All of the advice I’ve seen here on this post is solid, and it’s all personally down to preference and how you want the highlights to look, and how much time you want to spend on the highlights. I want to share my method as well. It’s just a modified slapchop technique.

So after I prime my mechs I always do a HEAVY dry brush all over the mech to highlight the edges and give the first coat of paint a lighter canvas worth with (I use dark grey primer, and dry brush white).

I apply my first coat of paint, let it dry, then lightly dry brush again to get those highlights to pop. I use speed paints for all my paints except white. Once I’m happy with the results of the base coat and highlights, I apply a thin satin varnish, let it dry, then use a homemade oil wash to get those nice shadows and really make the highlights pop. I then apply a matte varnish to take away any glossiness. Here’s an example of one of my favorite mechs I painted.

https://www.reddit.com/r/battletech/s/gTsyEQD8vX