Usually I will brush my coat of Future on by hand, but on occasion I’ll have a big area to cover so I’ll break out the airbrush. I’ll spray my Future coat with no thinners-just straight Future, at around 15psi. Usually the airbrush tip is about 2-3 inches away from the model. The problem is, I’m never sure whether my coat is uniform and whether I’ve applied it too heavy or too light. It seems heavy in areas, almost pooling, and in other areas it will seem orange-peeled. I have a hard time keeping it consistent.
So, how do you know when you are applying it in just the right amount? What signs do you look for? Is some variation in the appearance of the wet coat normal? I do notice it seems to level out once it’s dry, and I don’t notice many flaws in the coat then. Does anyone have any tips for airbrushing Future?
I’ve found it easiest to coat first with a couple of light coats & leaving these for a hour or so before laying down a heavier wet coat - the second light coat can be used to sort out any patchiness you might have. The final wet gloss coat can be achieved over the first couple of coats without blasting too much paint on.
the best single thing I have for trying to lay down a nice gloss coat of Future is bright light, used at the right angle it allows me to see exactly what going on (or down, or not).
I usually do thin future a bit, with isopropyl alcohol. I use the 71 % mix commonly sold in drug stores.
I usually find orange peel, whether with future or various paints, is the result of too great a distance between airbrush and model surface. I usually use 15 psi- that is about right to me.
I do try to get a consistant look to a coat while airbrushing. If some spots look to dry, others wet, I go back over the dry-appearing areas with more paint.
Well, I had a look at it after it dried, and it didn’t look as bad. I decided to throw a 2nd coat of clear on using a lacquer glosscoat. I just might reserve Future for brush use from now on. Thanks for the tips so far!
I find a mix of about 80% Future to 20% isopropyl alcohol (i use the 91%) and just 1 drop of dish washing liquid detergent (helps break surface tension so the future flows smoothly on the details.) be sure to mix well. and this works well for me.
I spray a light coat, wait a little bit and spray another light coat… repeat as needed… I did a model the other day that I used about 3 coats on to get full coverage, but that may be because I’m using a Badger Velocity, and it has a small needle size.
I’ve never thinned the stuff. I usually spray around 12 psi and from a realativly close distance. Just keep the brush moving so you don’t get it on too heavily. It levels out pretty good, but you may want 2-3 coats to get the result you’re looking for.
While on the subject of Future, how long do you guys wait for paint to cure befroe putting futre over as a decal gloss coat? I usually wotk with enamels but have found that when I either brush or spray future over it ,it seems to not have a totally gloss look to it, rather a glossy satin finish .
I use the future neat from the bottle and usually wait a day to do the clear.
Could it be that the paint is not cured enough?
Interesting tip about the soap in the future, does it have no effect on the future’s ability to “stick” to the model?
I get the impression that you’re sayIng you let the enamel coat dry a day before doing the future. That isn’t near long enough. Enamel have to gas out which takes some time. I don’t use enamels partly for this reason, so someone more experienced there will have to chime in. With Acylics I sometimes future as soon as a couple hours and have never had a problem. To get the more glossy look just build up multiple layers. As for the soap, I doubt it affects adhesion the stuff is sticky. Besides you’re talking a very minuscule amount of it anyway.
Future thinned with a small amount of windex works good for me, move the airbrush slow and keep it no more than 2 inches away and spray a coat thin enough to keep it from pooling. You can always go over it again with another coat 10, 15 min. later.
Are you spraying that over enamel? Every Future thread on the Internet has someone who thins it with Windex. Given the fact that I use Windex to clean my airbrushes, I’m a little hesitant to spray it over acrylic costs of paint.
Nope, Acrylics(Gunze aqueous or Tamiya). I know what you’re saying, but I only add a few drops of windex, and it never seems to affect the acrylic base coat.(Assuming its dried completely). I would also suggest using Polyscale clear gloss if you can’t get future to work. Its what I use mostly now and it seems much easier to airbrush. Just thin with MM acrylic thinner.
What I personally try when I’m airbrushing Future, which I do with a very cheap single action airbrush, is to suspend the piece (for me, normally aircraft) and create a ‘fog’ of Future from the brush - very broad pattern, low pressure - and allow the ‘fog’ to ‘fall’ onto the suspended workpiece. I’ve always had bad luck with trying to ‘paint’ the piece with Future, as you say, pooling, uneven layers. As milair mentioned, I try to do two or three light coats like this (I am to create 5 to 10 seconds worth of the ‘fog’ each on the top, then each side, then the bottom) and come back to it an hour later, repeating this technique. I figure you’re really only aiming for a separation layer of a thou or two thick. I do three or four layers like this, and I find it builds up enough to perform that separation of one layer to the next. Helps if you have a spray booth or something similar. Hope that helps.
I spray a squirt of windex in the Future, bump the psi to almost around 30 and spray a bunch of light fog coats (6" away or maybe a little more). I will start to see where I need to shoot and were not to. This might take more than one application but it will get you a high gloss shine after a while.
I would love to be able to get such a beautiful gloss to my Trumpeter Bearcat as is on that one…I’ve never had good luck shooting Future myself, but I don’t think I’ve ever turned the pressure up to 30psi…Guess I’m going to have to give it another go!
Forgot to mention that I’m spraying in a basement that is about 68*F with about 50% humidity in a spray booth. I’m also using an old Badger 200 airbrush and practiced a bit on old models to see what worked best for me.
