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Hello everyone! I've literally just started building my first car and have obviously ran into some problems. It's a Lotus Europa 1/24 from Tamiya and the main shell that came off the sprue is white. After the first base coat, I had some tiny paint holes and build up, like bubbling or mounds, one area near the front fender, and one under rear bumper. This is the part where I think I began to get overcomplicated and ahead of myself. I tried sanding down and filling the holes with Tamiya basic putty which is grey. I waited a day for the putty to settle then sanded it so was smooth and in the shape of the shell, and the holes were filled out. Then, since I sanded the first basecoat (because clear coat is not recommended to go on a sanded base coat IIRC?)I tried spraying another (2nd) basecoat of the pearl white, and to my dismay, I found out that the pearl white spray (TS-45) I was using was very translucent, and showed the grey putty areas. So, I sanded the car again trying to get rid of as many grey areas as possible. At this stage I have ran out of spray (100ml can), and am too eager to finish the shell. Now this was probably another rookie mistake, I tried hand painting the more difficult grey areas with Tamiya flat-white enamel because I couldn't wait to buy another can of the pearl white. Now I've bought 2nd can 100ml can of pearl white and sprayed the other parts (bumper, back engine cover, spoiler) and then on the main shell yet another basecoat (3rd). There is still some orange peel from my amateur spraying, one or two grey putty areas (3-5mm in size) you can see when it is well lit, as well as some scribing scratches. You can also see slightly raised patches where I've used some enamel in my amateur attempt to cover up the grey putty areas. Now I've used two cans of Tamiya pearl white spray, and still have a pretty mediocre shell. Please refer to the photos. So now, do I buy third can of the pearl white and spray to cover up the grey regions and fill scribing mistakes? Do I sand down everything and start again? Or should I just clear coat it now, polish, and just build the car. Regards LG

Hiya I'm new here and to modeling in general, and like many before me and after me i need help understanding the painting process, I have the Aoshima G-West Lancer Evolution kit and i started spraying today everything seems like it went off without a hitch however I was surprised to find the primer quite rough, and the base coat has a egg shell/satin finish, is this normal? Should these coats feel smooth to the touch? almost as smooth as the plastic itself? I also made the stupid mistake of using too much turpentine to remove errors i made in hand painting the window rubbers,some paint and primer, i believe, were removed during the process, will i have to re prime the blemish before adding more coats of base paint? Setup Spraying outdoors "no booth" Tamiya TS-13 base and light grey plastic primer. Thanks in advance Regards Scary