Re: The Colors Underneath...
I belive the origonal design for the mandelorian armor was with white. At least the color sketches were if I remember... white, gray... with red forhead triangles.
He customizes his armor the same as a WWII dogfighter would there airplane. He adds colors and killmarks to intimidate his enemys. :)
Re: The Colors Underneath...
I've been thinking about this too a bit... and his armour was actually yellow in the Holiday Special (even though slightly misshaped) :)
Don't really think his helmet would ever have been all grey when used though, assume that to be some sort of primer. But the back of his (esb) helmet clearly has been cream/kaki! The left ear cap also has one light grey and one red layer beneath the green. And perhaps even the mandibles was a more purple red once.
Cause I just can't imagine Boba sitting with a paintbrush in Slave 1 and doing all that weathering...
... but I might be all wrong.
Re: The Colors Underneath...
The yellow on the armor and the helmet are meant to be oxidation from carbon scoring. The grey is likely to be some sort of primer and the lighter colors (such as the light green on top of the dark green on the armor) are just scratches that haven't scratched all the way to the silver. I'm not sure about the other colors.
Or maybe when Joe Johnston was painting he just thought it looked cool.