As far as my understanding goes, the procedure on the cowling was meant to achieve the contrary effect from polishing - it was meant to reduce the reflections from the shiny metal.
For 1/72 I could imagine a very fine brush, as Borsos said, or mottling with very fine sponge. Polishable metalizers should be the right choice for this, so you can reduce the contrast afterwards by slight polishing.
Cheers
Ondra