This pretty much sums it up. I suggest using a combo of plain plating with greebling in between.Glowy bits.
Ridges.
And of course, greebling. Don't be one of those fools that overly greebles and gets an ugly ship that they think has a wonderful exterior, though.
Just as a general question, has anyone had success with putting different grey (or other color) blocks on their exterior to simulate different metal plates? If so, what different blocks did you use, and do you have any screenshots? I'd like to see that and haven't tried it yet.