Eating (painting) the Hekaton

I’m looking for some painting advice. I’ve had a hekaton on my hobby table for awhile now. I’ve just finished the side armor panels to the degree I like. I feel like this is an odd vehicle though - so many bits and bobs, asymmetry, different things here and there to get at and around.

What have people found is the best way to paint the beast? Do you break it down to quadrants/sections or just go after it? Is it more a matter of painting similar materials/surfaces at the same time like pipes, tires, armor, details etc? I want it to look nice as the closest thing to a centerpiece that we have, but I also don’t want it to take me a whole other year to finish the other one I have after this…