Painting vehicles and tanks in Warhammer is a different challenge from painting infantry. The large flat surfaces that dominate vehicle models expose every brush stroke, every uneven coat, and every missed detail. However, with the right techniques, vehicles are actually more forgiving and faster to paint than infantry — once you understand how to handle those big panels and make them look battle-worn and realistic.
This guide covers everything from priming and basecoating to advanced weathering techniques, giving you a complete workflow for painting any vehicle model in the Warhammer range. Whether you are tackling a Rhino transport or a Baneblade super-heavy tank, these principles apply across the board.
How Do You Prepare a Vehicle Model for Painting?
Preparation is more important for vehicles than for almost any other model type. Because of the large flat surfaces, any mould lines, gaps, or surface imperfections will be brutally visible once paint is applied. Take extra time during assembly to clean mould lines with a hobby knife and smooth seams with liquid green stuff or plastic putty.
Sub-assembly is essential for vehicles. Paint the hull, turret, tracks, and any weapons or accessories separately before final assembly. This gives you access to interior surfaces, undercarriage details, and hard-to-reach areas that would be impossible to paint once the model is fully assembled. At minimum, keep the turret and hull separate during painting.
Prime vehicles with a spray primer for the most even coverage. Brush priming a vehicle is possible but requires careful attention to avoid visible brush strokes on those large flat panels. Grey primer is the most versatile choice — it works well under both light and dark colour schemes. Black primer is excellent for dark or grimdark schemes where shadows are left as the primer showing through.
Consider using a zenithal prime — spray black primer overall, then follow with a white or light grey primer sprayed from above at roughly a 45-degree angle. This creates a natural light-shadow gradient across the model that shows through subsequent paint layers, adding depth and visual interest with minimal effort.
How Do You Basecoat Large Flat Surfaces?
The biggest challenge with vehicles is achieving a smooth, even basecoat across those large panels. There are three main approaches: spray painting, airbrushing, and brush painting. Each has its place depending on your tools and preferences.
Spray painting is the fastest method. GW spray paints and Army Painter Colour Primers provide a basecoat and primer in one step. Hold the can 20 to 30 cm from the model and apply light, sweeping passes. Multiple thin coats are far better than one thick coat — heavy spray application obscures detail and creates a rough, orange-peel texture. Allow each coat to dry completely before applying the next.
Airbrushing provides the smoothest possible finish. Thin your paint to a milk-like consistency and apply in light layers, building up opacity gradually. The airbrush allows you to create subtle gradients and pre-shading effects that are almost impossible to achieve with other methods. If you paint vehicles regularly, an airbrush is the single most impactful tool upgrade you can make.
Brush painting is perfectly viable but requires discipline. Use a large flat brush (size 8 or larger) and thin your paint until it flows smoothly off the brush. Apply the paint in one direction, working in long, smooth strokes that follow the natural lines of the panel. Load the brush generously and maintain a wet edge — always overlap slightly with the previous stroke before it dries. Two to three thin coats will produce a smooth, even result.
Whichever method you use, avoid trying to achieve full coverage in a single coat. Thin layers build a smoother, more professional finish than one thick application. This is the golden rule of miniature painting, and it applies doubly to vehicles where any texture or brush marks are magnified by the large surface area.
How Do You Shade and Highlight Vehicles?
Panel lining is the vehicle equivalent of shade washing infantry models. Using a fine-tipped brush or a specialised panel liner, apply a thin line of dark wash or enamel liner into every panel line, rivet row, and surface detail. This defines the shapes and creates the illusion of depth. Citadel Shade paints, Tamiya Panel Line Accent, and oil washes all work excellently for this purpose.
For recessed areas and joints, a general wash can work but be careful — washing an entire vehicle panel will leave tide marks and an uneven finish. Instead, apply washes selectively to recesses, around rivets, and in corners where shadows would naturally accumulate. If you do apply a wash over a broad area, follow up by cleaning the flat surfaces with a damp brush or cotton bud, leaving wash only in the recesses.
Edge highlighting on vehicles follows the same principle as infantry but requires a steadier hand due to the longer, straighter edges. Use the side of a well-loaded brush and drag it along each edge in a single, confident stroke. Panel edges, hatch outlines, and armour plate borders all benefit from edge highlighting. Keep the highlights subtle — a single thin line of a slightly lighter colour is more effective than a thick, bright highlight.
Drybrushing is a quick and effective alternative to edge highlighting for vehicles. Load a large, flat drybrush with a lighter shade of your base colour, wipe off most of the paint on a paper towel, and lightly sweep across raised edges and surface details. This catches every edge simultaneously and creates a natural, worn appearance. Drybrushing works particularly well for metallic vehicles and grimdark painting styles.
How Do You Paint Tracks and Running Gear?
Vehicle tracks are often the most neglected part of a vehicle model, but well-painted tracks dramatically improve the overall look. Start with a base of dark metal — Leadbelcher or equivalent. Then apply a heavy wash of Agrax Earthshade or Nuln Oil to create depth in the track links and running gear.
Once the wash is dry, drybrush the raised track surfaces with a bright silver to simulate wear from ground contact. Real tank tracks are polished silver on the contact surfaces where they grind against the ground, and dark with accumulated grime everywhere else. Replicating this contrast makes tracks look convincingly realistic.
Add mud and dirt effects to the lower hull and tracks using texture paints, pigment powders, or stippled earth-tone paints. Focus the heaviest mud accumulation on the rear of the tracks, the inside of track guards, and any surfaces that would catch debris kicked up during movement. Texture paints like Stirland Mud or Agrellan Earth create excellent three-dimensional mud effects with minimal effort.
Paint road wheels and suspension components before attaching the tracks if possible. These details are nearly impossible to reach once the tracks are in place. A simple scheme of dark metal with silver drybrushing and brown weathering is usually sufficient for these components.
How Do You Weather a Vehicle?
Weathering transforms a pristine painted model into a battle-worn war machine that looks like it has actually fought across alien worlds. Start with the least intense weathering effects and build up gradually — it is much easier to add more weathering than to remove excessive effects.
Chipping is the most common vehicle weathering technique. Use a small piece of torn sponge (blister pack foam works perfectly) dipped in a dark brown or dark silver paint. Dab the sponge lightly against edges, corners, and areas that would receive heavy wear — hatches, foot rails, armour edges, and areas near the tracks. The random pattern created by the sponge looks remarkably like genuine paint chipping.
Streaking simulates rain marks, fuel stains, and grime runoff. Using a fine brush and thinned dark brown or black paint, draw thin vertical lines downward from rivets, panel lines, and hatches. On a real vehicle, rain and grime collect around raised details and run downward, leaving dark streaks. Reproduce this effect on the model for instant realism.
Rust effects work well on older or poorly maintained vehicles. Apply small patches of orange-brown paint in areas where rust would naturally form — around damaged areas, near exhaust vents, along the undercarriage, and on exposed metal. Build up rust effects in layers, starting with dark brown and progressing through orange to light orange for the most realistic results.
Dust and mud accumulation should concentrate on the lower third of the vehicle, with decreasing intensity as you move upward. Use pigment powders, drybrushing, or thinned paint to create dust effects. Seal pigment powders with a matte varnish to prevent them from rubbing off during handling.
What Are Some Quick Vehicle Painting Techniques?
If you need to paint vehicles quickly for tabletop use, a contrast paint over a zenithal prime produces surprisingly good results with minimal effort. The contrast paint pools in recesses and runs thin over raised surfaces, creating automatic shading and highlighting in a single coat. Follow with quick edge highlighting and basic weathering for a battle-ready vehicle in under two hours.
Speed painting with drybrushing is another fast approach. Over a black primer, drybrush the entire vehicle with progressively lighter shades of your base colour. Start with a heavy drybrush of the base colour, then a lighter drybrush of a mid-tone, and finish with a very light drybrush of the highlight colour. This takes about 30 minutes and produces a table-ready result with good depth and texture.
Oil washes over a satin or gloss-varnished surface provide excellent panel lining and shading with minimal skill required. Apply a satin varnish over your basecoat, then apply an oil wash (artist oil paint thinned with white spirit) over the entire model. After 15 to 20 minutes, wipe the flat surfaces clean with a cotton bud dampened with white spirit, leaving the oil wash only in the recesses. The result is crisp, precise panel lining that would take hours to achieve with brush-applied shade paint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should you paint vehicle interiors?
Only if they will be visible. If the model has open hatches or removable parts that expose the interior, paint the visible areas. For sealed vehicles where the interior will never be seen, skip it entirely and focus your time on the exterior. Life is too short to paint the inside of a Rhino that nobody will ever see.
What brush size should you use for vehicles?
Use the largest brush you can control. For basecoating panels, a size 8 to 12 flat brush covers large areas quickly. For details and panel lining, switch to a size 1 or 0 round brush. For edge highlighting, a size 1 with a good point works well. Having both flat and round brushes in multiple sizes is ideal.
How do you paint camouflage on vehicles?
The best method depends on the pattern. Hard-edged camo can be masked with tape or Blu-Tack and sprayed or airbrushed. Soft-edged camo is best applied with an airbrush. For brush painting, apply the camo colours in patches using a large brush and clean up the edges with your base colour. Keep camo patterns simple — two or three colours at most.
How long does it take to paint a vehicle?
A Rhino or similar transport can be painted to tabletop standard in 2 to 4 hours. Larger vehicles like a Leman Russ take 4 to 8 hours. Super-heavy tanks like a Baneblade can take 10 to 20 hours depending on the level of detail. Speed-painting methods can cut these times in half while still producing good results.
Should you varnish a painted vehicle?
Yes. Vehicles get picked up by the hull far more than infantry, so a coat of matte varnish protects the paint from chips and rubbing. Varnish before adding pigment powders as well as after, because pigments rub off easily. A gloss coat is useful under decals, then matte over the top to hide the edges.
How do you magnetise vehicle weapons?
Glue small neodymium magnets into the weapon mounts and the matching weapon parts so you can swap loadouts. Small disc magnets, such as 3mm by 1mm or 5mm by 2mm, suit most turrets and sponsons. Check the polarity before gluing the second magnet, and magnetise before painting so you don’t scratch finished parts.
Related Content
- Warhammer Painting for Beginners — Everything You Need — start with painting fundamentals
- Best Paints for Warhammer — Complete Comparison Guide — choose the right paints for your models
- How to Paint Rust Effects on Miniatures — Complete Guide — learn a related painting technique