"Blackened armour" Topic

How do you paint this? Iron or steel is easy but I've never painted blackened armour (as worn by TYW Swedes) before.

Glossy black, then dull it down a bit if too shiny

Blacked armour of the period tends to be forge-blacked, I would go with a dark metallic steel and then ink black.

Alternatively, over bare metal figures, paint black and then rub off the excess whilst wet…

I tried the look of plain black on my current project's Reiters and they just looked unfinished (like … undercoated) …

I added a light dry brush of silver and it picked up the articulation of the armour, transforming them.

Gloss varnish likewise … (so a mix of the above).

Phil

Foundry makes a paint called blackened metal. It's what I used on mine.

The black armour with silver (or white) highlights/details is historically accurate – a lot of armour had tinned edges to the plates or field badges painted on.

Prime with black.

Paint black.

Drybrush lightly with silver.

Spray with satin sealant, to give it that nice, somewhat shiny, metallic look.

Perhaps add a little brass paint to some fine details, if present, before sealing.

Gunmetal followed by a dry brush silver.

Black dry-brushed with gun metal. Then some very little highlight with silver.

Spent Thursday at Leeds armoury enjoying top-quality armour-porn…

No question, 'black' armour is properly black.
A metallic base colour – no matter how dark – won't get that look.

Yesthatphil & Mako's solutions sound right.
You need the actual colour black as the base – you get the 'metallic' impression from a gloss finish rather than from metallic paint – and you'll have to very sparingly drybrush or edge highlight in silver just to provide definition.

Later, ECW-era rank-and-file munition armour, though – that's just plain ugly matt black.
That would be best represented by very dark grey basecoat, black wash, and very sparing mid-grey edge highlights for definition.

I've actually seen blackened armor, from the famous Austro -Hungarian collection, which is what I base my finish suggestion on.

I think a gloss coat will be too shiny, but a satin finish should look just about right.

Thanks for all the advice. I feel I have a handle on the issue.

panzer grey highlight over black

So, if my understanding is correct, 15th early 16th century black armor, was usually blackened at the forge, and was "shiny." Later in the 16th century to the 17th century black armor was *usually* painted black, or at the very least seems to have a dull finish.

The early type I make with a dark steel color (forget the actual name) from a Reaper master series, then I put on a heavy black ink. Then a glosscoat to seal.

The later type, I used to make by painting it a normal steel, then adding a very heavy black wash (dull black paint thinned just a little with water). If done right, the metal color barely comes through. I like the result.

I don't paint highlights, I just use washes -- I guess I'm too lazy. ;-)

I mix black into metallic silver until I get an effect that I like.

Two methods I tried were gun metal with a GW nuln oil wash for a more metallic finish or just flat dark grey with the nuln oil wash for a flatter appearance. You can highlight with silver or steel if you want depending on scale and how much definition there is on the figure.