Thanks dear friends! I'm glad that you like what I did so far!.
Brian & Alex:
I approached the armour a little bit different then usually. I didn't used metallic paints at all. The figure is casted in metal so I polished the armour with a brass brush. Manually. No power tools. I applied primer only on fabric and leather areas and in this way I locked the armour from the rest.
Basically what I did with the figure metal representing the armour is to stain it with oil paints. I did a mixture of black + indigo + van dyke brown diluted at the milk consistency. I applied this mixture and after 30-40 sec. I wiped it off with a tissue. In areas where I couldn't get in with the tissue, I used a dry brush to take off the excess. I repeated the process till I was pleased with the effect. I applied the mixture 3 times.
I prepared and applied a second mixture, this time only with van dyke brown but this one only in selected areas. It is pretty effective to represent grime in different areas. No highlights applied yet. After the oil will dry I'll have a look if highlights are required or not. From previous experience, additional highlights are not required. Eventually another light scrub with a clean tissue.
This is what I did, so far. Normally, after the oil will dry, I apply a thin layer of Tamiya X19 Smoke acrylic paint, heavily diluted. This will add a nice shiny smoky tone to the armour. This works awesome on cuirassiers and carabineers cuirasses which are very, very shinny. I'm not sure yet, if I'll apply it on this Civil War Officer. I'll decide later. If I'm getting a nice worn look I might skip the X19.
Let me know if everything is clear. So many words for such a simple process.
Hope it helps.
Cheers,
Zeno
