After 3 years in the making, disaster struck the U-673 project in the 11th hour.
Perhaps it was the long time the hull was sitting and paint drying out, perhaps it was the clearcoat I had used... but after I did a wash of RustAll on the hull the paint severely bleached, in some places nearly white!!!
Panic set in, obviously.
I tried using Methyl Alcohol (denatured alcohol to some of youz) to wipe it off... got rid of the rust but made paint worse! Aaaaarrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!
Thinking I was drying out the paint severely, I then tried wiping down with mineral spirits. This returned the paint MOSTLY CLOSE to its original colouring... but then the paint started to come off in some areas so I was down to bare plastic.
Frying pan --> into --> fryer
So it was time to decide just how badly I wanted this project to go well... either take drastic actions or scrap it.
I'll take Door #1, Monty.
Thank God I invested in a really good quality airbrush... a Harder & Steenbeck Infinity 2-in-1 with ultra-fine tip. Thank GOD!
I mixed up some thin paint for the hull (the dark part was worst) and using very low pressure (8-10psi) and very small needle opening, proceeded to re-spray the hull section by section to re-colour the bleached paint. The airbrush is fantastic! I was doing this for many many hours but finally it looks half decent again. But still...