All is not well with the sides of the barge

It was all going so well. The sides of the barge looked good. I'd even found some waterslide crests to liven up the red areas from a box at Bournville. As a finishing touch, I gave them a light coat of matt varnish from my Army Painted rattle can. It dried badly. In fact, it dried too early - before hitting the model. Result: a finish that might have been matt, but has the texture of fine sandpaper. I tried to pretend that I could live with it, but after a little while decided to be honest. So, the red areas were given a light sanding with a very fine abrasive. I wasn't looking to remove the paint, just smooth the varnish. Amazingly, it worked OK. Not perfect, but good enough. A light brushed coat of matt, another sanding, and I was happy enough to brush (I'm not messing with spray paints for a while) satin acrylic on. After that, the layers were assembled, complete with glazing. OK, the results aren't perfect, but as I said at the start, the aim is to finish something, and the search…