help please!

I believe hobby stores used to sell a plastic canopy polish for scale airplanes, but I don't know whether that would work.

Tissue and paper towels can have a bit of a polishing ability and there also used to be a clear canopy liquid, I believe, that might fill in scratches.

Geoff, any great method to restore your model's "glass"  will sound counterintuitive at first and admittedly requires guts!   

You'll need to visit YouTube  and search buzz words, such as "remove scratches...."   or "restore model glass...."     I'm posting about the shortest video I can find on the subject - but they're all about the same....and longer.  😒 😒 😫 

- I've performed these procedures only once - many years ago - will excellent results (...but yes, I was VERY apprehensive  😬 😬 😬)  I also had a back-up just in case.  😏 😏 😏     

Good luck & post pics.    Awesome 1966 Cadillac model by the way!   😎 😎 😎 

Toothpaste can work on fine scratches. So can jeweller's rouge, or plastic polish. But if the scratch is deep enough to be felt with a fingernail, they probably won't work.

Very fine sandpaper can do the job. We're not talking about normal household DIY sandpaper, where the finest grade you can find will be about 600-800 grade and only specialist suppliers will supply something like 1500 grade. About the best product available for very fine scratch removal is Micro-Mesh, which I believe was originally designed for polishing the glass or acrylic faces on watches and aircraft instruments, and windscreens. Grades start at 1500 and go up to 12,000, and rather than being on a rigid paper backing the abrasive material is attached to a latex rubber backing with flexible glue, avoiding high points which can cause scratches.

A full set of full-size sheets of Micro-Mesh is pretty expensive but you can find smaller hobby kits online with 9 sanding grades (1200-15000). It is also sold as soft pads rather than sheets.

The recommended technique is to start with the coarsest grade that will remove the deepest scratches. Rub back and forth in just one orientation, e.g. left-right, until the deep scratches seem to be gone. (That leaves the surrounding glass looking totally "sand-blasted", which can be quite scary!).  The next grade is worked at right angles to the first, i.e. up-down. Follow through with the remaining grades, each at right angles to the previous. By the time you're finished with the 15000 grade you should have a pretty clear result, although they recommend you might still want to finish off with a liquid polish.

If that sounds too expensive and complicated, you might get away with using the finest wet-and-dry paper you can find, followed by a rubbing compound or plastic polish.

Only problem I've found with old model glazing is that the "scratch" can turn out to be a crack all the way though! In that case, you're screwed. But if it's just surface scratching and pitting you might be OK with sanding and polishing.

Mike, Chris, Graeme, thank you, really appreciate your responses. Viewing Chris's video and as there were no real deep scratches, instead all very fine surface scratches which created the very dull finish, I went straight to the polish stage. I've always used the GMP Megames kit for all polishing jobs. Very pleased with the result and transformation. Took 4 goes with both polishes.

 Thank you again gents

Geoff

@geoff-jowett   GREAT job!! 

...glad it worked out, looks great too.   Yes, I knew there were no deep scratches in your glass, but I wanted to provide "help"  for worst-case scenarios.... just in case.   

Same here!

thanks again gents!