Help on sanding

[takealap]

Hi, I'm planning to sand the frame on a tm hicapa 5.1 (since I'm too cheap to buy the sd frames) I was wondering if I could get some help from people who have sanded their frames before. I know the tm frames are pot metal and tarnish easily, has anyone been able to stop their frame from tarnishing? I would prefer to bead blast the frame and controls, but I have no idea what that is or how to do it lol. My other option is I could just paint it silver, but I've always ran into problems when painting. Any help would be appreciated. Keep in mind, I dont want the frame to be a polished silver, I'm going for more of a flat silver look, but not grey lol