In natural room lighting it's not quite so pale. It's kind of out of balance until the silver and weathering hits it. I like to give it a black wash which also tones it down a bit as well.
The left ear is finished. The 2 airbrush colors I used are tamiya xf-20 medium grey and xf-65 fied grey (3 drops of white per ml to brighten it up a notch).
I use the templates to cut some masking tape into an arc, and I use masking fluid for the inner arc.
I went old school for the symbol part and used rub on lettering.
The left ear is ready to get down and dirty. I ran out of the tamiya I had been using, and picked up some MM wood from my local hobby lobby. With maybe 3 drops of white per ml it came out pretty nice.