thats how i judge if paints are cured fully… the future i sprayed last light looks and feels dry, but it still smells like future…is it safe to sand down?
thanks!
Good question. Normally I find Future will dry thoroughly enough for applying decals with solvent in well under a day’s drying time. For me it certainly doesn’t smell at that point, but I don’t think my sense of smell is all that great, so I might not be a good judge. What you could do is to start sanding, very lightly at first and see how it goes? Does it sand nicely, or does it seem a bit gummy? I expect that after a day it will sand fine., but if seems like it might not be quite cured, you can stop and try again later.
Andy
As far as I can tell, future and a lott of other paints smell even after they are cured. If I open the glass cabinet in which I keep my models, there’s alway a very specific smell.
Keep in mind that Future isn’t really a paint, it’s a floor polish. True, it’s primarily acrylic but it may not behave the same way. It should act the same, but it may not.
I agree with the others. Unless something is wrong it should certainly be dry by now. Future dries very quickly so you should be fine.
I agree… being impatient I have decaled ever future as short as 6 to 8 hours after spraying it on with no bad results, but after a whole night it should definitely be done!
Being Impatient, I’ve put decals over Future after less than an hour with no bad results, but I don’t recommend making a habit of it.
I kinda figured that if you could apply it to a floor and walk on it less than an hour later, you ought to be able to apply decals in about the same length of time. Could be wrong though.
Oh did you build a Tiger Tank for “Mad Tiger Day”?!?![:D]
When I did the one day build, I certainly chucked any common sense rules about paint drying times, without ill effect.
This is quite alright. As a matter of fact, I’ve been putting my decals down in freshly brushed Future for years. Future makes them lay down BEAUTIFULLY with absolutely zero silvering. Since I started doing this, (Believe me, it took months to get the nerve up tho try this) I have rarely had to use setting solution since the Future works like setting solvent. Swanny’s site has a great little article on this.
That smell you’re getting is probably just residual fumes from having the project enclosed in your cabinet.
agreed about the Future as a setting agent… if I get a set of decals that doesn’t seem to have enough glue I use the future to set them down good… only thing is it doesn’t allow you much time to maneuver them so you have to work quick… on larger decals I put them down with microsol and when dry, future over them carefully… once the future is dry those things arent coming up without using a torch! [;)]
I usually wait at least 8 hrs before painting though… just to be safe… I know it’s safe to walk on in an hour, but I’d rather make sure there are no hidden fumes or such trying to escape through paint…
That was kinda my logic to. Besides, I was in a hurry.
No, just in a hurry to get them done. It was late, I was tired, and didn’t feel like waiting.
Don’t you believe it! I had to mask over a decal on my F-105 last year, and when I pulled the tape up half the decal and 2 fully-cured (as in nearly a month) coats of Future came right along with it.
damn… what kinda tape did u use?
anyways guys, thanks for the input…
i sprayed my car (tamiya clk dtm) with the help from the other topic, and it went on beauifully… when i sprayed it i though it was real thick, and i though i was gona get some runs, but it dried real smooth and flat (i sanded one part of the cart as a test, and that part was mirror like!!)
anyways, while sanding it out, b4 polishing it (i use an electric toothbrush) i though it was going slow with the finest sponge, i used the next one up…this one was new and hadnt been used at all, so it was a lot rougher than the previous one, and i went thru the paint in quite a few places 
i didnt see it till the end coz the model was wet and its black on black styrene!! i honestly felt like crying… the model wasnt perfect, but it was the best one so far, and i was really happy with the progress…
oh well… im just gonna spray a couple more coats of future on and be careful next time!!
anyways, thanks for the help…
ps, does anyone know if future yellows after time?? i though it was only enamels which yellowed, but im probably wrong…
Believe it or not, Tamiya tape. I never would have believed it would have pulled it up, but it certainly did. It ripped the shark mouth on my F-105 right in half and ruined it. Luckily I was able to get a replacement because it was completely ruined.
[:0] wow… On my SBD I decided the AM decal sheet had nicer "NO STEP: decals than the ones that came with the kit… well shy of using an xacto to scrape off the decal, I ended up having to remove the future with windex THEN use Microsol to get it up… and even after the Microsol I had to scrape qith a toothpic…
I’ll have to remember that then… that it wont always be that durable… Glad you mentioned that before I got too coky about the strength of the stuff and had the same thing happen.