You should be able to strip the paint with some isopropyl alcohol. It works fine for me if I have to strip acrylic paint off.
You might want to try reversing your paint order for the mail. Paint a base coat of black and then dry brush your silver over the links. The highlights of the rings will stand out and give the mail much more depth. Any creases or shadow areas on the mail can be deepened with an extra wash of black to darken the area. I use MM Chrome silver and it makes a nice tone on metal parts. For plate armor I hit it with the Tamiya smoke. The darker "smoke" collects around highlights and really adds depth to plate.
The bronze color is nice and will give a toned down contrast to the color of your helmet. In period they used brass (called lateen then) or polished bronze. Many helmets also used no contrasting elements , but I tend to lean towards pimping out the figures a bit. Makes it more visualy interesting.
When painting armored figures, its easier to paint them as if dressing them. Gambeson or jupon first. Then mail hauberk. Lastly any plate or tabards, surcoats, livery coats etc. This way as you dry brush the silver on the mail, you don't paint over a really nice paintjob on your overgarments. Any over brushing is covered when you do the base coat of the surcoat.
Mike
"Imagination is the dye that colors our lives"
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