Turtle Wax polishing compound

I tried to polish two cars of mine today, and I wetsanded one wth 800, then 2000 grit sandpaper, and the other just with 2000. After that, I used a piece of old t-shirt to apply small amounts of the polishing compound to the hood of each car. Each time, it actually went through all the paint down to the red plastic, even though I was going fairly lightly with the compound. Also, on the model I used the 800 on, some of the scratches never came out, and therefore the model never shined like I wanted. I felt like I followed the tutorial step by step perfectly, but obviously something went wrong. Does anybody have any advice for me? Thanks.

So you broke through the paint with the polishing compound? If that's the case, you probably used too harsh of a compound. You'll want a 'plastic' polish, like Novus #1 and #2.

A couple other potential problems:
- The paint was too thin. Obviously you don't want an inch of paint on the body, you you have to give yourself a thick enough base to work with.

- The paint wasn't cure fully, in which case you are just smudging it more than sanding it.

- You are starting with too coarse of a sandpaper grit as well as too hard a polishing compound. If you sand down too much paint before you start, you can cut through it easily. You can also actually make bigger scratches than the finer grist of paper can sand out. My polishing kit from Micromark STARTS at 3600 grit, and goes up in about 6 steps to 12000 grit. Try starting with about 1000 or 2000, used wet. The body should shine up just from sanding, before you use polishing compound. 10000 or 2000 SHOULD be OK if you go light and wet sand.

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I have that set, and it works well. I was actually able to polish a flat metal aluminum acrylic paint to a glossy finish. You can also polish bare plastic and clear glass parts as well.

All the elements mentioned by SteveK2003 are correct, especially the comment on compount. Turtle Wax polishing compound is your biggest problem. It's way too strong for model paint.

When you've made sure the paint is thick enough and thoroughly dried, polish it with a mild compound compatible for model paint. If you're stuck on automotive stuff, get Meguiars Scratch X or Kit Scratch Out. They're safe on most paints w/o the harsh chemicals you get in a lot of compounds-Turtle Wax is loaded w/petroleum chemicals that will etch the paint even w/o rubbing it in, and the grit in it is far too strong. You can't get much better than Tamiya's three compounds, coarse, fine, and finish. Finish is expensive, if you have a tight budget get the "fine" w/the blue cap. Use all three and often you don't have to do much more sanding than a round of 3600-4000 grit Micromesh cloth or 1000-2000 wet or dry to knock down any peel and get any of the dust flecks out.

I agree with the comments made above.800 grade paper is far too abrasive.It will remove too much much paint and leave deep scratches that polishing compounds won't remove.The key to successful polishing is to make sure that you have enough paint on the model,make sure the paint job is as good as you can get it to start with (leaves you less work to do with the polishing) use very fine sandpapers to refine the finish and level any orange peel texture before you start to polish (the micromesh 3600,6000,8000.12000) mentioned already are ideal for this.Use the compounds from Tamiya or Finishers as I find these work the best and are gentle on model paints etc.The last and very important thing is to use a very fine,soft cloth.You can inflict serious scratches in the paint if you use the wrong type of cloth.I always use a mictofibre cloth or the proper polishing cloths from Tamiya or Finishers.Hope this helps you somewhat and good luck with the polishing.

Alright, thanks everybody for your help. I read all the how-to's, and I remembered that people have used Meguires, and figured any old automotive polishing compound would work. Well, that's what you get for assuming, I guess. :-/

I was hoping to go cheaper rather than all out (obviously, or I just would have picked up the Tamiya stuff from the start) because I'm a college student on a budget. I'll grab some Scratch-X next time I hit up a Wal*Mart or an automotive store... I've got no rush though, because I'm also gonna need to get more Tamiya TS paint. Bugger.

Once again, thanks. It's great to know that there's a forum somewhere on the internet where someone can ask an intelligent question along the lines of "Oh God! I screwed up... WHAT WENT WRONG?!" and not get flamed for it.

What type of paint did you use? Sometimes paint types are curing time can be a factor.

To go a little cheaper, try the Novus stuff: 8 ounces versus the same cost as an ounce of the Tamiya stuff, and it works OK from my POV. I'm still using the 2-ounce bottles from the sample pack, though I haven't done nearly as much polishing as I'd like to the last few years.

What type of paint did you use? Sometimes paint types are curing time can be a factor.

Tamiya... but I assure you that curing wasn't a problem. I painted the beginning of March, went to college, and then came back this weekend for NYIAS (I have pictures if anybody wants, haha, I'll threadjack myself :p). It's how I work... I'll lay down paint, go to college, and by the time I come back, I can work again. I just layed down some paint (DupliColor) and that'll get polished when I get back for the summer. Pictures in a WIP, by the by.

I'm looking online right now, and lets say I'm looking to buy from Hiroboy. Which of the various Micromesh kits (PolishingStiX, Craft Kit, or Hobby Kit) should I get? I'll also be picking up all three of the Tamiya polishing compounds, or is that redundant? Thanks for the advice, I appreciate all you can give.

paint was probably too thin to begin with. i've used turtle wax in the past without problems.

oh wait, i paint rather thick, that could explain it. LOL!