Construction Lessons Learned (Model Kits)

It has been years since I built rockets, so I forgot a lot of little things. Here are a couple brutal new lessons that I got: putting on the acrylic clear coat too thick causes some funky bunching and I need to look into my choice of plastic cement.

These two pictures show the funky bunching that I mentioned. It happened on a couple models but not on others. I came to the conclusion that I put the acrylic clear coat on too thick by reading some construction / finishing tips at other sites (i.e. InfoCentral @ RocketryOnline and John Coker's Kit HOW-TO).

 

I was pleased at how the Space Ship One was looking and then I noticed some of the plastic had melted where the centering rings for the motor mount are! I either applied the glue too thick or am using the wrong type of plastic cement. I'm using Testors brand 'Cement for Plastic Models', so it sure seems to me I should have been fine!