Thanks, John (@johnb).

I got the chipping done this morning. The process is fairly simple, but you need to use a little care to get the effects where you want them. If you haven't done chipping before, here are the steps:

1. Paint the color that will show through the chips. In my case, I used Vallejo Metals Steel. Let it dry.
2. Brush on the chipping fluid. I used Worn Effects from AK. Let it dry.
3. Spray on the surface paint. In my case, I used the late war Tamiya DAK Desert Tan. Let it dry.
4. Use a soft brush of spread water in the area where you want the chips. This activates the fluid.
5. Use a stiff brush to start the chipping. I use plenty of water and just get the scratches started. I then shift to softer brush to make the chipping more controllable. The paint will gradually get really soft, so I shift to a really soft brush to finish the process.
6. Let everything dry when you are happy with the effect. It is easy to overdo, less is usually more.

The only problem I had is I forgot where I had sprayed the steel in a couple of places, so I managed to chip in the wrong place and got bare plastic. Easy to fix, but frustrating. I also got some areas on the nose of the sidecar that the chips are larger than I really wanted. I plan to fix both the bare plastic and the larger chips using a thin overspray of the DAK. The paint is really soft when you finish the chipping process, so I usually let the paint dry for a day before I start doing other steps.

Everyone have a great weekend. Cheers.

9 attached images. Click to enlarge.

The result are excellent, George @gblair
Your step by step tutorial is very helpful and I'm sure I will give this AK thing a try.

A mini-update:
I started assembling the subassemblies for the sidecar, painting some of the detail as I go. Starting to look a little bit cool. I wanted to try some different types of weathering and finishing techniques, so I used a square piece of styrene to recreate the surface of the model: plastic + metallic paint + chipping fluid + tan + chipping. I divided the sheet into 4 areas so I can see what weathering works and what looks the best. Cheers

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Thanks, George (@chinesegeorge). Now that the bits and pieces are coming together it is actually starting to look like something.

Great progress, George @gblair
Looking forward to the wiring to be added.

It is amazing how long it takes to get anything done with this kit. Yesterday I cut a bunch of the engine parts off the sprue and started gluing them in sub-assemblies. This morning I spent two hours cleaning up the parts, getting rid of ridges where the parts fit together, filler, then sand and polish. When that was finally done, I sprayed the applicable parts with either aluminum or dark steel by Airfix in a can. I love this paint. It is easy to control, dries smooth, and looks good. I had a lot of life interruptions today, with more on the schedule for tomorrow, so hopefully I will get some time to work on the cycle. Cheers.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Tidy up those little parts is time consuming but will improve the looks a lot, George @gblair
Looking forward to your work on the cylinders.