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Im a experienced painter, but I have next to none experience with painting tanks especially ones that would have a smooth finish on them e.g. Tau Hammerhead

Can anyone help me with advice on how to paint Tau Tanks/vehicles??

Thanks, Joshua

I can give you some advice if you want to do some sort of camouflage on one. I primed mine a grey color, then took a mechanical pencil and drew the camouflage pattern on first. I worked it out on paper first, so I could be sure that with the pattern I wouldn't have two of the same color touching. I used three shades of the same color (light/mid/dark).

For the central section, I thinned down my paint a little bit to make sure it went on smooth. I washed the recessed lines first, then made sure not to get paint into them as I progressed. Unlike a boxy tank, you can't just dry brush to pick out the details, so edge highlighting along the recessed lines is usually the way to go (I didn't do it in my example below).

Very neat and smooth result.

Airbrush or spray can is the best way to get a very smooth finish, though in some ways it can make the camo pattern more difficult to achieve.

For example, if you wanted to do a splinter camo like the pic above, you would need to cut a load of masks from tape, and get them applied in the right order.

Digital camo masks are available commercially, which could be an interesting look.

Another alternative is a WW2 aircraft kind of look, with very slightly blurred edges, achieved by masking off the areas with rolls of Blu-tac.