If you don't want to try Alclad just yet Humbrol Metalcote polished ally gives a nice shine and buffs after it's hardened, sprays the same as any enamel, check my Typhoon thread P2 for pics of the Typhoon undercoated in the stuff.
If you need shinier then Alclad's the only way.
i'd definitely strip the plastic, i never have liked the too shiny chrome plate on scale models.
I'd highly recommend watching sleepylafaels build videos on youtube, they're from, what looks to be, a Japanese TV show about model builders and building, the speech is all Japanese with no subs but the videos mainly speak for themselves, there are a couple of bike builds on there, (the
Tamiya Desmo being one), and cars and planes, and ground forces stuff, in fact they're great for anyone building anything, shame we don't have something like it on Discovery here.