HOW TO.....Use Rubbing Compound And Polishing A Body

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by StephenDeli

Is it essential to sand the body before polishing?

No not exactly. Its reccomended. But sometimes you will end up cutting through the paint with the sanding and then rubbing compound. I have achieved a mirror finish with just rubbing compound.

[pflau]

sanding, clearcoat, rubbing, wax!

[nis.k.a.]

I paint, clear, sand, compound and wax. For me it's easier to have a steady hand at sanding than clearcoating perfectly and having to sand again.

[carlisimo]

I know a lot of people paint, then clearcoat, then polish.

Question about that... if your paint coat has moderate orange peel, and then you clearcoat and polish, will the orange peel still be visible through what's left of the clearcoat?

[DJ RaYgU]

If you sand after u paint and before you polish, won't dat scratch up the paint pretty bad, even with ultra high grit sandpaper? just somethin gi thought about.

[mike@af]

Originally Posted by DJ RaYgU

If you sand after u paint and before you polish, won't dat scratch up the paint pretty bad, even with ultra high grit sandpaper? just somethin gi thought about.

Somewhat.

On real cars after I paint the basecoat and right before the clear coat, I wetsand the whole car with 2000grit. If you wetsand to much in one spot you'll go through to the primer, same with sanding to hard. After the tedious task is complete the whole car will look like a matte paint. Then the clear coat brings back an incredible shine, and polish.

Models are very similar to real cars.

[m.c model master m]

i dont get it wen you do it does it make the body cleaner

[freakray]

Originally Posted by m.c model master m

i dont get it wen you do it does it make the body cleaner

When you do what?

[Apexi_N1]

Question: Can you polish over decal?

[Macdaddy4738]

why drag this old thread back up?! DO a search! This topic has been discussed SEVERAL TIMES!

[Lownslow]

lloking sweet nice tutoria, too bad i skip this step but will keep it in mind when i dont

[chato de shamrock]

Hey primera thanks for the tip, its very helpfull.

I have a question for you or anyone who has tried the Tamiya rubbing compound products.
I just got back from a local hobby shop and found three different types of Tamiya rubbing compound. "fine" rubbing compound (blue/white box $4.00), "coarse" rubbing compound (red/white box $4.00), and "finish" rubbing compound (black/white box $8.00). I noticed this is the product you used, but which of the three rubbing compound did you use? Whats the difference between these three? The guys at the hobby shop couldnt answer that question. Is the "finish" rubbing compound pretty much the same as wax, is that why its called "finish"? Hope someone on here can help out.
A free plug in: www.houseofhobbies.com, in burbank, ca.

I'm new here. This is my first post. so pardon if my question may seem redundant, but i didnt see anyone ask about the differences in this product.

[ales]

This tutorial was written at the time when tamiya only had one compound - it corresponds to the fine compound they have in their lineup now.

The difference between them is pretty much like you have with sandpaper grit - coarse to finer to the finest. In theory you'll need all 3 after you've sanded the paint to achieve the best result as the coarse one will remove scratches left by the sandpaper quicker but will not give quite the shine as it's, well, too coarse. The fine compound will remove the scratches left by the coarse compound and the finish compound will remove the scratches left by the fine compound.

Wax is a totally different thing; it's non-abrasive while all compounds are abrasive and is used to seal the shine you've achieved by the rubbing compound.