miki

Polishing scratched bricks

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I have recently buffed one of my friend's car's headlights using a headlight restoration kit (3M makes one but there are many others also).

It basically involves wet sanding with very fine grit sand paper and then polishing using a compound.

I have not tried it on Lego yet but am positive it could work, If I had to try something this would be my first try and best bet.

Pirate

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You will have to use progressively finer grades of wet sanding paper. Use wet/dry sanding paper, that is made especially to get wet. You'll ought to talk to some of the folks in the scale modeling community....

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Brasso works well for removing small, fine scratches. I've used it to polish many transparent pieces in the past. It doesn't do much for larger scratches though.

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Brasso works well for removing small, fine scratches. I've used it to polish many transparent pieces in the past. It doesn't do much for larger scratches though.

That is why you use progressivly finer "grits" of wet/dry sandpaper. You have to use it wet, and you use the more coarse paper to sand out the scratch. Then you use progressivly finer paper to sand out the (buff out, really) the scratches made by the sand paper you just used. At the end, you use some sort of polish...such as Brasso, certain waxes, etc.

See here:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=43020

and here:

Good luck!!

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/tnt1/001-100/TNT037_Polishing_Canopies/tnt037.htm

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While time consuming due to washing, it IS possible to restore bricks to like new condition.

You will need car polish and a buffer with a small disk

Wash your bricks, they can be wet, and build "walls"

apply car polish and buff. Make sure , like on a car, you move the buffer around and don't heat burn the plastic. once done and the bricks are in like new lustre , do the other side, and then the two remaining!

Finally you will need to wash them in hot water with a gentle brush to remove any left over polishing compound.

Is it worth it? sure it makes old bricks new again.

Takes A LOT OF TIME!!!

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While time consuming due to washing, it IS possible to restore bricks to like new condition.

You will need car polish and a buffer with a small disk

Wash your bricks, they can be wet, and build "walls"

apply car polish and buff. Make sure , like on a car, you move the buffer around and don't heat burn the plastic. once done and the bricks are in like new lustre , do the other side, and then the two remaining!

Finally you will need to wash them in hot water with a gentle brush to remove any left over polishing compound.

Is it worth it? sure it makes old bricks new again.

Takes A LOT OF TIME!!!

Sounds interesting. What tool do you use to buff with? (Dremel or other)

Thanks,

Andy D

Edited by Andy D

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More info about polishing bricks can be found in this topic. While this is undoubtedly of interest to Trains fans, we prefer that such topics be kept in the General Discussion and News forum for everyone to refer to more easily. :classic:

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I do not see why posting a link to another forum would be a problem ;)

About de-yellowing bricks there is a topic on EB too: http://www.eurobrick...?showtopic=7167

Vanish/Oxyclean + Peroxide seems indeed to be the good way for that.

I've already read that polish can be used to remove printings from parts, but I didn't test it for scratched bricks; thanks Konrad for the tip.

For transparent parts the system is different though: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=76744

Edited by antp

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I'm sure it's been discussed before but I couldn't find a suitable method for heavily scratched pieces.  I required some rare pieces (8 x 8 black dishes) and few were even close to decent shape.  After a lot of googling and thought, I hit upon an idea.  I polished first with 6000 grit sand paper, then 7000 grit.  I would finish off with the "rough" portion of a jeweler's cloth and then the soft side.  It won't make them look brand new but I was astonished at how well it worked.  I'd say they went from poor or fair shape to good or very good.  Just wanted to spread the word.

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Ooh, nice tip. I don’t mind some scuffs & scratches so long as they’re not terribly noticeable. I wonder how that treatment would fare on trans pieces like windows or cockpit screens...

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Rubbing or brushing with a paste made from fine grade silicon carbide or carborundum works well too, especially for parts where it is difficult to get sandpaper into crevices. Then a polish and they look great.

 

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