The surface tension driven levelling of thixotropic non-evaporative paint films was investigated. Stepwise calculations, based on Orchard analysis, were derived in order to take the thixotropic structure recovery into account. Rheological measurements showed that the rheology of the coatings can be described entirely by five parameters that were used in the computation of the levelling viscosity. Numerical results relating to the decay of the amplitude of surface irregularities were obtained. It was shown that the steady-state viscosity of the fluid is irrelevant in the description of the levelling flow, as a result of the high degree of structural breakdown during film application. The levelling of paint films was measured experimentally using a laser displacement transducer, and a satisfactory agreement between calculated and experimental data was found.