How scratched is it? Lightly, or deeply (i.e. through the plating)?
If its through the plating, not much could really be done. If it is lighter scratches, the I've used jewelers buffing compounds manually with a clean cloth to buff some scratches out. I currently have white, green and red buffing compounds (I honestly don't know what they are...usually there is no other explanation than the color, which maybe was more understood in the past? I don't know what grits these are, although I know the green is pretty darn high, as is the red...we are talking tens of thousands in terms of grit.) I find the green and red can do a good job working out scratches in platings.
There is a threshold of how deep the scratch can be before this particular approach cannot remove it...lighter scratches are pretty easy. Medium scratches, you can probably mitigate them, reduce their size and visibility. If you scratch through the plating itself, though, there really isn't anything that can be done.
The main reason I ended up picking up these compounds is not because I was adding scratches myself, but that I found maybe 20-30% or so of the time, the kit parts had scratches on them right out of the package. I used to try and return them to get unscratched kits, only to find too often that the replacement would have some noticeable nick or scratch itself. Most of the time, I can buff those out, and I no longer have to deal with the looks the Woodcraft guys give me when I was returning/exchanging kits all the time.
Here are the compounds I picked up last year:
Shop JTS at the Amazon Arts, Crafts & Sewing store. Free Shipping on eligible items. Save on everyday low prices.
www.amazon.com
They are designed for precious metal platings, not just chrome.
