Plastic Polish

[jfmajor60]

I was at the auto parts store today and I noticed some products for polishing plastics, have any of you ever used a plastic polish prior to painting a natural metal finish, if so what kind?

[RichardL]

You are going to prime the plastic before spraying NMF anyway, so polishing the plastic before priming doesn't do much good. Plus, plastic polish tends to leave a film that might inhibit paint adhesion. However, plastic polish is good for polishing clear parts, such as canopy.

[is it windy yet?]

Depends what you are spraying for your natural metal finish. The current popularity of aclad means priming, and as mentioned above little benefit. Now if you are using modelmaster metalizers, it is sprayed on bare plastic so polishing does help. I can't recall, but I thought SnJ also goes on bare plastic so polishing should help.

[MikeC]

I don't usually use a polish on the main model, but I do on canopies: I use a product called "Bare Metal" plastic polish. It comes in a bottle which is the same size and style as the Micro Sol/Set solutions, and one of those lasts me literally years; but it brings canopies up to a lovely finish to the extent that I've been asked whether they're been dipped in floor polish. If you can find some, recommended.

[Edgar]

I've never found anything to beat Micromesh, which, in its finest grit, will restore a gloss finish to plain plastic, and a clear view to transparent plastic. As you can use it wet, any residue can be washed off with plain water.

Edgar

[RichardL]

Since the OP's question is about using a plastic polish prior to painting NMF, unless the OP does a great job of gluing/filling/sanding and have good eyes for spotting errors on bare plastic, the OP will likely want to lay down a coat of gray primer anyway.