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Tip Of The Year!


Gregg

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I have had a problem, yes, I know, one of many, for the past twenty plus years of building model cars (Yes, I actually build them!).

When it comes down to the final polishing of a model, I always sweat that last and final polish.

I swear by the Tamiya line of polishing compounds, but have used just about every single wax, polish, or system out there.

Two minutes ago I was looking at the '62 Catalina's roof, the top half of the car is black, my signature style now, and there were so much scratches and swirl marks.

Mind you, I went up to 12,000# grit polishing clothes, but the marks were still there.

I used everything from the micro fiber clothes, yellow polishing clothes, old T-Shirts, new T-Shirts, and yes, even BVD's, but they all left swirl marks.

Then I looked over, yes, two minutes ago, at my roll of soft Bounty paper towels, looked backed at the Catalina's roof, and said, heh, why not, try it!

And I did.

AND I LOVE IT!!!!!

No swirl marks, scratches, or anything!!!!

I wish I shot the roof under the studio lights before and after, but take my word for it, Tamiya Finish Compound, and the soft Bounty (or other brands) paper towels, is amazing!

Seriously, this is incredible.

I always look, or think, back to Cody Grayland's Nissan 300Z at GSL a few years ago, and always wondered why I, da big Kahuna, couldn't do a paint job like that, black in black.

Well, now I can.

And so can you!

But the trick, and secret, is preparation.

You have to color sand the body, and it has to be perfectly smooth.

I will cover over this a few more times, and may do another project and shoot it along the way.

Sometimes, life is so simple!!!!

The pics here are of the Fujimi GTR I am building.

I shot it black, Tamiya Gloss Black.

The first pic is polished up to 12,000 grit, Tamiya Fine to Finish polishing compound.

Choke scratches.

The second pic is just paper towel and the Finish polishing compound.

I will try to post better pics, or email me and I will send original high-res pics.

This is just two minutes of work, if that!

Case closed!

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I put a post on here the other day about sanding primer with blue paper shop towels. I got ballyhooed about how if the primer is too smooth the paint won't stick. That hasn't been my experience! It makes primer baby-butt smooth. I've used Bounty paper towels for polishing also. It worked fine except that my paint wasn't cured. Back to sand paper and the paint booth.

Live and learn...

Gary

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I put a post on here the other day about sanding primer with blue paper shop towels. I got ballyhooed about how if the primer is too smooth the paint won't stick. That hasn't been my experience! It makes primer baby-butt smooth. I've used Bounty paper towels for polishing also. It worked fine except that my paint wasn't cured. Back to sand paper and the paint booth.

Live and learn...

Gary

I actually have tried the 'blue towel for buffing' like Big Gary says- I can vouch for it all the way. Haven't tried the Bounty yet, but it sounds plausible, and besides, Gregg sez it works, so it must work! Either way, yeah- make sure your primer is totally cured first! (Been down THAT road before, too... :D )

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