Painting Models

My models are very simply painted.  They do not have faces, shadows, shading, buttons, buckles, shoes/boots, straps, or anything else that would be expected on modern plastic or metal miniatures.  What they do have is a coat, pants, musket, pack, headgear, and a spherical head.  That's it. The simple paint scheme is due to two primary factors. 
1: Materials
In an effort to remain budget friendly, I did not buy expensive brushes that would get torn up in painting the relatively rough PLA plastic my units are printed in.  I already had access to my wife's collection of cheap acrylic paints, so I just used those.  In reality the materials probably only have a minimal effect on the finished product.  The biggest reason for my results is my lack of skill
2: Skill
This is the biggest driver of my simple painting schemes.  I have little (no) painting skills.  I read "Grid Based Wargaming" and wish I had half of the skill required to paint 28mm miniatures in his "simple" and "fast" fashion.  He was very generous in explaining how he gets the results he does, but I think skill and experience is the missing link for me. 
My 3D design skill also influenced my simple paint scheme.  It would look odd to me to have detailed paint on simple models.  This simple modeling carries over to the terrain that I'm designing and will be similarly simply painted.


Here are some partially painted models.  For reference, the "equator" of the head is 27mm for the artillery unit.  As you can see there are some serious scaling issues going on here.