Have a few pieces of new kits with light but numerous scuf marks and scratches from parts rubbing against each other in the box probably during shipping. This is a flat black jet and is molded in color, so I was hoping not to have to paint it, but now I am unsure what to do. Is there anyway to buff out the scratches and clean it up without painting? If I need to paint, will the paint cover the scratches or do I need to sand/buff first? I have completed a lot of kits, but am new to buffing or sanding, so any help would be welcome. Thanks.
You might be able to buff up the marks, but you’ll have a hard time getting the surface finish to match with the rest of the kit.
Try this first:
- use a pencil eraser and see if you can buff out some of the marks.
If that doesn’t work, you’re probably looking at ‘painting’ - use a scouring pad (very fine) and rub the marks out
- coat with a primer. (this will fill in some of the finer scratches too)
- get a can of flat black paint and spray paint the model
Chances are that as you assemble the model, you will ooze some glue and make a few more scuff marks in other areas. You’ll probably want to clean those up too, and maybe even touch up the ‘seams’ a bit. The advantage of ‘painting’ is that you can do all of that work and then cover it all up later. Spray cans are pretty easy to use and will go quite a long ways over several models.
Others may have better advice, though…
M.
Thanks for the tips!
here is the best method, especially if you want to leave it the base color:
invest in some sanding sticks sold at your local hobby store. They come in different grades, all the way up to a grey almost soft sander (they are all color coded). Sand out the scratches as lightly as you can, and then get in there with the sanding sticks. It works like polishing, and you pretty much polish the scratch out of the plastic (Im assuming that it isnt too deep)
how do u get scratches/mold lines out of clear plastic? my mig 19 1/32’s canopy has a bigass seam line and i am wondering how to take it off, without cracking it (how to remove those crack marks, happend to 1/32 mig 15)
Check this stuff out.
unnamedplayer
Have you ever thought of tooth paste. It is a mild polishing agent and is great for removing scratched in clear plastic. Do not use the whitening tooth paste, just the old fashion type.
yep, it didn’t do anything cept waste time. i used colgate gel (blue).
gel toothpaste doesn’t have silica (sand to us common folk) in it, so it doesn’t polish well. I think anyway that the sanding sticks in order from coarse to fine to extra-fine, followed by a tri-grit nail buffer used in the order coarsest to finest, topped off with a dip in Future, will eliminate most scratches on clear parts.
well, what do u do about cracks on my mig 15bis?
i got those scuffs out by using 2000 wet and then car polish