buffing

A soft old t-shirt that is ready to be retired is the most common tool for buffing out Testors' metalizers, but I also like the fabric swatches I use for cleaning my guns to rub out the paint. Inexpensive, disposable after use (metalizer can be messy!), but I don't have to raid the closet. The important thing is a material which is soft and lint free. The only differences between the buffing and non-buffing paints is that the extra work is meant to make a shinier surface. You can actually mix them together for different shades. But, and this is purely a personal opinion, how shiny things wind up really depends on how well you prepare the surface before you spray. Since this brand requires bare plastic without a primer, it's all the more important to get the plastic smooth any shiny before applying paint. The Model Master stuff was alright, but I find it messy to work with and my wife hated the smell, so I switched over to Alclad. Huge difference.

A number of years ago, there was a fad of polishing the plastic, before finishing, with a brass polish.  There was a brand that was big. I forget now the  brand, the fad kind of faded away and when I ran out of the stuff I didn't buy another can, and stopped doing that, but it did work.  But I started using Alclad which relies on the gloss black, not the bare plastic, so don't need to polish any more (though getting a smooth and glossy enough black finish is still a pain).

HI , Don ;

    I have still done  few with A paste like product that is used for Picture frames and such .The harder you buff the shinier it gets .It's called Rub-N-Buff . It works too .And you can clearcoat it without losing the shine . T.B

The "buffing" type will get shinier than the non'buffing. I still buff the non-buffing, just a little. It doesn't make much of a difference, between the two, once you've sealed it and gone on with weathering.

Back when all I had was the buffing type (rattlecan), I turned a new sock inside out and used that to buff. Before I started sealing it...no matter how much I buffed, some would always come off and I'd end up with the stuff all over the decals...it was a mess!!!

The brass polish was used before applying metalizer- it was to make the surface of the plastic more glass-like.  As people have noted, there were metalizers that were buffing, others non-buffing, but the polishing with the brass polish was done before the metalizer.

 

In the good old days of metal finish was a product called SN'J metalizer powder aluminum.I at the time stocked up on 50 bottles or more.This product works the best.It can be buffed in to 99% of the metal finish products out there.true that Alclad is good but I had no problem outclassing Alclad at model contest local or international.Even Foil did not Stan a chance.SN'J is out of production now.But; other vendors have aluminum metal powder products.Just "google it.(aluminum metal super fine powder).Rub 'N buff is a wax base.Will not stick.

Search the reader gallery of FSM and you will see my B-58 Hustler and my Mig-15's.My code name is Silver.Ben Zayas of Dupont wa.

The brass polish was called "Brasso". Put a little on a soft cloth like a cloth diaper or old T-shirt, Let the liquid (amonia/alchohol) part evaporate and polish the plastic. Worked great for polishing canopies too. The bad news is around 2008 they changed the formula and it does not work the same. 

Paper coffee filters work the same as xtra fine polishing pads. I can take something painted with a flat finish paint and buff it with the paper filter to a smooth eggshell finish. I often use this method to smooth out flat finishes before applying gloss for decals.