Having painted a few cars,, including a couple show cars,, I have never used anything finer than 2000# when cutting to polish,, 1200 or 1500 to cut the peal,, then 2000 to remove the scratches, then polish from there,,

I HAVE however used finer grits to polish acrylic aircraft winsheilds,, that is the only place I have seen use of that fine of abrasive,,

using finer grit would definetly reduce the effort to polish after sanding,, but wow, thats some expensive paper compared to a bottle of rubbing compound,,

Hey Mark,

What polishing compounds do you use and do you think I could find it locally? I am interested in what the pros use.

Derek

Hey Mark,

What polishing compounds do you use and do you think I could find it locally? I am interested in what the pros use.

Derek

And to piggy back on that question.  What kind of clear are you talking about polishing?  2 part polyurathane, dope, or a 480S, etc??

I have used the system Randy discusses ^^
Mcguires works great, just remember as with sandpaper, there is differing grades of abrasive,,

I have used pretty much anything mainstream,, some work great some work ok, a lot I have found is really dependent upon YOU and how you use it ,, at least as far as specific brands go. I know my buddy Al uses some bizarre name brand compound and I hate the stuff,,

most common besides Mcguires, "Finesse it"
There are a lot of little tricks,, but really, guys if I write it all out here then I wont have anything for my column in Stunt News,, 

You all do get stunt news right? 

My final glaze for appearance judging day,, its called "race glaze",, awesome slick stuff,,

I hate thread hijacking.. However the question was asked..

1stly - The online store I get the sandpaper in, just simply speciazlises in sandpaper and they go up to 12k grits.

If you understand what the polish process actually does the grades of grits just allow you to reduce the flat down to microns.


1500 grit sands close to 15 microns
12000 sands to 2 micron

Its just a finer process but it does take along time to do.
My buffing process is not dis-similar to what derek is doing.

I start with a very light 1000 just to "knock it down"
move to 1500 to smooth it out
3k spending time to get the main polish working

Now depending on the area - I would use the higher grits to develop a better quality of shine ( Wings - top of the fuse etc.. )
higher grit is 5k and 8 k

This is all just done with water, and detergent.   I also use whats called mircomesh cloth sandpaper.

I do machine buff also - its critical you have the correct pad I use 3M™ Perfect-it™ Foam Compounding Pad (05723)

3M Really do have the best range of buffing items. The material I use compounds are :
from the Perfect - it Range System 1 + 2

I will machine buff most of the major parts this is always a 2 person job ( 1 to hold the plane and I buff )

This is usually enough to get it to a high quality shine but I choose to use

Menzerna polish PO85RD which is also called Ultra finishing Polish - this is all dnoe by hand with a polish cloth and compound.

I then seal the whole model with canuba wax - depending on how much time i have left my last model had 6 coats of wax.


Please note : Derek has won 2 concourse awards before ; I have none.

THAT LOOKS AWESOME!!!!!!!

I can't wait to see it!!

What was that you said about practice??  WTH??

Comes a time when you just want to get it in the air.

FANTASTIC Derek!!!!

You've certainly raised the bar with this one!! Can't wait to see it at some point!

Hi Little Buddy!  It just keeps looking better and better!

What will you have at Huntersville?

BIG Bear
RNMM/AMM

Hey Big Bear,

Not sure yet. If I can get the Cutlass finished I might bring it for the first flight. You know, depending on what the wind is like.

Derek