I started by washing the piece thoroughly with soap and a toothbrush. There's a lot of surface detail to cover, so I had to really get in there with the bristles.
This was a pretty clean pull, so the only real work I had to do was sand down a little bit of flash from the back. I did this by placing it face up on a piece of 150 grit sand paper, and rubbed it in a circular motion. This did the trick nicely. I did some other minor clean up around the edge with an exacto blade and a needle file.
I drilled out two holes in the dragons nostrils so tha I could run a necklace through it later, and also so I could hang it up to spray. I used a wire coat hanger that I bent so that it would not only hold the necklace, but also give me something to use to hang it up while drying.
I primered it using Plasti-Kote automotive black primer. I zapped it with three even, wet coats, and let it dry for about 15 minutes in between each coat.
To finish, I used dry brush it with some Citadel acrylic paint. I have seen a plated one, and I don't think it captured the "dirty" and "used" look that it has in the film. Too pristine.
Frankly, I was not too happy with the finished results. I have had really good results when using citadel paints on miniatures, especially those wearing chainmale armor, but it just didn't translate well to a larger piece. I probably should have dry brushed it with some bumper chrome.