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I took pictures of my process for painting little armory guns.
>First you assemble the gun.
Use nippers/flushcutters, clean up nubs with a hobby knife and use extra thin cement to glue in stuff that shouldn't move. Sand off seams and mold lines
>Then you spray it with flat black primer.
I use acrylic vallejo mecha primer in my airbrush, but you can use spray cans (just practice on plastic spoons first). I pose my toys frequently, so I use alligator clips to hold the guns AND mask off high friction areas at the same time. This helps avoid paint transfer. Just 1 coat of black paint gets rid of the "plastic look" on the kits and is "good enough" for just playing with your figures.
>After you can dry brush some gun metal.
The trick is to get a broad brush that you keep DRY. DO NOT PUT WATER ON IT. Put a little paint on it, then wipe 99% of it off, then just hit the areas you think should be a little weathered (You can use reference photos to see what areas get scuffed up most). Avoid areas that should look like polymer.
I stop there most of the time, but you can add more details, try wood grain or topcoat.
