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Technical question about pin washes.

Looking to do some fine details on models with engraved greaves / manuscripts. They include tiny details like letters, runes, etc that I'd like to stand out on the finished model.

Thinking this calls for pin washes, but I've had trouble doing it in the past. Like on the book for a dark apostle, I can't get the paint to sit in the letters on the book he's carrying.

Any advice?

Tamiya Panel Liner will be your best friend, it works magic at this sort of thing. If you use a gloss varnish first, it's even better

If the pigment not getting into tiny nook and crannies that is most likely due to surface tension.

To help with that ether use:
Oil wash that uses thinner or solvent that has less surface tension than water and will get into every nook
Or
Add a drop or two of dish soap into your wash mixture, that will help with getting paint into every cranny

Have you tried painting the entire book in the colours you want the recessed details to be, then painting the raised areas in the colour you'd like the paper to be? Sometimes this works better than trying to muck about with washes. The dark apostle book recesses are pretty deep. I'm fairly sure that's what I did when I painted mine.

I agree with mothsniper. Oil is your fastest easiest method. If you thin your oil paint down with white spirit (mineral spirit in the uk) to a highly diluted wash, you can put a bit in a brush and touch the model with it and the paint will automatically fill recesses with no effort. And best thing yet, you can wipe off any that you accidentally drop or put somewhere undesirable. I pin wash my models this way in 5 to 10 mins each.

Yeah, what paint are you using for the pin wash? If you're using acrylic, you're probably making life harder on yourself. There's various pin washing products that typically use oil or enamel, or you can mix oil or enamel paint with white spirit or odourless thinner.

You might also consider doing an all-over oil wash, letting it dry, then removing the excess with a q-tip or makeup sponge. The reason I mention this is because if the book/greaves has a lot of individual details it'll be quicker just to give it the all over wash then wipe off the excess, with the added bonus that it will ever so slightly stain*** the surface, tying the colours together.

***by "slightly stain" I mean way less than an acrylic wash would, it's a very subtle effect.