Essentially none...

Rounding the edges to prevent digging in would be a good modification though.

Flexible Vixen Files
 

I'm not sure these would work better, but you can buy 14-inch Flexible Vixen Style Body Files

OK, I've got my fuselage wet sanded to 2000 grit and will be using the 3000 Trizact today. I have a question for the experts, though. Which would work better for buffing and polishing, my 9" Milwaukee buffer or my 6" dual action? I need to know before I buy the recommended foam waffle pads. Thanks in advance.

Not hearing back, I bought some smooth foam pads for my 6" DA at Harbor Freight. They come in "Compounding" (or correcting), "Finishing", and "Polishing". I just bought the first two. I guess I'll just try them and see how they do. I also bought a couple larger foam pads for my buffer, but they're Hookit and my buffer just has a rubber pad. I really don't want to spend $60 buying a Hookit backing pad for my Milwaukee.

I also found The Ultimate Beginner?s Guide to Buffing Pads. The site recommends Griot?s Garage Flat Pads for beginners. That would be me. ;)

I finished the fuselage, such as it is. Not hearing back from the "experts" here, I used my 6" DA sander with a foam pad to apply the 3M Perfect-It #1 compound. That was a bad mistake. I had previously wet sanded the fuselage up to 3000 grit Trizact, and it was very smooth, but hazy. After buffing with the DA, it had deep, oval-shaped swirl marks which the #2 and #3 compounds wouldn't remove. The wings came out pretty shiny (with light swirl marks) using the wool pad on my rotary buffer for the #1 compound, and a flat foam pad for the #2 polishing compound. I never used the #3 ultra-fine on the wings. Since the wings came out so well, I should have ignored the "expert" advice against using the wool pad and done the same on the fuselage. As it was, I wasted a week's work and ended up with a mediocre job. Now, if I want a good finish, my only option is to drop back and re-sand the fuselage with the 3000 Trizact (or maybe even 2000) to remove the heavy swirl marks left by the DA and foam pad. Hopefully there is enough paint left to do that if and when I decide to. If there are any lessons here, they would be, 1. DO NOT use a DA sander for buffing, and 2. Use your own judgement instead of listening to "experts".

Hmmm, I use a variable speed rotary for all of it (buffing). Not sure how you avoid edge burn with a DA. I always buff "off" at the edges. Only takes and instant if you hit it the wrong way to take the paint off.

What's a "DA sander"? I use this DeWalt polisher and HF foam pads and never had any issues with scratches from compound, neither the "Meguiar's" brand sold at HF nor the 3M 1-2-3 system. I suspect your compound or pads got contaminated; either that or you had deeper cuts left over from coarser grits that weren't visible after 3000 grit but got conspicuous after the flat areas got shiny.

Finally, I'm no "expert" at this hobby by any stretch of imagination, but was able to achieve amazing results following DanH's advice (see post #55). It did take several months of practice to get there, though, and I'd still rate my performance a "B-". The lesson you learned the hard way is: don't change any parameters of a successful painting process without first testing and re-testing on scrap.

Nobody said it was going to be easy! There's a reason pros charge ten grand for a paint job. Hang in there and you'll be proud of the result for many years.

Nope and nope. The pads were brand new and I wiped down the fuselage after the #1 before going to the #2. Then I switched to a brand new softer pad. No contamination. The "deeper cuts" are oval shaped from my 6" Dual Action Sander and they weren't there after the 3000 grit. The DA and foam pad I used were just too aggressive with the #1 compound. Sorry, but I can't be consistent because I've never done this before (except for the wings which came out pretty well but everybody said not to use the wool pad so I didn't on the fuselage with poor results). With the wealth of knowledge here, I was hoping to get some practical advice before I did something wrong but beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.

It looks like I'll be able to salvage my paint job. I chose a test patch on the top of the fuselage and tried to sand out the swirls with 3000 grit Trizact. It wouldn't cut it (pun intended). So I dropped back to 2500 grit wet-or-dry with a hand pad and that removed the swirls quite nicely using a 0/90 +45/-45 crosshatch pattern. Here's what the swirls looked like before:



Nasty, huh? I did the rest of the fuselage top with the 2500 grit and got all the swirls out. I plan to just repair the top and sides and forget about the underside where the sun don't shine. Next I'll go over it with the 3000 Trizact, then back to the 3M Perfect it. I'm thinking of skipping the #1 compound and going straight to the #2. I'll try a test patch and see how that works. I'll probably apply it with a microfiber pad for a true hand-rubbed finish. I'm scared of buffers now :eek:

You want practical advice? Stick to the tools and techniques detailed in the initial thread posts.