Never actually polished an aeroplane. However, was once a “rivet bubble-poppers mate; first class” on the RAE Dakota at Farnborough. This was at the Dak’s 50th anniversary and the RAE decided to decorate their aeroplane. A friend of mine did the design. Graphics were made from (incredibly) sticky plastic sheeting which was stuck to fuselage and wings. Only problem was that Dak is covered with many thousands of rivets. Each rivet caused a bubble to form in the plastic. Each bubble had to be burst with scalpel and then smoothed flat or the slipstream would tear the whole lot off. Five of us spent two days at this esoteric pursuit. The Dak looked wonderful (and did not lose any graphics).