Ferrari 312T5

bossy122
Start by polishing up the bright stuff while the resin parts soak..

Steve Wilson
I'll follow your build on this one...😉

Alexander Grivonev
Wait, how and what did you do there. Are these parts real metal?

bossy122
White metal. Start sanding ( i prefer Tamiya sand papers) 180 grit, 240, 400, 600, 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000. Then i use these polishing pads i inherited, 3200 up to 24000. I've tried also using polishing compound but i didn't see a significant difference to the finish....it's the 24000 and the 18000 that really kick in the shine.
The real problem comes with deep pitting in some of the pieces, then you have to really work at it with the 180.

bossy122
Oh, that flat 12 is for the Hasegawa 312T.....get everything jumbled up.

Alexander Grivonev
Thanks for the explanation! Definitely following...

bossy122
Thanks to more clever engineering, I have to go back and trim this crap to fit.....WHY?!

Tom Sanders
I have found that the fingernail files and buffers from Tropical Shine can be very effective in transforming a bland white metal (Zymac?) component to a chrome-like shine (if required). 180 grit to prep the surfaces and remove some flashing (black), then 220/320 grit (blue), then the "quad" to polish the surface (blue/pink/white/gray). I then will use Mothers Aluminum polish on my Fordom with a buffing wheel. I then finish by cleaning the residues with Nevr-Dull then spraying with alcohol and wipe clean. Now the parts may be buffed to whatever degree finish your application requires. I recommend coating with a clear lacquer to maintain the shine. The Tropical Shine buffers can be washed and dried for further use but to degrade over multiple uses. I cut these to fit narrow locations using heavy duty shears.

Note that the Tropical Shine buffers can be used in the same sequence to polish wood and even clear plastic. I use a similar process to create polished Plexiglas canopy plugs for Allyn P-51 Chrome desk models. This can be helpful when someone is restoring and old plastic model with vintage "glue smears" on the clear part surfaces. You can see a polished canopy "plug" by googling SANDMAN OVERHAUL and linking on Images.