How I Paint Things - Tanks and Decals 

Really pleased to hear it! :D

Really glad to hear it! Here's hoping you enjoy it. :D

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Yep, really helpful AND entertaining 😁, perfect combination. My son struggles a bit with your dialect, but hey, he just started with English three years ago, so it isn't that bad (and your dialect isn't that thick). We just started with painting our little Tabletop Tanks and figures and use brushes for the beginning. Sadly using simple brushes seems a bit outdated, but I personally prefer it (for now). Stay healthy and keep laughing!

If you want, you can seal off the model with some topcoat before weathering, that way if you mess up, you can clean up without damaging your work on the waterslides.

Glad to help!

Glad to hear that!

Glad to hear it!

Thanks very much, and what a great suggestion! I've heard of using washing up liquid to make your own washes and inks, but never in applying decals. I'll definitely be giving this a try soon on a Cromwell that needs some markings. Much obliged for the tip!

Not a problem there sir. :-)

Good tip

The Dry pots drying out and becoming unusable is something I've honestly never experienced. Some of these are now coming up on six or seven years old, having traveled with me from New Zealand to Germany, and I still crack them open and get the paint I need out of them. It could be it's a case of bad lids or something, but the paints themselves seem to work fine over time.

This is a really good question, and one I'll come back to answer tomorrow when I've got a little more time! Just wanted to let you know that I spotted this and I've definitely got some thoughts. :D

fantastic, thank you!

No wonder I couldn't find Brown Violet.

They do that from time to time. At one time I couldn't find a particular shade of green for a while cos of the name change. T'was very confusing, picking the correct number from the rack and replacing it cos the name was wrong. I couldn't accept what Valejo had done! DAMN YOU VALEJO!! 😄

Spare track I believe.

I actually picked up that little trick out of a White Dwarf. It seems simple in retrospect, but it'd never occurred to me to use something else to just keep the paper wet!

Thank you kindly! :D

They aren’t good for brushing because they dry super fast since they have an alcohol base instead of water base. If you get a bottle of their drying retarder and add a drop or two to your paint you’ll have more time to work with it

Just lay the parts out on paper or card - somewhere flat outside, preferably! - and spray a coat over the top, let it dry thoroughly, then flip them to do the underside.

There's a couple I quite like. The Citadel Large or Extra Large Base Brushes are really good for large, flat areas of paint, but otherwise the Army Painter range of brushes work quite well for the same. I love the wedge tip on their drybrushes - great for getting into tracks under running gear and the like!

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Thanks, I'll have a look tomorrow at tha wargame shop. Cheers, Joseph

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Thanks. Are you familliar with vallejo spray can ? Can it be used as a primer ? Cheers, Joseph

There's none specifically that really spring to mind, I'm afraid. A colour conversion table somewhere online might have some suggestions?

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio I'll take a look! Thanks anyway :D

This is the standard plastic M4 Sherman from Warlord Games. The only thing to watch for is the tracks can be a little confusing when first assembling the kit, but it's otherwise very simple and looks good on the table. store.warlordgames.com/products/plastic-m4-sherman-medium-tank

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio you are the best miniature painter :)

No it isn't! the RU-vidr got it wrong! It's a M4A4E8 Sherman!

@@bluefireyoutubezxprofireba7755 thats not even a tank variant that exists. The M4A4 only ever had VVSS suspension during ww2

Odd! Might be that I've broken the link by copying it wrong. Should work here, though! facebook.com/sonicsledgehammer

Try even less paint on your brush while you're doing it, and apply a little less pressure to begin with. It certainly does work - the results are on screen! - but it can be a little tricky the first couple of times, especially on something with so many flat surfaces as a Sherman.

I tried it again on the same model that had the Strone Tone AP wash placed on it but this time I cut the old brush to give it a 'flat top' applied less paint and used a light circular motion and it still didn't work, also there were machine guns and antenna on the turret that didn't help, the wash in the crevasses was just covered up with the Olive Brown (U.S. Drab). Also the nasty tide marks were there and the Strong Tone gave a glossy look in places where the paint would not stick well (I tried hand painting but I have about 20 vehicles to do and I'll be here till Christmas). So from the olive drab base line with my Shermans I reckon I've got two options 1) do everything i.e. decals, chips, dry brushing etc then varnish (preferably with gloss) and then do a pin wash. Or 2) given that I resprayed my two Shermans in Olive drab go slowly with the Strong Tone wash and be careful in applying it (not just do a blanket sweep of the brush and then push the wash into the gaps) and just tidy up manually with a small brush and Olive Drab. I cannot think of any other options. I've never done a pin wash before i.e. applying gloss varnish (or some other varnish, I hope it works with Satin as I don't like gloss) so that's a scary prospect.

They'd really be incredibly similar to this, just using a different set of colours. It wouldn't be too hard to find the basic Vallejo colours to match in some painting guides, and apply the same principles in painting them on. Especially if you want to go the route of early war Panzer grey! ;D

Some of the Vallejo range underwent a name change a little while ago. As long as the number matches, they should be correct. :)

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio , thank you for such a prompt response! Yes, they have the same numbers. The only visual difference is that one paint is from the Panzer Series and the other is not. Taking this opportunity, I will ask one more question. In this video, what did you use US Dark Green 70.893 for? For which element? Maybe I was listening poorly and therefore did not hear, but I still did not understand why she was needed.

The initial basecoat of the vehicle is the dark green. After that, it's mixed in with Dark Sand to make the highlight/drybrush layer. :)

Lahmian Medium. It's only glossy while it's wet.

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio thank you so much!!! ^-^

Apparently there was a name change - it's now US Olive Drab, which is convenient! Still the same number, 887. Depending on where you're getting it from you'll occasionally find pots with the old name, though.

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Thank you Sonic :)

Unfortunately you can't just take it off - a couple of thin coats of your base colour again will be necessary to restart the process. If you're getting grubby, streaky issues, make sure you're shaking the shade well before use. Sometimes it can settle and you'll get weird effects of it, and make sure you're applying it over a thoroughly dry basecoat. Once you've got the surface green, leave it to dry for half an hour first, and see if you get a better result.

@@SonicSledgehammerStudio Thank you so much for the fast reply! I will try it! :)

@@suaveslav6047 did it work

@@TheSulfuric1 Yeah, all I did was properly shake the bottle and apply more of it to the areas that require shading. Also a tip, when applying the main colour of the tank, paint over it with clear paint. After that, if you put thinner on a cotton bud, you can wipe away wash that you do not need on the model without washing off the main colour paint. Hope this helped! :)

This is 1/56.

Warlord Games' vehicles are 1/56 scale, or a rough 28mm equivalent.

Sonic Sledgehammer Studio Ok. Thanks.