Discouraged but not beaten..

5 seconds and I was ready to give up..

I am learning real fast what to do and what not to do when it comes to airbrushing. A huge problem that I ran into was trying to spry primer over a red plastic is quite hard. I was thinning my paint way to much (25% paint 75% thinner) so it was taking 2-3 coats. As you can see here the paint is not getting into the panel lines very well.

I have a HUGE seam going down the front and back of my smoke stack. Not sure if I can even fix this. I know it will require some putty and sanding but unsure if I want to take the time..

An overall view of the primed smoke stack.

It took quite a bit of paint to get the red plastic to go away. I noticed after the paint it was very rough to the touch. I wet sanded it with 6000 grit and now it is smooth for the next coat. My concern is the amount of primer paint it is taking to do this.. Am I doing it wrong?

I learned something else, you need to wash your parts to get all the oils off. Well I did but not well enough because one of the side panels failed to paint. The paint puddled up like oil on water. I soaked the part in simple green (not diluted) for 20 min and the paint came off without hurting the part. I think I will make the parts first before I paint again.. Get all the seams nice and smooth.