Have I been painting muskets wrongly all this time?

[TheBlackCrane]

Painting some muskets on 15mm WSS figures earlier on, it occured to me there must be an easier way to do it;

Up till now, I have always done all the wooden parts, stock, strap etc. first, then the barrel last. The barrels on 15mm muskets though also tend to be requiring of a steadier hand than I have, being cast as the 'top half' of the whole barrel and sometimes a little ill-defined - which invariably then results in having to go back and retouch all the rest of the weapon where my had has slipped.

What if - I paint the barrel first and don't worry about where the metal paint is getting on the musket, as I'll then go over that painting the wood etc. anyway - which has a larger surface area and is easier not to spill over the lines with...

So I'm just wondering - how do you all paint muskets? Have you got a particular approach/technique? Has it taken me 23 years or so to reinvent the wheel? 

[Codsticker]

I'm painting 28mm but yes, I usually paint the barrels first, then the stock and then any metal hardware that is affixed to the stock.

[Orctrader]

If I'm using metallics on any figure, I always paint the metals first, then touch up the black undercoat.  Whenever I've done it the other way, I find some flecks of metallic paint where I didn't want it to be.   

[levied troop]

Generally silvered metals first, then wood and then brassy bits if required.

The variation on this is figures firing from the shoulder where, depending on the sculpt, a bit of wood shows between the figure’s chest and the musket. Then I do wooden bits first and touch up a lot afterwards.

[has.been]

I start my figures starting with a dark brown undercoat & work up from there.
This means a spot of 'highlight' for the wood, then I use Gel pens. Gold or copper
for the banding & butt plate (if there is one) with silver for the barrel. By not
'connecting' the metallic 'colours' the dark brown shows through & adds to the effect.

[v_lazy_dragon]

Generally silvered metals first, then wood and then brassy bits if required.

^This

[white knight]

Yep, I also do the barrels first and the wood bits and straps after.

[freerangeegg]

I to have been doing it wrong. I think painting the metal last is a throwback to using enamels when you had to paint metallics last as otherwise everything had little metallic flecks in it when you did a wash or varnished the figure, which doesn't happen anymore with acrylics. I am definitely going to try doing it the other way now.

[Captain Blood]

I'm painting 28mm but yes, I usually paint the barrels first, then the stock and then any metal hardware that is affixed to the stock.

Yup.
Moi aussi.