I've messed up models before, sometimes seriously. In most cases, the model would get re-worked if it wasn't much trouble or too time consuming. Otherwise, it would be tossed, broken apart for spare parts or put away to deal with "some other time."

   The motivation to re-work the failed paint job on the Enterprise was not easy to come by. It was two years before I finally got up the nerve to do something about it.

    The entire surface of the model was sanded, in some areas down to the bare plastic. In the picture below, sanding reveals a layer of white primer under the main color, a layer of dark gray primer under that and then the light gray plastic. Green Squadron putty can be seen along the rim of the saucer.