I primed the hat with Gunze Sangyo Mr Surfacer 1000 and began painting it last night. Here are some shots:
I painted the hat a mixture of Vallejo flat black and basic skintone, adding more skintone to the highlights and using straight black for the shadows, like Jaume did on his panzer officer. I don't know, maybe I over did it on the top of the hat, maybe it's the flash I dont know. The insignia and cord needs to be painted yet. Comments welcome of course.
Looks fine to me although its a bit hard to tell with the reflection coming from the flash. I find that I get my best photos (and mine are nothing to write home about!) and more realistic colours in existing light without using flash.