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Hello. What's the best, and by that I mean combination of ease and quality, way to paint a vehicle with lots of flat spaces (Rhino, Storm Eagle) if I don't have access to an airbrush? Thanks.

Easiest way the first would be to base your army off a spray color like black or one of the army painter ones

second way is to get a large tank brush, thin your paint and go one side at a time, making sure you paint wet on wet to avoid dry streaks and make sure the paint is dry before going for a second coat or 3 depending on the color.

if you are trying to get a similar effect as an airbrush for highlighted panels then you will probably need to learn to wet blend or layer blend one panel at a time.

Agreeing with above, you can also dry brush as well if you don't want the "clean" look that edge highlighting gives.

Work one panel at a time and use extremely translucent glazes(use a lot more medium than water when thinning to prevent it going chalky) to build up a gradient. Use a large-ish good quality brush with a flat profile, ideally sable or sable blend.

MrKeef wrote:
Agreeing with above, you can also dry brush as well if you don't want the "clean" look that edge highlighting gives.

Drybrushing with a really, truly dry brush gives pretty good edge highlights in my experience. It's pretty hard on the brush, though.

Thank you for all the tips.

Games Workshop's 'How to Paint Citadel Tanks' is a great book that covers all of the basics. It's out of print now but should cost very little from e-bay.
The colours that are referenced within it are now also OOP but there are plenty of alternatives and paint comparison charts.
The techniques are as relevant now as they ever were.

Big flat brushes

 womprat49 wrote:
Big flat brushes

For a smooth result, this. In addition, you want them soft bristle and you want to work with thin paint, thin applications (like a glaze). Don't worry about streaks the first few coats; you will do several (4-5). Do each coat with brush strokes going in one direction (horizontal/vertical). Allow each coat to dry before moving on to the next. A hairdryer will speed this process hugely. Do each coat with brush strokes going at a right angle to the coat beneath.

Eventually you'll end up with a smooth, solid colour.

Rattlecan. I always paint vehicles with it.

I appreciate all the tips, truly. I'm picking up a large brush today to tackle the rhino.

For its tracks, I left them on the sprue and primered them there. As a Bearer of the Word, should the tracks just be Leadbelcher / Nuln Oil? That's my standard approach to my outfit's silver trim before highlights.

Suggestions for an alternate approach?

Suggestions for weathering? My home playmat is volcanic.

Watch Duncan paint a tank. He does a great job at breaking it down.

Dactylartha wrote:

For its tracks, I left them on the sprue and primered them there. As a Bearer of the Word, should the tracks just be Leadbelcher / Nuln Oil? That's my standard approach to my outfit's silver trim before highlights.

Suggestions for an alternate approach?

Suggestions for weathering? My home playmat is volcanic.

While that's kind of common with 40k, it'd be more realistic to drybrush earthy colors. Pick to taste, really.

Besides the usual chipping and whatnot, a dusting of ash and perhaps some scorching seems like a natural choice. You might be interested in light grey modeling pigments.

In my day we painted our Land Raiders with brushes, sonny!

I like rattle cans, especially if it's all one colour. Big brushes work but are still slow because you have to be careful not to leave streaks or build up too much paint around details.

Lots of companies make coloured rattle cans, Tamiya, army painter, krylon, half a dozen hardware store brands.