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fine sanding


WildeSau75

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Hi guys,

 

I had a first with an all silver paint scheme and was a bit shocked how good all little imperfections - where I didn't sand joints, etc. - could still be seen.

 

What exactly is the best way to sand down parts so well that even under an NMF/silver paint nothing will be seen anymore?

 

TIA.

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

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Sand as normal then paint with a fine grade grey primer.  Once dry it will show you all the imperfections, sand again and re-prime and repeat if necessary.  Once you've got the surface finish you're after, apply your base black or whatever and then the metallic. 

 

Works for me.

Edited by Kev The Modeller
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1 hour ago, Kev The Modeller said:

Sand as normal then paint with a fine grade grey primer.  Once dry it will show you all the imperfections, sand again and re-prime and repeat if necessary.  Once you've got the surface finish you're after, apply your base black or whatever and then the metallic. 

 

Works for me.

Thanks Ken - what exactly you use to sand? i.e. what sanding paper, only sanding paper?

 

Cheers,

Michael

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I have a system that starts at 400 grade sand paper than proceeds at 200 grade intervals of paper, film, and polishing mesh up to 2000 grit. I sand then wet-sand in small circles/oscillations to minimize extra scratches. I then use Tamiya surfacer or mr.surfacer to paint all the sanded areas. Any scratches still present i redo the process until the plastic is polished and scratch free. Any deep scratches get filled with C/A and sanded/polished immediately. 

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18 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

I have a system that starts at 400 grade sand paper than proceeds at 200 grade intervals of paper, film, and polishing mesh up to 2000 grit. I sand then wet-sand in small circles/oscillations to minimize extra scratches. I then use Tamiya surfacer or mr.surfacer to paint all the sanded areas. Any scratches still present i redo the process until the plastic is polished and scratch free. Any deep scratches get filled with C/A and sanded/polished immediately. 

Thanks mate - stupid question maybe- what is the difference between sanding & wet sanding?

 

Cheers,

Michael

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Hello Michael @WildeSau75

 

Sure the differences are just like they seem. 

Sanding = just uses standard dry paper

 

wet sanding = A cup of water to dip the sanding film/sand paper/or polishing cloth in. Make sure you use wet/dry paper for this or you’ll wind up with gritty mush. 

 

Wet sanding has an advantage in that there is less dust. Its also less abrasive on the plastic or what ever material you're sanding. This a great advantage with resin, so you dont breathe in the dust. 

Like i said above if you do it in little circles/oscillations the process helps to remove/blend the little gouges otherwise left in straight back & forth motion. Similar to polishing a car with an orbital polisher. Otherwise you get dissolved paper. I hope this can help ? 

 

Dennis

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On ‎16‎.‎03‎.‎2018 at 10:47 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hello Michael @WildeSau75

 

Sure the differences are just like they seem. 

Sanding = just uses standard dry paper

 

wet sanding = A cup of water to dip the sanding film/sand paper/or polishing cloth in. Make sure you use wet/dry paper for this or you’ll wind up with gritty mush. 

 

Wet sanding has an advantage in that there is less dust. Its also less abrasive on the plastic or what ever material you're sanding. This a great advantage with resin, so you dont breathe in the dust. 

Like i said above if you do it in little circles/oscillations the process helps to remove/blend the little gouges otherwise left in straight back & forth motion. Similar to polishing a car with an orbital polisher. Otherwise you get dissolved paper. I hope this can help ? 

 

Dennis

Thanks Dennis, this helps indeed -  appreciate it. Guess I got it now. Is every wet/dry paper marked as such?

 

Cheers,

Michael

 

 

 

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45 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Yes The paper should be marked as Wet/Dry in the package. The stuff i have is all black or dark grey. 

Thanks mate - often buy it unpacked - will have to make sure it's the right one.

 

Cheers,

Michael

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Firstly, all the above replies are excellent advice, so it's all a combination of what works best for you and how much effort you are happy to put in to get there.   

For a (well as best as one can get) smooth finish I start with the various grades of Wet n' Dry paper, then follow this up with a good going over of Micromesh products.

 

In this order:

Wet n Dry - 400, 600, 800, 1200 grades

Micromesh - 1500, 1800, 2400, 3600, 4000, 6000 grades

 

I also find that the key is to use quite worn Micromesh rather than the brand new stuff, however the paper has to get worn somehow so just give it a good going over.

Once I've gone through the various grades I then polish the plastic with a polishing cloth, even an old T-shirt will give you great results.

 

Believe me I am no expert, however my two Matchbox RFI links at the bottom have some examples of quite heavy handed sanding to obtain relatively smooth finishes.

 

Cheers.. Dave    

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As well as the excellent ideas above, you must never throw out any old wet n dry, it gets better the older and more used it is.

 

Another product that works wonders is Micro-mesh, usually sold by Alclad paint stockists, this stuff is absolutely great, it replaces wet n dry, and lasts, well I don't know as my set is only about 15 years old.

 http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?search=Y&q_brand=&q_category=&q_scale=&q_word=polishing cloths&q_show_instock_only=N

 

The other one to consider in the future is the type of filler you use, with NMF I use high grade CA/superglue, something like zap a gap or Locktite Professional, the big advantage with CA/superglue is that paint thinks it is plastic (it sort of is) and doesn't highlight it at all, so just one coat of primer and you are good to go.

 

Why I say High grade CA, is that not al CA's are the same, the better ones are refined many more times, the ones that are more refined a more expensive and much better. 

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