I’m currently building a Tamiya 1/24 mini cooper, my first attempt at a car model. I’m not sure what steps to take for polishing the paint job of the car. Last time I was in Japan I bought Tamiya coarse, fine and finish polishing compounds since they were cheap.
From what I’ve read, I should sand the body first with 1000 grit sandpaper, then polish again with the tamiya coarse compound. Then prime it, and sand again with the Tamiya fine compound. Then spray paint the final color. What about the decals? Do I polish the paint job first (with Tamiya Polish) before applying? Would the decals stick onto a body that has the polishing compound on it?
Some forum posts I saw described coating the entire car + decals with gloss clear before polishing. If so, should I be polishing the paint job before coating with gloss clear?
There is a polishing kit available at retailers that include grits from 3200 to 10000 that you can use to polish the color and clear coats. I wouldn’t polish the bare plastic after smoothing it out with the 1000 grit; it would just be extra work. It wouldn’t hurt to smooth out the color coat before coating it with the clear. I would recommend practicing on another car body, or something out of the parts box, to get some experience and develop your technique before tackling your project.
I would only sand the body to get rid of any noticeable imperfections like mould seams, accidental scratches and such.
I too wouldn’t use the polishing compound on bare plastic, especially if it (and not sure if the Tamiya product does or not) contains waxes which may inhibit adhesion of the primer/paint.
Gloss coating (clear gloss overcoat) is an alternative to polishing. How well polishing works also depends on the paint. Lacquer looks great with a good polishing job- enamel does not polish well, acrylics are in between the other two.
