Love this hack! Since the brass black didn't take, I'm just going to paint them. Probably spray paint them black when I paint the hull. I assume the ladders on the actual ship were wooden, so not sure if black is a good idea. I can always take a trip to the hardware store and get some brown spray paint and paint them brown if the black doesn't look good.
Everything else that I blackened or blued came out nice. Sanded it in a jar full of sand, just swished the parts around for a bit.
And started painting the stanchions and small stacks white. I'm not crazy about how the pueter parts come out when painted white. For my Endurance, I'm going for a look of what the ship might have looked like in it's last days before the ice broke it up. So I thought of mixing a little black with the last coat of white to give them a dingier look. Any thoughts?
Then I started looking ahead in the instructions. The last page shows OcCre seemingly painting the hull and deck furniture with Betun du Judea. I've never used this. What is it? Is it like Tung Oil? What would it do to my painted surfaces? Would it dull the white to make it look more realistic? And is it the same thing as bitumen of Judea?