"Blackened Armour" Topic

I'm painting up some ECW figures and am intrigued by 'blackened armour'. I have tried painting Vallejo silver then a black wash. Next was humbrol metalcote, polish with a 'q-tip' followed by a wash, and then ( 3 cavalry – research is everything!)black followed by a silver drybrush. I don't think I'm a perfectionist ( I can't be with my 5 thumbs per hand) but none of them look just right.
What do other people, far more skilled than myself, do?
Cheers
Bill

Hi Bill,

I am not skilled by any means but the way I paint blackened armour is with Black first, then various dry brushes of silver, a very light dry brush of bronze followed by a wash.

Hope this helps.

Yes, DON'T start with silver and add black. Start with black and highlight with blackish silver then silver then . . . I always wash with burnt amber at the end to cut down glare and to give that semi rust effect.

You can start with steel, use humbrol black/dark brown mix, let dry slightly then gradually wipe off with a wet/damp/moist brush with thinners on. If you take off too much then a black wash will put it back. Unless you're really confident o recommend you do this before you paint any other bits.

Many thanks. Several options appear and more cavalrymen are waiting for more research. Soon I shall have a squadron of multicoloured amour, but I'm
sure I shall be satisfied with one of your answers!

Bill

PS Would you think the same works for artillery?

"burnt amber"

?? Never heard of that colour. Do you mean Burnt Umber?

Coat d'Arms Armour Wash does a really good job of blackening up a silver or steel while still leaving enough of the metallic look to feel right.

Try this – onto a humbrol matt black undercoat, a 80 / 20 mix of GW chaos black / Bolt gun metal, then bolt gun metal onto the highlights, wash with GW black ink thinned down to about 50/50, then Foundry Spearpoint onto the raised edges.
Have a look at shrimproll.blogspot.com for some examples.
Hope that's of use??

I've found a Craft Tint shade called Wrought Iron to be of use. I have trouble with washes and highlighting.

I have been told that armour of the ECw period would be "rusetted" – let to rust and coated in a thin coat of linseed oil.

The idea of black armour came from the victorians who decided to paint it all black when displaying it?

I use silver and a brown wash for the armoured pikeman.

Similar to the other folks here, I've painted the armor (including helmets) with black first, followed by a light drybrush of boltgun or Vallejo "natural steel" and then followed with a black ink. I think it gives a good affect that seems close to some of the color plates in books and on-line.

Hope this helps.

Erik

I am certainly not skilled. I just mix Vallejo gunmetal grey with black roughly 3:2, then paint the edges with steel or brass if appropriate (usually officers only for this sort of decoration). All that only for cavalry – Dash1643 has the right idea for infantry.

It gets more complicated! Many thanks for all your ideas.

Let me give you one more suggestion. I first paint the armor with Vallejo oily steel. I then give it a black wash of GW black ink and distilled water. I dip the end of the brush (the one without the brushes) into the ink then tap the end with the ink into the little mixing bowl I have on my pallet. I then add a drop of water and mix. If it's too light then add a bit more ink. I then wash this over the dried Vallejo oily ink. Let stand until it's dry. Then I take just a little oily ink on the tip of my brush and I mean just a tip. You will hardly be able to see it on the tip of the brush so small it should be. Then in another of the cups of my pallet I have distilled water. I dip the end of my brush, with the very small amount of paint, into the distilled water. The idea is to dilute the paint but not so much that it becomes a wash. Now take the wetted paint and glide it over the black wash. The idea is not to cover the black with paint but to allow the black to show through the oily steel. The end result is blackened armor with a bit reflectiveness of armor. You can also highlight the edges of the armor with mithral silver from GW. But again thin the silver with a bit of water like you do with the oily steel. Blending like this is an alternative to dry brushing.

Rich