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Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 11:10 am
by 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

Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 11:12 am
by 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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Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 12:01 pm
by 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.

Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 12:35 pm
by 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.

Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 12:42 pm
by 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 :lolno:

Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 12:51 pm
by 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.

Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 1:14 pm
by 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...

Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 1:26 pm
by 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

Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Wed May 06, 2020 1:29 pm
by 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 :lolno:

Re: Top coating the tank with matt varnish sealant

Posted: Thu May 07, 2020 12:06 pm
by BlueWotsit57
jarndice wrote: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 :lolno:

wow :O

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