A change of job has meant a lack of time to move this on, but i've made some progress recently.
First off, what seemed to be a bargain ebay purchase of some British Artillery turned into a complete repaint. The previous owner had caked the head joints with some kind of filler and superglue, leading to unsightly blobs. I took the heads off to replace them and a lot of the detail came off with them. So, ho hum, a complete repaint. I still have 2 figures left over that are unusable.
Second is a total result. I managed to pick up a couple of British mounted Officers painted by the late Tony Runkee. Lovely figures, the colours really pop. So the next unit I paint from bare metal will be influenced by the tones he used.