Painting skill: UP!

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I spent yesterday reorganizing my model kits and Transformers. Reorganizing my model kits required that I had to designate those painted pieces as failures (explanation below). It was annoying because of wasted resources but I did learn valuable stuff about spray-painting my kits.

 1. Spray painting requires patience.
 2. Proper spray painting requires 2 THIN layers of dried paint.
 3. Spray painting the parts is best done after said parts are partially constructed.
 4. Spray painting requires space, illumination and ventilation.

 The painted pieces came from the 1/144 HGUC kits of Blue Destiny 2 and RGM-79N. I wanted pink mobile suits [shrugs] and the Blue Destiny units were pretty and symmetrical. Yes, the RGM-79N is not symmetrical but as grunt units go, it's one of the best. So, I painted or tried to paint those units. Went a bit overboard on the primer, which made the parts thicker. Then I repeated the mistake on the paint itself. [shakes head] What a loss. I was able to salvage poly-caps and the hands [shakes head], but a loss is still a loss.

 Anyhow, I've been told that acrylic can be stripped w/ 90% isopropyl alcohol [rubs hands]. There's a way to salvage to those kits, yeesss. Research has indicated that 90% isopropyl alcohol would be the easiest to acquire and use. I'd have to acquire containers to soak those goodies. And yes, I'd have to acquire the solvent itself.

 On a related note, I've tried to install the HG 1/144 Strike Freedom's DRAGOON system on the HG 1/144 Forever Gundam's back-hub. [smirks in annoyance] The result was an ill-constructed kludge. The wings couldn't be joined directly to the hub which would have been fine IF the hub were connected closer to the centerline. The placement of the hub made the kit too back-heavy. Add the fact that the Forever Gundam's neck doesn't accept other kit's heads made the kit ugly. [tilts head to the right] And the question is: Do I proceed with the kitbash (that would require the purchase of three expensive 1/100 Master Grade kits for optimum results, unless I can get the runners that contain the GN Sword III's without buying the entire kit) or do I move MAGENTA onto the 1/144 Kshatriya (since the Kshatriya has four beam cannons right in its chest, 24 funnels, 2 cannons and a manipulator in each of the four binders)? If it's a question of cost, the Kshatriya option wins. If it's a question of aesthetics, the kitbash wins.

 Decisions, decisions, decisions.