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I recently purchased a Chaos Land Raider, and the only primer I had was Gray. So I primed it up and still deciding on what colors I am going to go with, but I have noticed with other models if I don't prime with a base color, and say I paint my land raider all red or green, it comes out kind of streaky and you can somewhat see the brush strokes. Now this may be just the way I am painting or maybe I just should find the biggest brush and go from there. But I figured I'd ask the Dakka crew to see what opinions or tips/tricks are out there.

Do you use many thin layers of paint, or just one or two using paint straight from the pot?

On large models like Land Raiders, I simply apply several thinned layers. And take my time.
Using an airbrush would of course save a lot of time, but I don't have one and brush painting works fine too.

I recently did this on my Dakkajet and it turned out good.

Yea I usually just fill up my brush straight from the pot and go.
So should glob some paint on something else, add some water, and go over it a few times with a few layers?

Airbrush, drybrush or really thin coats of paint with a brush would probably work best.

First of all; you really should always thin your paints
If you want to paint a larger surface evenly apply thin layers until you've got an even coat. If you want a bright colour, apply some thin layers of foundation paint in the colour you want (base paints i believe they're called now?), followed by layers of the lighter colour
hope that helps

I don't think I could handle air brush, I have never done dry brushing. I will have to attempt really thin coats of whatever color I choose.

How thin are we talking?
Almost translucent? Few drops of water?

 Solomongrundy wrote:
Yea I usually just fill up my brush straight from the pot and go.
So should glob some paint on something else, add some water, and go over it a few times with a few layers?

For large surfaces I'd definitely go with water-thinned paint (the consistency of milk seems to be the popular choice). I just use a cheap dimple tray, or plastic shot glass if I need to use a lot. Good tips here would be to be patient and apply as many thin and even layers as it takes to get a smooth finish (essential for painting with white in my experience), and give the mixture a good stir here and there to stop it separating.
Hope that helps and good luck.

Thinned enough so the paint is liquid. Your brush should not leave marks due to the paint being thick.
Think about toothpaste and imagine you try to apply it with a brush : this is what you don't want.

A common image that is often used is milk. Milk is translucent, and it would NOT create thick layers if you tried to paint with it. Your paint can be more (or less) covering than milk. But it should be almost as liquid.

If your base color is not very covering, it is generally helpful to use intermediate colors.

The colors you use to prime makes a big difference too. For example, if you are trying for a Blood Angels red over a black primer coat, a) the red doesn't cover well and b) the black shows through very easily. I solved my problem in the following way:

1. Prime Rustoleum Camouflage Brown
2. Basecoat with Mechrite Red
3. Top coat with Blook Red

The brown primer coat isn't as harsh as back while still providing the necessary shadowing. The foundation/base colors really do a nice job of providing coverage and the brown and reds are complementary, so they don't fight as much. Naturally, applying a Blood Red over a Mechrite Red allows for the color I want, without it having to fight with the black primer layer.

If I had to paint yellows, I'd do something similar. Prime Khaki or Brown, Foundation layer with Dheneb Stone, and then Yellow.

Thanks everyone, this all will definitely help me when I decide on what colors to use. I'm not sure if I want to Nurgle it up or Khorne it up yet.

One method that has helped me when thinning paints is using a wet palette.

http://youtu.be/EfiAbzHiTWg

This prevents your paints from drying faster than on a regular palette which i find helps me thin paint to the consistency i like.

To thinning paints as mentioned mixing to a consistency of milk is a good rule to follow. My first succesful mix, i dip my size 2 brush generously into the pot and drop the paint into my pallete. The i mix it with twice the same amount of water.

Remember, the idea is that each stroke doesnt leave brush marks. I do at least 6 layers of thinned paint to get an even coverage, more so when I do the white for my templars.

Try & find a matt spray that will match the colour you want & use that over the primer coat - check out hardware stores that do DIY stuff or Army Painter.

I think I am going to go with a couple thin layers of Khorne red and then some additional thin layers of Wazdakka red. I want it to be a darker hue of red. I'm thinking this should work pretty well....hopefully

IF you can use spray paint you can work a single action airbrush.

BeforeI got the Airbrush, I used what GW used to call a Tank brush, thinned paint and about 12 layers so that I did not get brush strokes.

Update on my status with the Land Raider

I have done about 3-4 thin coats of Khorne Red and it looks pretty good. I started on some spots with thin coats of Gehenna's Gold, but the color is thin already and doesn't look too go, seems too bright. I may just go over it with the thinned out Khorne red. Now I was wondering if I wanted to make some of the spots a little darker, would going over them with some Carroburg Crimson work, or would that also leave some streaks behind?

I also still want to go over some parts with thinned out Wazdakka Red, just gotta pick some up.

The best way to add shade to models with large flat surfaces like tanks is by using a 'pin wash' over a gloss-varnished base.
The gloss helps the wash slip around rather than streaking.
To do a pin-wash you usually use oil paints but it can be done with acrylics.
Get some acrylic flow improver & add a bit to your wash.
Add some neat flow improver to a section of the model.
You should be able to just touch the wet section with a brush loaded with wash & it will flow into details such panel lines & around rivets.
Use kitchen paper to carefully mop up any over-spill.

Sorry but gray isn't the best primer color.... unless you're painting the tank gray that is lol. Honestly if you're having difficulties, I would try repriming the tank with another color (probably black). I would try a drybrush effect on it if it was primed over black. Since its not, I just suggest watering down your paint a little and covering the model with several thick straight coats. Hope that helps