I'm doing my first character maquette. I just pulled it out of the oven and was looking for info on painting it on the net. Most of the ones I've seen at school have globbed on too much acrylic and I want something smoother and more proffesional so figured I'd ask.
1- I used turpenol to smooth it a bit. I read some body had problems with the paint bubbling off. Someone suggested it might have been the turpenol oils, someone suggested washing the maquette. I don't want to ruin this. Do I wash it?
2- Somebody mentioned spraying on a gray primer, some didn't. Do you suggest a spray primer and if so that's any acrylic primer correct?
3. The character is a mudskipper of sorts so I want some smooth satiny, and some glossy areas - do I just use a clear acrylic spray? Do I spray it several light coats and sand between?
4. Finally I attached him to a wooden base. Unfortuantely the screws in the front are inside his fins nbow so I can't take it off. I wanted to coat teh base with some sculpey and model some mud and shells but since his fins are flat on the wood I can only do that in a small part. I was wondering if maybe I could put some sort of glue on and put sand or pebbles into that to hide the wood -any experience doing something like this, suggestions?
Thanks!
Here are two quick shots, looks like I was starting to over bake it as there are some white 'chip' type marks under the 'skin.' Still needs sanding - looks even worse in the foto as all the dents and bumps however small show up.

