Painting Armor (not tanks)

[Major Weenie]

Again,

Not sure if this is the correct place for the post, but here goes.

Short back story; Blah, blah blah... Hussite game last weekend... Blah, blah, blah... Maybe going to build a Holy Roman Empire army.

So I used to be quite proud of my Foundry WOR figures, but I trotted them out of the box and gee.... They're not quite as good as I remembered.  So if I am going to use them, I guess I'll be repainting.  Now in the old days I used to avoid plate armor, and go chainmail heavy, because it was easier to paint.  Has the science moved forward?  Any new and exciting techniques for painting a chap in plate armor?

Many Thanks,
MW

[Daeothar]

How about a basecoat of your favourite silver colour, followed by a hefty wash of something black and brown?
Highlight with the base colour or higher if required/desired and presto...

I used to go with a wash of GW Brown Ink, with a tad of black added, which yielded nice results. Then they came out with their washes, and I really like their Gryphonne Sepia, with or without added black. I tend to go with a darker wash (with some added black) for the deepest recesses and then another one with straight Sepia, diluted where required over a larger area.

I have recently aquired a large pot of Vallejo Wash (a colour coincidentally also named Sepia...) or, as it says on the lid; 'Dipping Formula'. The examples I saw of this stuff being used (live, not on the web), were nothing short of stunning and especially for things like chainmail and plate mail (or any metalics for that matter), it is amazing.

Now mind; I still have to try it myself, but with a fully assembled and ready for undercoating Warriors of Chaos army, with loads of plate mail in there, I will report my findings once I get to using the stuff myself...

[Major Weenie]

You know,

One of the members of our local club swears by this formula of 'oil based cabinet stain.'  He once showed me a Spanish American US infantryman that he had not shaded.  He merely dipped the thing in the stain.  After I tried it a couple of times, and ruined the figures, I gave up.

Tamia used to have a product named SMOKE for armored vehicles, and there is always "The Magic Wash."  But I suppose you'd need to paint/wash the armor first, and then paint the rest of the figure?

Thanks,
MW

[Mad Doc Morris]

An easy one could be to simply "polish" the armour. That is rubbing off the paint, even the primer, from all armoured parts of the model (with steel wool and/or a file), polishing it with a soft cloth, and thereafter washing it with thinned black paint. If that becomes to dull, just give it highlights with bright metallic paints. Some like to add a blue wash as well for the look of heavily polished steel.

Here's one of my own trials:

[Aaron]

Major Weenie,

I love a good wash of Payne's Grey over steel armor myself. It is a nice dark grey with a slight blue tint. Mine is Liquitex artist's acrylic which should be available from most craft / art supply stores. Alternately Vallejo also have a "smoke" in their translucents range.

[Captain Blood]

I mix black and silver 'craft' acrylic to make a metallic grey which I drybrush over a black undercoat.

I then use a very watered-down silver to gradually build up the shine on certain areas of the armour which would catch the light. With a final pure silver highlight on the very raised points of detail like rivets.

If you need to tone it down anywhere, use a very thin wash of black to touch in any shadowed areas.

Black and silver. And a bit of water. Works a treat. All you need.

I've never used any of these cackamamey so-called specialist metallic products ('polished boltgun steel' and 'gleaming mail') in my life. It's all just a load of marketing baloney!

 

[Col. Aubrey Bagshot]

How about a basecoat of your favourite silver colour, followed by a hefty wash of something black and brown?
Highlight with the base colour or higher if required/desired and presto...

I used to go with a wash of GW Brown Ink, with a tad of black added, which yielded nice results.

GW haven't made inks for two years, dear boy.
They now make: Washes. ( like they used to in the good old days )

Are they better than the inks..... YES! They are splendid contributions to painting, and for any form of metal armor, a boon.

Simply: Paint in silver. Paint on the black wash. Highlight edges in silver. DONE.