Working with Clear Parts
This is a quick little discussion about clear parts. Beam sabers, lenses, etc. They come on runners and when clipped, they still have nubs and mold lines; and some even have horrible mold marks. The MG Gouf 2.0 sword has circular mold marks in the clear yellow blade. First we’ll discuss the mold lines and nub marks. When these are sanded to remove them, the clear part becomes cloudy. The sanding process puts tiny scratches into the clear part which end up refracting light causing the part to look cloudy.
The fix for this is to continue sanding. Starting at a low grit the clear the mold line or nub. Then continue with higher and higher grits to effectively polish the part. I usually go up to about 600 grit with the polishing and the surface feels smooth to the touch. Meaning, when I run a fingernail across, I don’t feel the small scratches that are still in the surface of the parts. The part will look less cloudy with the higher grit polishing; but not completely clear. To get the part completely clear, a clear gloss is sprayed. The clear gloss works like a primer, the clear paint fills in the tiny scratches and makes the part completely clear. If the part is still cloudy, let the part cure, then polish again with higher grit and spray another gloss layer.
