a question about Future (as in the floor polish) i think!?

I’ve been modeling a while and have never used future with any of my finishing. So, what’s the deal, i hear you can tint it, use it as a gloss coat, use it to accentuate dials etc. But what I really need to know is the basics. Can you use it in your airbrush, if so, whats the thinning ratio? what do most modelers use it for? can you use it to polish bare plastic for, let’s say, natural metal finishes? the list goes on…if anyone has the time to explain it’s uses and or limitations and can give a brief usage lesson i’d be very grateful, thanks

Here’s the link to a previous thread that should answer most of your questions:
http://www.finescale.com/fsm/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7824

Hope it helps!

you can go to www.swannysmodels.com , he has some good info on it. matter of fact he had an article in fsm this past year.

www.swannysmodels.com is a a good website.

I tried some Future that was several years old (possibly more the 10 years), on a flat finish, and it did not work very well at all. Tried it twice and sanded it off twice.
I wonder if the formula has changed over the last few years? I Was not impressed, although I will try it for gluing down a canopy…
Bill.

Future is definately worth the effort IMHO.

We use stuff called Pledge-One-Go, almost the same as Future, but ours has a little bit of ammonia added.

I think my canopies would be lost without Pledge, and my decals would look extremely ordinary.

Best $3.50 I ever spent on a modelling tool!!!

I dip my canopies in it to protect them from masking and gluing later on in the process, and I also think it improves their appearance.

For you pre-decal glosscoat, you can either airbrush it full strength or brush-paint it on. I’ve had success doing both. Same goes if you want to put a gloss-coat on AFTER decals before, say a wash.

That’s the quick answer but I highly recommend going over to Swanny’s site, he’s put a lot of time into making a really good reference article for the use of Future.

For airbrushing I have found adding about 25% isopropyl alcohol to the Future provides for an excellent finish. Clean your airbrush with an ammonia based window cleaner like Windex.

Several modelers have had issues with very old bottles of Future, it thickens in the bottle around the 10 year mark so I would suggest breaking loose with another five bucks and getting a new bottle. When was the last time you used a 10 year old bottle of paint???

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html

I saw an article, it might have been here, where someone contacted SC Johnson in the US and they didn’t recommend using Future more than 2 yrs old. Seems it begins to break down at that point. Although they also said if it is used in any other way than listed on bottle they could not provide data as it is not it’s intended use. (CYA! [;)])

I spray it unthinned at about 20psi using a Paasche H3 & it works great. I had a bottle that was about 4 years old & 90% gone & I did notice some thickening so I just tossed it & got a fresh bottle.

Regards, Rick