. My Tank is the new 2 sound Sherman and I am really pleased with it.

[tao]

It seems the expert/ easiest way to get these amazing results seeb on this site is by airbrushing. But I also think to what in history has been done
with a brush too..wow! The Ghent Altarpiece ..some of the detail was done with one hair of a brush. But wait for the tank painting experts here to
weigh in on your actual question!

[PainlessWolf]

Good evening,
Airbrush is definitely the way to go for complicated camo patterns. That being said, amazing tanks have been done with sponge bits for patterns and the hairy stick + rattlecan. I'm not including mine among those but here is an example done with the rattlecan and brush. It is possible.
regards,
Painless

[maxmekker]

Congratz on a fine modell.

I would say that even a cheap setup ( I started With hobbyking AB + my grandpa's nailgun aircompressor) would be better than hand/brushpainting .
Now rattlecans would be way good over brush painting, but if you are looking to get those thin Nice layers , maybe some light color modulation etc, look into getting a small AB setup going. If that's not ans option then go rattlecan

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[Tiggr]

I only bought my airbrush a few months ago but love using it.
If you can afford it and think you are in the hobby for the duration get a good one and have fun.
Trouble with rattle cans is they can blob and invariably block up after a couple of uses.
Plus if you buy the correct colours from a good manufacturer the cost soon mounts up and a good airbrush is not as expensive as it first appears.

[lmcq11]

Painting by brush and hand would be ok up to 1/48 scale. Above that scale, you may not be too happy with the results, especially if you want a camo pattern. Maybe you can do a winter scheme where you hand paint a layer of white wash over the tank. But winter schemes are risky and may not look too good unless you have experience. White paint is difficult to use. A early war tank in overall panzer grey (PZ III) or Olive drab (Sherman..) would also be easier to hand paint than camo.

I remember my first 1/16 King tiger in the late 80s. I purchased 3 Tamiya spray cans (2 dark yellow, 1 dark green) for maybe $25 at the time and made camo patterns out of newspaper that I would just hold about 1 inch from the tank to give it some blending effect. It worked... but ended up repainting it some time later. I realised its better to invest in a good airbrush when expected results become more demanding. I am still using the same airbrush after 30 years...

Louis

[greengiant]

Have never used an airbrush. Rattle cans and brushes my whole life. If you learn to use them your results can be as good as airbrushed. Must admit though that I should have learned how to airbrush just to save time when painting.

[pete the noob]

Hi Guys, Thanks for all the top advise, Like I said I am new to this hobby so trying to get as much info as I can, going by what's been said I think I will wait to paint until I can get an airbrush setup, Fathers day will be here soon so you never know ,lol, Once again big thank you for all the comments, most helpful.

[HERMAN BIX]

http://paulkeefesblog.blogspot.com.au/p ... r-331.html

This one is done with the hairy stick, and its outstanding.

The old ways are not dead yet