How to restore your rare motorcycle plastics

I have found it very hard to get nice mud guards of the right shape and color for the XR500R. May be I am picky but that is an occupational hazard for many DIY restorers.

Once I bought a Maier rear mud guard but found it is not quite the right shape and certainly not the right color. Some may find this OK, I don't, but that's me.

Some folks have bought these XRR parts from DC Plastics. I heard that the color is a very very close match to the period orangey color but the finish not all that satisfactory. Also, they need to be fitted with screws, not quite the same as original, but may satisfy some (not me). I have never actually seen them though.

Some years ago, I had in my hands a rather sad looking XRR fuel tank and I thought, "what the heck, I cant make it any worse". After checking there were no petrol fumes left (one decade of emptiness did the trick), I (gently) put a butane torch to it and saw the color come back, some of the scratches disappear. With nothing much more to loose, I also tried sanding some of it, with little success but then tank was back to reasonable, shameless, usable condition, yay!