Paint has been applied, and weathering has been started. I've done a broad sweep of weathering over the shins and knees, and will reattach knees soon.
Plan going forward is to paint and weather (just a basic weathering) of each armor piece as I go. I've marked down exactly what colors I use for each step and will continue to use them through the entirety of the build.
My reasoning for doing the pain and weathering as I go is so that once I find a groove I can continue to follow steps to make each piece better. and maintain a similar practice as I go.
the process:
I started with a basic black undercoat, using the plasti dip as a base, then a thin coat of a flat black enamel. I spreayed a few sections silver where I wanted the paint to look like it had chipped away, and Then followed up with taping off and toothpaste coating the sections I wanted to keep black or silver before then spraying the red over the legs, trying to go for a faded look. I tried to maintain about 12" away from the piece as I sprayed because it would give it more of a injection moulded look by doing this as apposed to a smooth shiny gloss coat you'd get from a clean new polished part. After painting the red and it dried, I went back through with a silver marker and highlighted the big damaged areas, then using a toothbrush and rub 'n buff I dry brushed the seams and raised areas to give a worn and damaged look to each hard edge. After all this I gave a single coat of clear paint and waited for it to dry before giving it a wash with black, crimson red, burnt umber, and yellow ochire acrylic paints, dabbing dry to leave the 'dirt' colors in all the little cracks and corners.
Once I've built, painted, and basic weathered ALL the parts, I'll go back over them all with a spritz of water and then powdering of Cinnamon to give the entire armor a look of dust and built up dirt in each little nook and cranny.
Maybe one day some day I'll make a video to show how I do these steps, going into more detail.
anyways, legs are almost done, just gotta build the thighs and cod piece, then it will be all upper body!
Thanks!