I'll pick up those books before trying anything else... I also did a little research on the net, and realized I'd left out a few sanding steps (only did the first sanding and not between coats or after the last coat)... Luckily I didn't put any polymer on it yet so it should be relatively easy to strip down again. I will definitely pick up an electric sanding and buffing disk (and either buy or rent a spray gun), which should speed up the process a lot, make sure more of the original finish gets taken off, and make it more even. The primer is on there, but I need for it to be darker. I'll probably sand it down to nothing again and start over whenever a dry weekend is available again. I'm thinking of painting it black with a blue flash polymer. Either it will look good or horrible, depending on how I do. I'll just pretend I'm painting an action figure...