Bandai General Grievous questions

[Jimmer]

Got this model couple weeks ago and have been studying different techniques before starting.

At this point my plan is to very lightly sand, scratch and pock the "bone" armor, then use dust and brown washes.
Any recommendations on achieving the bone color?

Figure on metallics (gunmetal, steel, etc) washes/drybrushing on the black parts.

Paint in the knuckle joints.
Wash around flesh around eyes, gloss finish.

Any tips or recommendations, especially on bone, would be appreciated.

I am aware of neck area being a little trying, which leads to one concern I have:
Recently while dusting I knocked over my Bandai R5 and a foot hose snapped. I know they are fragile, but it honestly felt like the hose had become much more brittle than when I assembled the model.
I attached the hoses with a very small amount of liquid cement (a very small amount). Prior to attaching, I painted the hoses with acrylic metallic and applied a satin clear coat.
I actually had hoped a layer of paint and clear coat would possibly strengthen the hoses.
Now I wonder if possibly the cement or paint weakened them.

I had planned on putting a bit of paint on the "pinchers" that wrap around Grievous' lower jaw, now I'm worried about weakening it and other frail parts.

Whew...sorry so long-winded, basically any tips/insight anyone has would be welcome before I take the plunge.

 

[Automaton]

I've snapped a few Bandai pieces. They're more brittle than they look.

As to the bone, I would mix a little brown with some white and then rely on washes, putting the paint on then taking it off with a paper towel. It's actually quite pale so you don't need to overdo it and I would avoid anything too dark for the pock marks, etc. Note there are some faint patches of red in places.

 

[Jimmer]

Thanks Automotan.

I really wanna put the effort on to make this one look good, and spent about half an hour pausing scenes on Episode III blu ray to capture various angles of GG and a lot of close up face pics.

(By the way, I have found this technique helps me a lot. I took many hi res pics of paused scenes of X wings from several of the movies, both in flight and landed, and picked up lots of details to help paint engines, guns, etc.)

Anyway, u are right about being careful with darkness and pock marks.

I have seen several GGs that are too dark, IMO. That's certainly not an insult, I just mean they looked darker than in the films. And, it's easy to get carried away and scratch something way too much, forgetting the "scale" issue, if that makes sense.
I noticed in the film, around the eyes, there are very little pock marks, or pinholes, so I am going to add a few by very gently pushing in a needle several times. Been practicing on junk practice.
It can easily be overdone, but if you apply miniscule pressure u can create a mark barely even visible to the eye, but will show up faintly with a light wash.

I rarely post pics, a lot of the stuff on this site is so mindblowing that my work is run of the mill, but I may post some pics on this one. Not saying it's gonna be outstanding...lol...but for feedback.

Anyway, thanks buddy.