The first one is a lot like mine, just a different size. It's fairly light and sturdy, and it's strapped pretty well, except the guige strap is not really adjustable. So I cut the strap off mine, leaving about 8" on either side, and riveted my own belt onto the remaining pieces, so that I could have a buckled strap.
The surface of the shield is covered in a canvas material, with some sort of soft layer underneath. I'm not sure how well it holds paint, in general, but since mine got dipped in tough epoxy paints, mine has an almost metallic, smooth surface now.