The three windshield pieces I had to work with when I was doing restorations of three original AMT '60 Ford convertibles were all damaged. (Click here for the full article.)

No. 1 had some serious glue damage in three places.

No. 2 had glue damage, scratches and old paint in both vent window areas.

No. 3 also had scratches and a deep pitted area where a drop of glue had been dropped on the surface and then wiped away.

You'll need a variety of tools for this project, including some sanding sticks. This is a set I got from Micro Mark. (Click here for details.)

I also used Flex-i-file Flex Pads in various grits, from medium to extra fine, plus their very handy polishing stick.

You can also find sanding sticks in various grits in the cosmetics section of most department stores. These are a bit wider than the tools mentioned above, and are handy for covering broader areas.

Assorted fine grit sanding sheets are also handy for working with curved areas.

For the final finishing and polishing, you can't so better than the Novus polishing system; in order of use: No. 3 Heavy Scratch Remover, No. 2 Fine Scratch Remover, and No. 1 Plastic Clean & Shine.

The severity of the damage will determine the coarseness of the grit you should start with. A general rule is to use the finest grit you can use and still get the job done. In the case of these particular windshields, because of the heavy glue damage I started with a medium grit stick. If you're tackling light scratches you may find that you can skip all the way down to using just the Novus products.

Here you can see some of the preliminary sanding on No. 1. In the case of heavy glue damage, there'll be a white spot in the damaged area. You'll need to continue to carefully sand until the white area disappears.

Here you see the preliminary sanding finished on all three pieces. The initial sanding will cause a lot of scuffing and scarring of the clear plastic. Don't worry about this; we'll clear things up in later steps.