15mm Tank Painting Guide
15mm Tank Painting Guide
PAINTING TUTORIAL
I was asked by someone on The Wargamer’s Forum [Link] to compile a
tutorial of my painting techniques for military vehicles. I’ve always been happy to share my methods and, thus, here is a tutorial on painting and finishing
15mm tanks. I say tanks because the subjects of this tutorial are both tanks, but I apply the same methods to soft skin vehicles, artillery and light
armoured vehicles. I am now working exclusively in 15mm, however, I used similar methods painting in 1/72 scale. There are some slight differences
when it comes to oils, weathering and modulation, but otherwise the same. For this tutorial, I will be painting the Plastic Soldier Company’s great 15mm
Valentine Tank, having 3 different turrets, in Soviet markings as well as Normandy Miniatures’ 15mm plastic Jagdpanzer IV kit, making it generic to fight
in NWE, Ostfront or MTO. Here’s the links to both kits from their perspective manufacturers:
PSC 15mm Valentine: [Link]
Normandy Miniatures 15mm Jagdpanzer IV: [Link]
Both kits allow you to build 3 different versions of the vehicles and come with 5 tanks.
For any painting job, first you need to start with a good state of mind. You should be excited to paint and discover what your efforts will produce. However, you
should not be too heavy with expectation. Do your best, don’t get too hung up on little mishaps. Make a deal with yourself when you begin that you will finish. For
years I was so critical, I’d just stop a project that wasn’t turning out the way I envisioned. Not finishing is the worst! The only way to grow in your craft is to finish
and to try different methods. This won’t happen if you keep seeing mishaps as a failure, and putting the project aside. It’s not going to be perfect, it never is. At least
not in the moment. The strange thing is, and some of you may have experienced this, is when you put something aside for a while and come back to it, all of the
sudden it looks awesome again and you can’t imagine why you were so distressed about it that you stopped.
So, have fun and make the pact with yourself to finish. Gather as much
reference about a painting subject as you can. I really enjoy this aspect of
painting and modeling. Have a plan of what you will use for colours and
what elements you want to stand out. With 15mm, my primary goal is to
attain more contrast, this will make your tiny vehicles really jump visually.
It’s a good idea to have a variety of stowage items to personalize each
vehicle. British, Commonwealth, American and German tanks are especially
good candidates for stowage. Look at photos to realistically place your
stowage items. Even the odd piece on a Soviet tank will help it attain a
personality and add interesting visual elements to your paint job. I buy my
stowage because its faster, but use green stuff if you prefer. I use green
stuff for some things, like sandbags. Here is a list of suppliers offering nice
stowage items:
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
accessories/
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
info&cPath=1_22_24_50&products_id=1024
[Link]
[Link]
page=product_info&cPath=1_22_24_50&products_id=1024
[Link] Clean your models with warm water, dish detergent and a soft toothbrush.
So, let’s begin painting. The first step, once the model is constructed and
ready to paint, is to clean the model. This goes for plastic, resin and metal
kits. All molds require a release agent to help separate the casted parts
from the mold and this forms a film on the parts. That coupled with the
dust from filing, scraping or sanding and one’s finger prints makes for a
pretty grimy surface. Your paint job will be more durable and look much
sharper if you give your model a wash with a bit of dish soap in warm
water. Use and old soft toothbrush, giving it a light scrub. Once clean
and the model dries, you’ll see a big difference in the crispness of the
details. The next step, if you are painting a resin or metal kit, is to prime.
With plastic kits, I don’t bother. I use Tamiya paints in my airbrush and
they seem to form a very strong bond with plastic, I’ve yet to have an
issue with paint chipping or scraping off. With metal or resin, I use Krylon
primers. Depending on the paint job, I will choose between Black, White,
Grey or Red Oxide primer. Black primer allows you to have deeper shaded
areas with careful airbrushing. White will make your colours very vibrant,
which is often favorable in 15mm scale. Grey will help colour look worn,
faded, like in the desert. I use Red primer for late war German tanks where
there is Red Primer used in the camouflage pattern, or vehicles where the
interior is visible and just left in Red Oxide primer. When using spray cans, I
recommend holding the model 12” away and spraying thin coats. You want
to preserve your details.
Once dry, you will notice how sharp your painting surface looks!
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
Next step is our base coat. In 15mm, I really want to have
maximum contrast, but I don’t want my surface so busy that we
start to loose clarity. I employ two different methods for 1 colour
camouflage schemes and multi-colour camouflage schemes. This
is why I am doing 2 tanks for this tutorial. The Soviet tank is one
colour and the German tank destroyer is two colours.
XF XF XF
68 3 1
N Fl Fl
SC
BroC No.2 Broato Yel at Bla at
wn low ck
wn
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
Now I add white to my highlight colour. It can be quite light
and thinned down. Here we’re just hitting the top edges of
our highlights. Don’t overdo it! As mentioned, the engine deck
or front plate with all the splash guards didn’t receive any
modulation. I leave these areas a little bare because I am an
old-school 80’s guy that still likes to go dry brush crazy. It will
really highlight these busy areas, and beef up the contrast,
which is what I want. Throwing in some stark modulation will
just muddy it up.
In the end, you won’t say, “Wow, look at that great modulation
job!!” Instead you will see a vibrant vehicle (even though it’s
painted in drab colours) that’s bursting with detail. This is
what I’m aiming for. We’re going to pimp up our little tanks
and make them present like larger scale tanks.
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
Let’s move to the Normandy Miniatures Jagdpanzer IV. I built
the kit up as a L/48 version with the muzzle brake. These
were often removed to prevent the huge dust cloud it created
being so low to the ground. I decided to leave it on because
it looks cool! The Jagdpanzer IV’s appeared in 1944 so I used
the lighter 1944 variation of Dunkelgelb. My mix is below. I
use a lot of Dunkelgelb, so I just go a bottle of Tamiya Flesh,
Deck Tan and Dark Yellow and mixed all the contents into one
bottle as the mix is [Link]. I airbrush the tank straight up with
no modulation as I am doing a pretty busy camo pattern. A
really bold camouflage pattern could look good with a bit of
modulation, but smaller, wilder patterns just start to lose their
impact in this scale. This, of course, is just my opinion, do what
feels right for you!
XF XF XF
60 55 15
D Dar Dec Fla
194unkel Yel k Tan k Fle t
low sh
4 gelb
I used this Panzer Lehr Jagdpanzer IV for inspiration. I mark
up my late war German tanks in a generic sort of way so
they can fight on multiple fronts. I use references as a
guide, but change it up a bit to make them anonymous.
Germans were issued Green and Brown paint to apply in
the field , so the variations possible are almost infinite. I
like how these guys outlined the cloud shapes, but rather
than filling in the clouds they filled in the negative space.
I made my clouds a bit bigger so the pattern is something
between clouds and wavy web-like lines.
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
The green is sprayed on in loose haphazard coats to emulate
a panzer crew member spraying it on by hand. Being fast and
sloppy here is actually good to this end! Some sources say to
let the paint dry overnight before removing the blue-tac. This
source says “Hell with that!”. I’m too chuffed to wait and I peel
those blue tacky balls off as soon as the paint dries. So far, I’ve
had no issues with this sabotaging my paint job. I understand
the concept of letting the base coat dry for 24 hours, so it
doesn’t peel away with your masking material, but the green
paint is in contact with nothing, really. Peel away and smile.
If some of the sticky tack is left on the vehicle, make a little
sausage of the same material and use it to dab off the bits
remaining on the model.
3 parts 1 part
XF XF
58 61
Oil Oli D
vgr Gre ve Greark
ün en en
Et violá! Very sexy. . . OK, maybe not, but still pretty exciting.
The pattern turned out as I expected and now I am ready to
move on to the next steps of finishing.
. . . H a. . .
Ha
e ze
Ve a r s ! !
ie
Badd e g !
ri
As s k
s s k a mf !
A ze n !
s b l i t
As
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
70.872
Chocolate Brown
70.862
Black Grey
Painting the details, I begin with the tracks. As previously
mentioned, I use Vallejo paints for brush work. They cover
beautifully and dry very nicely. For larger jobs I use acrylic
extender to keep the paint’s viscosity nice for the duration
of the job. Vallejo makes extender, but I use a big bottle of
Golden Retarder. It’s a much cheaper alternative. I make a 1:1
mix of Chocolate Brown and Black Grey for metal tracks and I
used it for the base colour of the exhaust.
My most used brush sizes for 15mm vehicles and figures are 0,
00, and 000. I rarely use a 1 or above.
Tires, radio antennas, and the metal parts of tools are painted in Black Grey.
Some care should be taken with the tires, but the weathering with often
hide any brush mishaps.
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
70.887
Brown Violet
70.981
Orange Brown
70.875
Beige Brown
For wooden parts I usually use Beige Brown, but I felt that it was
too close to my SCC No.2. I decided to mix in some Orange Brown
to paint the jack block and spade handle.
70.846
Mahogany Brown
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
Flat Black crafter’s acrylic was used to paint inside the hatches
to indicate depth. That’s it for the minimal details on the
Valentine. Now we’ll go back to our mean Jagdpanzer IV.
Let us Keel
Fascist
bastard,
komrade!
70.862 70.875
Black Grey Beige Brown
The same Vallejo mix of Choco Brown and Black Grey are
used for the tracks. Also, straight up Black Grey for tires, tools
with metal parts, the MG and radio antennas. Beige Brown
was used for the wooden tool parts and jack block on the
rear plate beside the exhaust. I put a base coat of Chocolate
Brown on the muffler, it will be rusted up later. The periscopes
and gun sites were painted Green Grey. There are 2 bedrolls
or tarps, on the front deck I used Khaki Grey and the one on
the rear deck is German Camo Beige with Mahogany Brown
tie straps. The metal ammo or tool boxes got a coat of Mig
44 Dunkelgelb, just for a bit of variation from the base color.
That’s it, details on both tanks painted. Pretty fast, only the
tracks and tires are a little tricky.
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
Paint the muffler Chocolate Brown. Later it will get drybrushed The tracks get the same treatment as the Valentine.
with reddish and orange browns to rust it up.
Both tanks received a spray coat of Pledge floor wax to gloss it up. This
sprays direct from the airbrush with no thinner. The gloss surface will
be ideal 2 resons: 1) The decals will sit and set better on the smoother
surface. 2) Washes will flow better on a shiny surface. If you try to put
a wash on a matt surface, it will act more like a uniform stain and
likely ruin the model. The gloss finish with keep your washes in the
recesses and around raised areas. I recommend more of a pin wash than
an overall wash. Any excess can be removed with a small brush and
thinner after. The gloss coat will darken the model, but it will go lighter
when we apply a matte varnish later. Overall, the model does go darker
and that’s why I lighten up my colours significantly in this scale.
Next, the decals. This is a step I really love, but it also makes me swear
a lot. First, research how the vehicles were marked up. Use relevant
markings for the period in question and place them properly on the
vehicle. Sometimes I use artistic license for things like the red stars. Most
Soviet tanks did not have them and often they are barely visible in this
scale. I like to use them as a national identifier for gaming purposes. It
appeals to some small OCD part of my personality. Have good tweezers,
an old small paintbrush, Solvaset (I find this to be the best product for
the job), a toothpick or dental pick, cotton swabs, nerves of steel, and a
beer for self medicating. These decals are tiny so I use the tweezers to dunk it in the water, then place on my fingertip. I use the small paintbrush to move the
decal right off of the backing paper, the decal now on the tip of the brush. With the brush, I apply the decal to the tank. If you need to adjust it a little, get the
brush wet, recharge the decal with water and try to reposition with the brush. If that isn’t working, use the toothpick or dental tool, CAREFULLY. Don’t use the
point, you’ll wreck the decal and scratch your paint, use the side of the tip. Once in position, press the cotton swab close to the decal, but not on the decal to
soak up the water. Let it dry a minute and use another small brush to apply the setting solution. I only apply to the top of the decal, the instructions call for
painting the surface area with it first, but it makes it near impossible to make corrections with placement. It’s strong stuff and it seems to work just on the top.
Your decals may bubble up a bit, don’t worry, let them set fully. I don’t use Solvaset on really small numbers and letters, like war department numbers, unless
absolutely necessary. Allow the setting solution to dry for 24 hours and brush paint a sealer coat of Pledge over your decals.
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
This is why I recommend the use of Solvaset! Look at how the decals settle into those details. I just want you to feel the same sense of
satisfaction and triumph that I feel. . . Sigh. . . So good. . . [Link] (Another sci-fi subject, but helpful)
After the decals are set and sealed in with more Pledge (I use a paintbrush and paint it over
the deacls only), it’s time for washes and weathering with artist oils. My first wash is with Burnt
Umber. Squirt some of your paint on a piece of paper, this soaks up excessive oil. I use odorless
thinners to make my wash. Do not use turpentine!!! Turps will make your oil wash gummy and it
will take months to dry. Seriously, I’m not even exaggerating. . . Thin down some of the oil paint
to resemble a watery stain. Use better quality oils. That tube of Windsor Newton Burnt Umber
has been with me since the 90’s! The good stuff covers better and a tube lasts a long time. Here
is a video demonstration of pin washes that I found. Use this method, it works the best: https://
[Link]/watch?v=XuCN6chxLo0 Any excess wash can be later removed with a brush
dipped in the thinners. Apply your oils to a piece of paper to soak up some
of the linseed oil.
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
Moving on to the lower hull and tracks, I mix up a dusty wash. I prefer
oils to pigments in this scale because they are more controllable and
slightly less dusty looking. This is just personal opinion, but I think
pigments look great on the larger scales. They make these 15mm tanks
look like Dinky Toys that were abandoned in the sand box outside
over the year and haze over all those contrasts I’m trying to achieve.
I feel the oils look like pigments, but somehow scaled down, not
overpowering. For the tracks and lower hull I make a Grayish Tan with
Black, White and Yellow Ochre oil paints. My tube of White is from the
1960’s, a hand-me-down from my Aunt!
I pin wash the dusty wash onto the tracks, but I’m more sloppy with the
bottom of the hull, front and rear plate. Anywhere that looks overdone, I
just clean up with a brush dipped in the thinners. For a desert tank, you
can do the whole vehicle like this, though I wouldn’t do it with a light
colour like Portland Stone. The light wash creates a really nice contrast
with the dark, metal tracks.
From the side one can see that I extended my wash to the sides of the
tracks and in behind the wheels. I used the dark Burnt Umber wash
for the wheels, tires, springs and suspension. This is merely a personal
preference to highlight the different layers. One could just as easily
do the whole lower hull and suspension with the dusty wash. I’ve just
noticed that the suspension actually looks more like an A9 or A 10
Cruiser than a Valentine. The wheels look legit, it’s going to look the
part on the table.
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
When the Burnt Umber pin wash has had about 24 hours to dry I then
use a dot filter technique to make streaks of dust, dirt, soot and rust. I
just use a few colours. Yellow Ochre, White, more Burnt Umber, Black and
Red. I use a method much like the one in this video:
[Link]
I alter the technique from this video by not putting as many dots in
place. I’m more selective where I go and I’ll mix rust from Black and Red
and streak that down from the odd rivet or hinge, something like that.
I usually keep it pretty subtle unless I’m doing a large vehicle like a KV
or a Tiger without zimmerit. You can experiment with different colours
or shades. Sometimes I’ll use Sap Green mixed with Burnt Umber on top
of a green paint scheme just to make it more vibrant, though still look
weathered. If you don’t like the effect of a colour, you can pretty much
brush it off with enough thinner.
These subtle effects seem to really set off a camouflage pattern. The
weathering can be used to draw the eye deliberately, or add some
interesting elements to more flat, formless areas like the side skirts. Just
be careful not to flood the pin washed areas with foreign colours, it will
weaken the effect. In 15mm scale a few tubes oils are cheaper and just
as effective as some of the weathering effects and pigments available.
I did not use any pigments for this project and I don’t usually use them for these small tanks.
However, if you wish to use them, a cheap and fun alternative is to buy artist contés or pastel
chalks. Scrape some of the chalks into powder with a blade and apply wet or dry with a brush
the same way you’d do pigments. They work very well and you can buy a whole pack of earth
tones for about $12. I use them for my scenics in 15mm sometimes and I used them often for
my 1/72 projects with great results.
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Once all of your oils have dried for at least 24 hours, give it a coat of
the matte varnish of your choice. I use this AK-Ultra Matte stuff and its
pretty good. Your colours will lighten up a touch again, but the overall
model will still be a bit darker than from your initial airbrush coat. Your
decals will look really great at this point. Hopefully, you pull some of
those dirt and rain streaks over your markings here and there!
A closeup of my Valentine with the Mk. IX turret. The diesel fuel streak
running down the spare tank was straight up Black oil. One dot, then a
thinner soaked brush to pull the oil down. It’s really starting to come
together.
The Jadgpanzer IV L/48 looking good with its coat of matte varnish.
The cloud camouflage pattern with the stark Burnt Umber pin wash and
subtle streaking turned out really well giving some life to this blunt kit
which lacks a lot of crisp detail. When it’s on a table 3-5 feet from my
face it looks just as striking as the more detailed and accurate kits. I
do love historical and technical accuracy and I will seek it out as much
as I can. Being that this is the only plastic Jadgpanzer IV kit available
currently, I’ve made a bit of a compromise, however, I feel that the short-
comings are now easier to overlook with a nice paint job.
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70.951
White
70.843
Cork Brown
70.847
Dark Sand
Raised detail like the rivets and engine deck really start to pop. After the drybrush, if I see any further details I wish to highlight I paint them in
with a fine brush. For example, the metal clamps and cleats to hold on the tools.
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PAINTING TUTORIAL
70.981
Orange Brown
70.818
Red Leather
Next, rust effects and metal effects. For rust, I drybrush over the
Chocolate Brown base. First with Red leather, then Orange Brown. You
can mix any red and orange for this and achieve a great result. I never
rust up my working tracks and rarely my spare tracks. I use 2B pencil
lead to metal them up on the raised areas, or that with a combo of
gunmetal drybrushing. Oh yeah, I used a small brush to add highlighs
to my tarps and bedrolls. Just add white or buff to the base colour.
I don’t chip as much as the guy in the video and I lay down a lighter
version of the base colour first. Use a little with a piece of sponge
lightly here and there and add a bit more or embellish with a tiny
brush. I use Black Grey or the Black Grey/Chocolate Brown mix for the
bare metal parts. I don’t use any silver paint, like the fella in the video,
but I think it actually looks nice. I might try a small dose in the future.
Be careful not to go overboard, I think I went a little too far with the
fenders on the Valentine. This is why you need to finish your work
though, you can assess and perfect your skills. Overall, I am happy
with the results of this painting session, but will do some things
differently on the next vehicles.
Attach your crews to a sprue for easier painting. The difference from base coat to finish. Quite a bit darker, so go light!
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OTHER TANKS, SAME METHOD