I think by now I'd resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to get the finish I expected but I was determined to see just how much I could rescue this model.

After day 3 I'd ended up with a rather grainy paint job. The print layers were quite visible along with the other imperfections...

First step today would be to sand back the model to see if I could get a smoother finish. I started with my little mouse sander then switched to sanding by hand...

In most areas I sanded back to the primer but in other areas I sanded back down to the plastic.

I don't have the tools to get into those rear grooves.

You can see that I've sanded back down to the milliput filler in some areas.

Next was another layer of primer. I took the model outside to spray it on.

I added a few think layers and waited until it had nearly dried before taking it in to fix some of the details. I took my trusty craft knife to trace out some of the grooves and then used a pencil to clear out the unwanted primer.

I let the primer dry some more, sanded and then repeated (more primer, fix details).

I waited a few hours for the last layer of primer to dry, sanded and added a few thin layers of paint. I would have added a few more but it began to rain.

The results aren't perfect but it is far better than where we were.

It definitely pays to take your time.

Next steps: a light sanding and another layer of paint.