I've messed up models before. I've even seriously messed up a modeling job before. Often, the model will get discarded. If the fix is not too much trouble or time consuming, it may get re-worked. To re-work the failed paint job on the Enterprise, it would be a lot of trouble and it would be very time consuming. I decided, however, that I'd put too much work into the building of this model to leave it with this disaster of a paint job. I was determined to give it a finish worthy of the building job I was so pleased with. It took two years for me to get up the nerve to finally do something.
All of the paint and decals were sanded off in preparation for repaint. In doing so, I learned much about the acrylic paint "cocktail" I had conjured up. I also learned a lot about why it's not so good an idea to spray heavy coats of such a mix on a model in such a short time.
The color coat of this model consisted of three basic types of acrylic paints: metallic, non-metallic and clear. By mixing them all and spraying on a very heavy coat, the three types of paint had time to separate into layers before drying. The metallic particles were the heaviest so they sank to the bottom of the coat. The non-metallic pigments were a little lighter and became the middle layer, hiding the metallic pigment completely. The clear paints floated on top. I was able to clearly see this layering while sanding the paint off.
Once I was satisfied that I had sanded off enough of the cracked and "orange-peeled" surface and the decals on it, I felt I was ready to start repainting.
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The History of Space Exploration
Figures: People, Creatures and Dinosaurs
