I bought the kit from ebay from someone who also happened to live in Austin. On Saturday morning, I went to Hobby Lobby to get supplies and paint. I more or less worked on it the entire day, at the end of which I had completed the bottom half only.

On Sunday morning, I proceeded to spraypaint the body. I messed up. I tried to fix it. No good. I had to scrape off all the paint, sand the body down with sandpaper, and try again. Finally, the on the third try I was able to salvage something decent. The rest of the day went into painting all the machinery on the backside. In the end, I think the intricate detail of this model really helped make my shoddy work look ok. Sure, it could have been better, but there's a first time for everything.