Now your tutorial is really getting there as you can clearly see some of the layered effect in certain pics... They are really looking very very good.... Nice to see that your taking your time and your tutorial has brought up a few good points, so let me fire some stuff back at you.
1... The pics and "Bleaching" of colours.... The #1 reason for this is Lighting, although a Darker backgroudn may help, true light is different from the light you get off of a Bulb. Now you can go and get a "True Light" bulb to help with this, or you can use different backgrounds, difusers, flashes (or lack there of), etc... there are several methods I have been exploring; but seriously I am no Photographer and my work is a long wasy from being excellent either. I suggest you experiement with it, take stuff outside, whatever to see what works best for your camera.
2... The rear section being Blue or Yellow.... or Ratios of Paint..... You hit the nail right on the head when you said that the figure would look overly yellow if you had taken that route.... and many people do not understand that all paint jobs requrie "Off-sets" to show their true beauty... Well done in recognizing this; but even better done to point it out to others.... Cheers.
3... Thin Layers... Maybe you should let people know that you paint is so thinned out for the progressive layers, that you can actually read a newspaper through it (if you happen to put some on a newspaper)... Anyway, you get my point, the thinner paint used in layers is exponationally better than trying to use thick paint and some fancy technique (for the average guy). And don't get me wrong, the gusy (like No Remorse) that can succesfully Blend any paints are awesome; but not all of use (me included) can do this well. So progressive use of thin paints is often just as good ro even better for us to use.
4... Battle Damge... and this is just a sugestion, on amethod I have used.... Paint the area as you would normally paint (use the Yellow and Blue's your using on the figure) Do the area with shade and highlights; but it doesn't ahve to be prefect.... Then use Black in the recesses of the battle damaged areas themselves.... Then use Gunbolt Metal inside the black (leaving a thin edge of black) to show the damage itself.... Then use a Wash or Glaze aroudn the area to show burns, scortches, or soot marks.... It may not be the best method; but it works well enough and its easy enough for the average guy to pull off well.
I hope that helps, and the figure is looking great.
CaHG