Polishing cloth grit clarification.

[Dino Scuderia]

Just a quick note on polishing cloths and a commonly incorrect reference to grit. These cloths are numbered for example, #2400...that number is not the grit but so often is reffered to accordingly. Below are cloth numbers and the corresponding grit.

#2400 - 800 grit
#3200 - 1200 grit
#3600 - 1350 grit
#4000 - 1500 grit
#6000 - 2000 grit
#8000 - 2500 grit
#12000 - submicron

[Lug Nutzz]

I wasn't even aware that there was a difference. Is that true of the sanding pads and sticks too?

[Eric Cole]

From my experience I would say the polishing pads are equal to the polishing cloth #'s and the sandind sticks grit would be equal to sandpaper (or very close).

[Dino Scuderia]

There are polishing sticks which would have the same numbering system and grit qualities as the cloths. Polishing sticks and sanding sticks are two different animals.

[Zoom Zoom]

Little known fact: Brian puts sugar on his grits.

That's why his paintjobs are always so sweet and so many of the colors look like candy :D

Interesting chart. I rarely use paper-based sanding products-only when doing raw sanding on putty or plastic long before any paint is going to be applied. I've worn out about three sets of polishing cloths over the years.

Rockler up on Roswell Rd. (woodworking supplies) sells larger sheets of Micromesh than we normally get, they're about $2.50 per sheet, and you can get 1500 Micromesh there too which I had never seen. I wear out 1800-3600 quickly while 4000-up sheets don't get much wear.

[Dino Scuderia]

You will wear out the courser cloths quickest because they do most of the work ie leveling the paint so the polishing can begin. It's best to replace all the cloths at the same time so when you go through the polishing stages the finer cloths are able to polish out the surface scratches that the previous more course cloth has made.

Buying the larger sheets is the best deal.

[Lug Nutzz]

Looks like I'm going to have to run a Rockwell Hardness Test before my next sanding session. And yes I have grabbed the wrong grit and gone to sanding only to find out to late.

[Zoom Zoom]

Before sanding I take my stack of polishing cloths (or pads) and dunk them in water and line them up in order of coarseness so that I know what I'm sanding and what's the next one. Easier to avoid mistakes this way, but we've all grabbed the wrong grit sandpaper at one time or another :rolleyes: :D

As for polishing out mold lines, most of that I do with 4-sided sanding sticks....sometimes I start w/the coarse sanding sticks and then go to the polishing sticks. In those instances I use them w/o any water, and simply go by the color/coarseness to determine what's the proper grit necessary to get the job done. Tamiya kits require the more delicate polishing sticks. Revell kits usually get the heavy-duty treatment first ;)