OK, dry/wet sanding…when and why?
Simple enough, no?
Thanks
Mike
Wet sanding is less “drastic.” As an example, I sprayed insignia on an armor model, but the insignia was crooked. I wanted to lose the insignia, because it showed through the paint I tried to cover it with, and not have to re-shoot the rest of the paint.
I took out some wet/dry sandpaper-critical, needs to be marked for wet sanding, and proceded to easily take off first the overcoat, then the insignia, leaving the undamaged base coat.
It is really just a progressive step past the finest dry sanding.
IMHO.
Wet sanding is best for any surface that will receive paint later, especially any puttied surface, and needed between color coats sometimes, especially for automotive finishes to remove the texture from enamel, and for sanding primer before applying the color top-coat…
It leaves a much smoother surface than dry sanding with much less sand-scratching because the water acts as a lubricant and will allow the paper to cut better & longer. The the water washes out the plastic and/or filler/primer/paint dust from the paper’s surface so it won’t clog near as fast… It also allows for a much smoother and gradual feather-edge between a puttied surface and the surrounding plastic. Don’t try wet-sanding with anything but the paper made for that though… The dark grey/black 3M sheets of various grades of silicon carbide are wet/dry sandpapers. The Testor’s Sanding Films are nice too, although the heavy-grit stuff is overkill for models. Those’re better suited for rough dry-sanding wood…