I would really like to pre-shade my new Tiger tank model. It has nice Zimmerit texture, but I have no airbrush. If i try to preshade with black tamiya spray can, of course I will just just paint the whole tank black. any suggestions on how to preshade with a rattle can, hitting just areas you want? or should i just spray big parts of the tank then apply the dark yellow base coat after?

mhhhh...in my opinion is very difficult...
If I were you. with the brush I did on the primer base coat, a dark oil wash just in intersted areas...

To be honest I've never tried...but maybe it'll be work

cheers

could do with making. that is alot of work though just for preshading certain areas. other than that, you could make a cardboard mask so you only spray in a cutout area of a piece of cardboard

You could try flipping the tank upside down (turret separate) and spraying it using a primer red or brown (black might be too stark).

Then flip it right side up, and spray your Panzer yellow.

I think if you were careful, you could keep the shadow areas darker than the upper light-catching planes. You could also maybe use index cards (or other card stock) to mask the edges of your major planes and surfaces to vary the tones some.

For armour models, does anyone use a spray can to preshade?

I've watched a handful of Youtube videos lately and all show preshading with an airbrush (black and white). In all the video clips the tank is covered entirely in black paint. Sometimes white is spray over the black in select areas to cause contrast.

Would it not be easier to us a can of black spray paint rather than going thru the trouble to thin some black to apply with an airbrush?