This was my first attempt at the inside and second on the outside. No need for the plate you have there, as I think if you just smooth out the top it makes it look cleaner. A tip would be to have the right steps of sanding grit as jumping too far apart will get frustrating.
Thanks UDT, I used a multispeed dremel. The higher speed was to shave off thick parts, which was by a carving bit. The dremel usually spent its time on the lowest setting due to sanding and just not wanting to fry the dremel.
What i used was the sanding drums the kit came with at first. It only came with a few so i went and got some regular sand paper sheets and made strips to put around the drums with doublesided foam tape. This worked great as you can have unlimited supply of various grit drums.
I would say start with 100-200, then 400, and finally 800. Try to see what works for you. I only had 120-220 then to 600(too much of a jump) and 800-1000. Finally a had some Mother's metal polish and it worked great. Only its hard to get the shine perfect, it has a small haze if you look directly at the surface.
You may want to get a dust mask and some simple gloves, the shavings get everywhere... I think thats it, good luck! err time? i dunno a couple hours here and there, just something i would pick up during the week.