well i also follow that guy method but i didn't use topcoat or anything i use fine compound only and the result are good

here 1 of the sample i use for my whole VF macross, ghost and cockpit



This post has been edited by chriswoo: Apr 21 2008, 09:09 PM

but clear topcoat is no warna punya woh....

ya no color 1 .... but after u spray liao u'll get uneven surface ..... the reason for polishing is to make the surface as smooth as possible like mirror ... so if u polish so hard like until the surface smooth smooth liao then spray topcoat then what for u polish right ??

Hi I kinda new in tis thread, It is a no-no to spray topcoat on the polished surface ...I tried that before...highly not recommended...btw...is anyone joining the mid year Bakuc here?

1st of all, it's not Bakuc.. mid year is just a normal compy organized by litt tak...
2nd, topcoat got 3 types.. u must hav used flat on polished surface rite?

so i get it now! After top coat then polish it!
Nvr used such stuff before so really have no idea!

Does this mean that we do not need to sand paper the part before applying the compound?

If wanna do like mirror like shine, basically sand, polish, and compound are all the same concept. just the material used and the fineless of the material.

please do SAND the surface before! so when u apply primer and paint you already achieve like 50% gloss with smoother surface. then top coat, mebbe a few layer so that the top coat is thick enough. why? because after that u will need to check any big particles popping out with means the surface is not smooth enough. if u find it really not so mooth, use sand paper with water to lightly sand it. with the thick top coat, u wont hurt the paint below (B careful though). if no big problem, then use compound.

use sand paper is to spped up the whole thing in case after the top coat, it is really not shiny. if only use compound, can also, might just take you years to sand of the uneven surface, and the more time u spend working on your surface, the longer time u r exposing yourself to the risk of creating damage to your paint.

just remember: sand, polish, compound basically are the same thing. if u understnad it u wont be confused about which go first and such questions!

P/s: from my experience, if u notice some minor scratches mebbe because of the polishing cloth too tough or anything, i use those cd scratch recover fluid to cover them up. Of course if the scratches are too huge, u cant do that. if the scratches is not as deep as the top coat, can either top coat again and re do the whole wet sand, polish, compund thing. but if scracthes are already deep till the paint level, then the best bet is to re do the paint again.

Final stage is, if u r rich enough to get one of those modelling wax, apply a bit (this one no need much force) and ur kit will be shinny! Normal car wax i havent tried before, so dare not recommend.

This post has been edited by rayloke: Apr 22 2008, 12:53 PM

the purpose of polish is to make surface smooth and shiny rite?

base on rayloke have said, sand paper can make surface abit smooth oledi. then if wan shiny then use glossy topcoat then.

please correct me if i'm wrong. just my 2 cents. cheers~

in a way it's right. because top coat is transparent so can afford to do it thicker compare to paint before the result is really ugly. secondly if we want to sand or compound or do anything on surface, better do on a transparent top coat than paint. Compare any slight accident on top coat to accident on paint, top coat is easier to safe. anything happen to paint meaning gotta get rid of old layer and redo a gain. that's hell!

sand paper can get rid of bigger uneven areas, make it smoother if compare to a very rough surface. but if you look very closely, after sanding actually the surface is also not smooth enough to be shinny or reflective. in fact sand paper will still create very fine scratches, even if u r using like 2000 point sand paper.

that's why compound cream comes into picture. it's very fine and most importantly, it's liquid or semi liquid. meaning the force u put to "sand" using compound is more evenly distributed. so it is like an "overall" sanding, a more even force. after compounding, actually there're still extremely tiny scratches, so small till you cant really see them. so the surface is "almost" like mirror kinda smooth and the reflection is not distorted that much (meaning u almost can see very clear reflection of yourself).

The final layer of wax is actually to further cover those tiny uneven surface caused by compounding.

That's kind of the reason why I'm afraid of using sandpaper (that it might cause scratches to the model) Is there a particular type/method of sandpaper to avoid the scratches?

get sandpaper grit 7k n above....

the finest i used is 15000 grit sandpaper...

^I don't think u can avoid scratches while u sand your kits though. Because sanding actually grinds away the plastic bits.

Or maybe, u can fold your sand paper such that it'll sand only the 'nips'. maybe then it can prevent

Where can sandpaper with grit that high be purchased? And how much do they cost on average?

lol 7k grade mostly i use 2000 max i can find unless buy tamiya 1 but expensive

Wow got till 15000 ar? Walau how much it cost then...

30+ for a 15000 grid sandpaper....shocking....

be remind that those high grit sandpaper r only use for final finishing touch .... if u start sanding with them u'll be like rubbing a normal paper with kits

also u wont be able to avoid sanding without scratches .... the only way to fix them is slowly sanding it with higher and higher grit sand paper ( examples 600 > 1000 > 1500 > 2000 > compound )

^Very very shocking man...... i don't think i'll ever use one..

wow that's really fine! it's like paper only!

Btw, where did you get yours?