I knock the majority of the putty down with a Sally Beauty Supply fine nail stick, then go back over with an extra fine nail stick to complete the sanding. These can be used wet. Then finish up with a nail buffer which has hardly any grit at all. Polishes and removes any remaining scratches.
These nail sticks have a plastic core with foam backing. They can be scored with an Xacto knife and snapped off to be cut/shaped as needed to fit into fine spaces
I will lay a couple of strips of masking tape along the seam to be filled, leaving a 1/8-inch or finer gap between them. Fill the seam with putty, smooth, and allow to dry. Once dry, I sand with the fine stick before removing the tape. The tape protects the surrounding detail. Progress to the x-fine grit and sand out any scratches. Pull the tape - there may be some ridges along the edges. Sand them down with the x-fine stick. Then polish with the buffer stick