It’s polishing time!

[conchan]

How long should I wait before I start polishing after the final coat of clear has been applied?

Stay safe and enjoy!

 

[Sandboarder]

I try and wait a few weeks. Minimum 7 days to gas and harden before I will polish. I always use lacquer’s too btw. 

[conchan]

45 minutes ago, Sandboarder said:

I try and wait a few weeks. Minimum 7 days to gas and harden before I will polish. I always use lacquer’s too btw. 

I am using Mr Hobby’s Mr. Super Clear Gloss. 
I’ll try to wait ten to fourteen days before looking at it again. 

[Sandboarder]

27 minutes ago, conchan said:

I am using Mr Hobby’s Mr. Super Clear Gloss. 
I’ll try to wait ten to fourteen days before looking at it again. 

Are you just using polishing compounds or do you plan the wet sand as well?

 

If I’m using the 3000 and 4000 grits I’ll wait a few weeks. If it’s only the compounds then 7 days should be alright. 
 

Is the super clear in the rattle cans or airbrushed? I have air brushed super clear on small Gunpla parts and have had great results. I haven’t painted anything big enough with it to polish yet. 

[conchan]

2 hours ago, Sandboarder said:

Are you just using polishing compounds or do you plan the wet sand as well?

 

If I’m using the 3000 and 4000 grits I’ll wait a few weeks. If it’s only the compounds then 7 days should be alright. 
 

Is the super clear in the rattle cans or airbrushed? I have air brushed super clear on small Gunpla parts and have had great results. I haven’t painted anything big enough with it to polish yet. 

The cuper clear is from a can. 
 

As I have no idea what I’m doing I was planning to wet send then polish using the three Tamiya compounds. Would this work or am I being stupid? Or is it recommend?

Stay safe and enjoy!
 

[Sandboarder]

It depends on what the finish looks like and what you want it to look like.

 

If it’s fairly smooth you can go straight to the polishing compounds. You can try to sand and flatten any orange peal and achieve a glass smooth surface to them polish. 
 

Do you want a factory style finish or a glassy smooth show car finish?

 

This was Tamiya TS-13 clear, then I think this was a light 4000 west sand, Tamiya course then Tamiya fine compound. 
 

Edited February 21, 2022 by Sandboarder

[Fat Brian]

Mr. Super Clear is great stuff and dries rock hard in a couple days. Yes, other stuff does take longer though most paints and clears can be speed up if you have a dehydrator.

What exactly the next step is depends on how good the clear turns out and how smooth you're going for. Honestly, Super Clear usually turns out so well I just let it dry, finish the final build steps and throw it in the case, no polishing required. If you want to go the extra mile you can use Meguiar's Scratch X or Novus #2 to remove any surface imperfections then bring back the shine with one of the Mirror Glaze products.

[Dpate]

You don't have to wait a few weeks or months to do anything.  Without a dehydrator you could wait like 2 days or so proper room temp and you should be good.  If i had to wait weeks etc to do anything I'd be using a different product lol.  Like gravity colors 2K or Finish 1 2K.  Also instead of scratch X and novus 2 just get meguiars ultimate compound and there polish.  Tamiya makes good products too.  Just depends on what results you're after? Like sandboarders picture of that blue body.  It has a little bit of orange peel, but still looks great.  It's just like a 1:1 with the orange peel, and I've seen 1:1 with worse orange peel than that.  If clear coat is sprayed right you wont have orange peel at all.

Also what blue is that @Sandboarder

Edited February 21, 2022 by Dpate

[Sandboarder]

@Dpate Tamiya TS-58 light pearl blue

[Dpate]

4 hours ago, Sandboarder said:

@Dpate Tamiya TS-58 light pearl blue

Thank you! 

[conchan]

@Dpate
It is good to know that I don't have to wait overly long before continuing. 
I will be using Tamiya products as they are the most readily available here. 

 Presently,  I would be ecstatic if I could get one that looked as good as Sandboarder's, but eventually I want to be able to achieve the super glossy coats.

@FatBrain 
Glad to hear that the Mr. Super Clear works well. 

Thanks for all the answers and advice. It is appreciated.