Other possibilities

With a few decals, here's what my final ship ended up looking like:

Of course, that's hardly the only option we have for materials. If you'd prefer, you could add shiny paint materials instead:

Basic paint isn't particularly difficult. It's just a combination of diffuse and glossy shaders. If you want to have a clearcoat layer to your paint, you can use the Fresnel input to add it as well. The basic paint setup shown will get you started.

As you can see, there are many options for adding materials and textures to our spacecraft. Take your time and play with the various options!