Hi,
I'm currently building an aircraft with white metal landing gear. I've noticed that the oleo struts don't need any painting at all, just light buffing with the side of a needle smooths down the surfaces and gives it a great shine.
The questiong is this, does that shiny finish dull with time? Can I leave the bare metal surface to the oleos or should I protect them with varnish?

Depends on what's in the white metal. Good alloys use zinc, tin, bismuth and antimony, but cheaper alloys sometimes sneak in some lead, which will oxidize with time. You could play it safe and clear coat it with Future or something.

I'm building a trimaster Fw-190 D9 so I guess the alloy would be of good quality. But I'll coat the oleos with future just to be sure they won't get oxidized.
Thanks.