Thanks folks!
@edwardmyst I have another set of panels that i've just cut out so the very early
WIP looks like this ..
I told you they were made of junk!
The panels were glued on one layer at a time using pva . Once the panels (and the bits on top) were all glued in place the whole thing was given a dark grey prime and the centres of the panels given a lighter grey prime. Base colours and shading was applied with an airbrush. The vertical stripes were masked off and sprayed with the airbrush and some liquid mask was applied for some of the lighter paint chipping. Darker chipping on the panels was applied with a sponge. Once the chipping was done i used a mix of oils/ enamels to create the streaking and rusty stains around the chipping. Job done!