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Hey Dakkaites,

Im just about to start assembling and painting my LandRaider. I'm using this image as inspiration :-



Mine is not a MkII but it has the spaced armour and Ultramarine doors from Forgeworld so it should look quite funky.

The thing is, I've never painted anything this large so I thought I would just spray it with white primer and use that as the main colour. (I don't have an airbrush yet)

I was thinking I would just use some badab black wash for the panel lines and such and some pigment powders for the dust and wear. I don't want it too bashed up (roughly as it is in the image) so I might put a few small scratches but nothing much.

Does this sound like the way to go ? My other thought was that I could prime the whole thing light grey and then use the white carefully to give it an even coat but show some grey in the recesses and interior corners etc. (Like Ambient Occlusion)

I would then start with washes and powders from there.

Anyway, any advice or even example images of white models would be much appreciated.

Thanks.



Oh and sorry for the small crappy image but its from the Forgeworld book Imperial Armour II and i didnt want to infringe anyone's copyrights.

I did reply to this already but Dakka decided to go into maintenance mode just as I pressed 'Submit'. How annoying.

As I've not painted a white tank before what I am about to say is just from what I have seen before and will not stand in any court of law. Not even one in that really corrupt country, you know the one I mean.

I would say no to applying Badab Black over a white primer for many reasons. Firstly the contrast would be too great and may look silly. Secondly, the black isn't natural enough to be used. Thirdly, in such a large area it will appear streaky.

If I were to attempt this myself I would do apply dots of oil colours then wash it in thinners. I've found this blog as an example of what I mean: Ultrawerke Ragnorok

He offers good step by step information and is one of my inspirations.

A white tank is not an easy project, brother. I would seriously recommend a spray or airbrush. I would also recommend against using white primer as your basecoat. Primer has a coarse, dull texture that is pretty distinct. Not only that, but primer has a way of attracting dirt, and if you let it sit around or handle it for any length of time prior to sealing it, it will look dingy. Although you could make a kickass diorama with a dirty, white primered land raider sitting up on cinder blocks with high grass growing all around it: Redneck Space Marines!!

The last bit of advice would be to start with a very light gray as the basecoat, and then work your way up to a white highlight. I tend you use Space Wolves Grey as my base with a 50:50 mix of Skull White:Space Wolves Grey to highlight, and then pure Skull White as the final, thin highlight.

Look at AgeofEgos army. All of his tanks are white. I believe he used an airbrush to get a nice even coat of white.

Here is easy steps for a perfect white tank.

Off white matt spray .

Fill in the lines with gray Micropigment Pen

Paint the metals bolt gun metal followed by smoke / black wash.

Do some light weathering with Tamiya weather kit.

Of course if you have an air brush it'll make the blue stripes way easier D:

StubbyGB wrote:Hey Dakkaites,

Im just about to start assembling and painting my LandRaider. I'm using this image as inspiration :-



Mine is not a MkII but it has the spaced armour and Ultramarine doors from Forgeworld so it should look quite funky.

The thing is, I've never painted anything this large so I thought I would just spray it with white primer and use that as the main colour. (I don't have an airbrush yet)

I was thinking I would just use some badab black wash for the panel lines and such and some pigment powders for the dust and wear. I don't want it too bashed up (roughly as it is in the image) so I might put a few small scratches but nothing much.

Does this sound like the way to go ? My other thought was that I could prime the whole thing light grey and then use the white carefully to give it an even coat but show some grey in the recesses and interior corners etc. (Like Ambient Occlusion)

I would then start with washes and powders from there.

Anyway, any advice or even example images of white models would be much appreciated.

Thanks.



Oh and sorry for the small crappy image but its from the Forgeworld book Imperial Armour II and i didnt want to infringe anyone's copyrights.

White works fine as a color, but agreed a spray is best at this point. Its not often seen and is a nice counterpoint to lots of paint styles.

I use a very watered down (50%) skull white over a mid grey base.

1-2 coats (depending on how white I want it to be) makes it look rather cool in a "white fog effect" kind of way.

By changing the orientation of the tank as it dries (ie holding it upside down, front down, rear down, etc), you change where the paint pools the most, so can get different areas of high intensity white.

Without an AB white is going to be time consuming.

Wash LR in mild detergent if already assembled, if not wash the sprues after they soak for about 10 mins and scrub with an old brush to help remove mold release, let dry.....the plastic should not feel oily or greasy anymore, that tells you it's free of release.

Hit it with the Krylon Fusion White. It's designed to adhere direct to plastic and is around $3-4 dollars in the states. I'd then hit it with a matte clear and let it dry for an hour as the normal acrylic will have a difficult time sticking to it otherwise (acrylics don't stick well to enamels without some kind of rough clear, matte is a slightly rough clear, compared to gloss that is).

Then paint details to your hearts content.

An AB does make this easier so if you have a friend or even a neighbor who will trust you I recommend that route. I find VERY few 40k vehicles online that look good painted when the artist used a normal stick and hair brush for a basecoat.

Long post but it's my 2 cents.