Polishing can be very easy, and fast to do.
creativity goes a long way when you don't have access to certain tools. Perfect example: using the rubber "drum sander" bit from a dremmel shown below, you can use the rubber to hold the inside of, say, an outer barrel, and polish it in 30 seconds with a power drill.
basically, you slide this in the barrel, and tighten the top screw, causing the rubber to get squeezed in between the top and bottom washers, making it spread outward and therefore gripping the inside of the outer barrel. then, put it in a drill chuck, grab some 1000 grit sand paper, and squeeze the drills trigger while holding the paper around the barrel.
i will show you a silly picture of this crude idea shortly.
also, please read this, i think it will be helpful :
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthr...%2C+mikemcnair
also, to get a MATTE finish on a slide, the easiest thing is Tamiya flat clear, and it's easily found, and it's cheap. Plus, it works REALLY well, holds up well, and is HARD to mess up. just dust a few coats, and BAM, perfect matte finish.
http://www.tamiya.com/english/produc...lear/index.htm
***just make sure the cap is indeed more opaque, as there are different versions of this***
i am sure someone will chime in saying to use "DullCoat" or "DullKote" (i forget how to spell it) and i will tel you it is a product NOT for the "short attention spanned" among us.
i have used it, and i HATED it. that is my OPINION. it was terribly unforgiving, and it took an EON to dry properly. i do a lot of work on watches, and to matte a dial of a watch (or slide, or car part, etc) i stick to my Tamiya!!
EDIT:
as promised, simple, yet crude, way to polish a barrel (for instance)....
