Okay, here is what I ended up with...
Before spraying color, I added rivet detail all over everything to give it a "made of metal" look. It is very subtle, but once everything is done the weathering will make it stand out a bit.
The pre-shading did provide the effect I was after. I airbrushed the Vallejo aluminum in very light coats so I could build up the layers to achieve the right look. It was pretty fun actually, because I could get anything from a light silverish frost over the color to solid opaque aluminum depending on how heavily the metallic was applied. The underlying color didn't seem to make much difference in the final result, but in places there is a subtle effect.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It's interesting to see that it looks a little bit different in the pics than in person.
Gonna let the silver dry for a while, then it will get a clear coat. After that a little color and weathering.
Before spraying color, I added rivet detail all over everything to give it a "made of metal" look. It is very subtle, but once everything is done the weathering will make it stand out a bit.
The pre-shading did provide the effect I was after. I airbrushed the Vallejo aluminum in very light coats so I could build up the layers to achieve the right look. It was pretty fun actually, because I could get anything from a light silverish frost over the color to solid opaque aluminum depending on how heavily the metallic was applied. The underlying color didn't seem to make much difference in the final result, but in places there is a subtle effect.
Overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. It's interesting to see that it looks a little bit different in the pics than in person.
Gonna let the silver dry for a while, then it will get a clear coat. After that a little color and weathering.