Whitewash was thinned with water when used. It was usually spread on with a straw broom or rags, but the crews were not that careful in applying it.
The interior of open topped vehicles sometimes had whitewash 'dribbles' from where the brush was pushed up the side to the top of the armour plate. This was the only time the interior got 'painted' by crews. The whitewash wore off quickly, and any dribbles on the rear access panels were quickly worn away or covered in mud and slush.
As the good Captain has said, many crews used canvas tarps or canopies to ward off the cold and bad weather; if they didn't they improvised. Personally, I prefer to see all the nice detail in the vehicle compartment and would hate to cover it up with a canvas.
There are many pictures of whitewashed vehicles where the bottom edge of the canvas has traces of whitewash from where it was spilt when being applied or where the crew actually intended to apply it. The canvas was flexible and bellowed out by wind. Usually the whitewash on the canvas was very quickly eroded by this movement, and the canvas should therefore show only traces of past whitewash unless you are depicting a dio scene where the wash is being applied.
Hope this helps