OK, had to shelve the project because ill, but now back "in the groove." Annoyingly the spots have reappeared, either I was blind on the day or, well, I don't know.
Rather than ty to polish the damn things out, going for a carbon fibre veneer to cover the top surfaces of the acrylic plates. I'm not a fan of fake CF, so found a company that makes a .25mm thick genuine carbon fibre sheet, available with a 3m self adhesive backing. Cuttable with scalpels or stout scissors.Got an origin live VTA gubbins to go on, annoyingly Cherry Audio are now producing a platter with the 12 weights like I wanted in the first place, but this one will look fine. Analogue Seduction have been wonderful, managing to get Heed to ship a PCB for the Orbit 1 (replaces the Rega PCB), I can see why they don't give instructions for fitting since the board is so clearly marked with which wire colour goes where.
The annoying part of the project right now is that my ex seems to have had a spree of kleptomania on moving out, so my "special bits" box which contained a bunch of rather nice stuff - stub ends, counter weights, really nice looking (but unknown make/model) VTA adjuster etc, appears to have been emptied. I've got what I need to get the project underway, hey-ho. All part of life's rich tapestry, and I shall buy a voodoo doll kit shortly and scavenge some of her hair from the bath plug-hole. I hope to be doing a dry build (admittedly with a lot of help) this weekend, fitting the CF and doing a proper build prior to final fettle next weekend.