that's pretty much how I do it too. But for that specific sun/heat bleached effect I take the main body color and thin it about 1:2 paint to thinner, then add a drop or so of white,, (for O.D. greens I fade them out with yellow instead of white, or a drop of yellow and a drop of wwhite as well) The reason you would want it so thin, is if it was thinned normally there would be a definite demarcation line where the lighter and darker shades of the same color met.
I then lightly dust areas where the sun would hit, or heat would build up like the tops of engine cowls and toward the leading edges of thewings until I *JUST* notice it lightening. I let it dry and if I feel it is still a bit too dark, I spray a little more with the lighter color and let it dry. Just repeat this until you like the way it looks.
After that I randomly **lightly** spot areas on the fuselage and wings to get a varied tone to it. You don't want to put too much of the very thin paint down... just enough to get a slightly shadowy effect.
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I enjoyed the pictures of your town, I will definitely look into it for my next vacation to Mexico, I have been to Cabo San Jose and Mexico City, along with a lot of smaller towns.. but the scenery where you are is beatiful! It reminds me a bit of a part of Colombia that my wife lived...