As mentioned in an earlier post, I really didn't care for the botched carbon fiber effect and the ad hoc ODST emblem on the chest plate that was noobishly thrown on to quickly. Sooooo.........it all came off, sanded down, and a new coat of primer was applied.
From there, a barrier (AKA: Vaseline) was added and then hit with a silver paint. The idea was to give the piece some depth between the gray primer and the silver.
More Vaseline, then the straight black and blue were applied. A little bit of metallic saphire blue and sequin black dry brushing followed by some umber brown in the crevices to "dirty it up", then to a straight black wash to mute the silver and gray colors down a bit. That was then followed up with a umber brown wash to enhance the grime and wear and tear of battle. Lastly, a metallic gunmetal around the edging to highlight wear edges. I still am not comfortable with cutting or puncturing the piece to create an impacted look, but will practice that on some scraps first.
I opted to not put the emblem back on the chest plate and am now looking into just creating an ODST stencil with cardstock, then airbrushing the emblem on. IMO, this seems like it would be better served on battle gear versus some big protruding emblem on the chest plate.
Now I am finally happy with the way the paint scheme is coming along. Next up will be sealing, sanding, smoothing, and painting up the thigh and shin pieces. As a side note, the helmet is a dismal mess. After repeated tries with foam, I just cannot seem to master this and have opted to just save the foam (and money) and buy one from a reputable source.