Looking for advice/suggestions/comments from all you Future floor polish users out there…
I’ve been working on an A-Line Thrall container car set for a good while now. I superdetailed the set with various plastic & brass parts, and have painted them first with Polly Scale light gray as a primer coat, then the final coat of Polly Scale TTX yellow. There were at least a couple of weeks between primer & yellow paint. A few weeks later, I am ready to take the next step. I’d heard good things about Future floor polish, so I got a bottle to do a glossy pre-decal coat on the models. I did my homework and read up about using Future on this website and others.
I did practice for a while on some old boxcars to get the hang of it, and played around with the air pressure to find the best setting. I ended up using about 15-20 psi, the recommended setting I’d seen from various sources.
However, no matter what I tried, I ended up with a “pebbly” rough texture. I eventually figured out that if I gave the models a good thick coating, the finish came out less pebbly and smooth. I thought I finally got the hang of it, so I went ahead and sprayed my good models. But after it was all over, I ended up with the rough “pebbly” texture all over my good models. Maybe I was too nervous about excessive buildup on the good models and didn’t put it on thick enough. I noticed on the practice boxcars some areas came out better than others, but I still ended up with the pebbly texture in some areas. Overall, I was kind of disappointed in the results of the Future floor polish experiment. I did do all this outdoors in about 80+ degree sunny weather, so I’m thinking maybe the heat affected the results?
Future floor polish can be removed easily with a bit of ammonia in water. (Windex also works). Just strip off the coat of Future with the ammonia/water mix, then recoat with whatever. It may not like the Polly Scale paint - I use the solvent based Floquil, and never had that problem. In your practice, try painting the practice surface with the yellow paint, then overspraying the Future. Also, increase the paint flow, and don’t spray from too far away. Like most acrylic finishes, Future dries quickly, and needs to hit the model while it’s still quite wet.
Thanks for the feedback, Gary. I’ve decided to go ahead and try stripping the Future using ammonia/window cleaner. Since the intermodal set has multiple “units,” I’ll try it on one of them first to see if I like the results before messing with the others. Before all that, I’ll try it on one of my test boxcars first.
Any other words of wisdom from any Future users out there before I give it a go?
Airbrush: Which needle size and cap combination is it set up to?
For needle size, a number 1 (fine) or 3 (medium).
Spray distance? Within 2" or less, imho.
Air Pressure: depending on your airbrush type 15 to 20 psi is a safe range.
With a fine needle or medium needle, you should be able to get close. Stroke speed would not need to be “lighting fast” but shouldn’t be as slow as a GP-7 pulling a 100 car coal drag either.[;)]
Pracitce on some scrap cars or plastic sheets. Write your adjustments on paper and compare results. There is so much throw away available plastic sources that are great for practicing and improving airbrush techniques. I found an 18" x 4" piece of a dull black plastic sheet that came off of a cheap, discarded CD holder case for a home stereo system. Excellent for airbrush fodder.
Thanks for the good advice, Antonio. BTW, I’m using a Badger 350 (single action, external mix) w/ a medium tip. As mentioned, I was using about 15-20psi, but I was probably about 5 inches or so away from the surface. I’d like to give it another go with the Future once I get the existing coat stripped. I’ll practice a lot first on scrap stuff like you suggested, though.
The thing I find with Future is that there is a fine line between “flowing” and “running” when airbrushing it. Future, by design is made for horizontal surfaces where it can flow out evenly - that’s one of the beauties of it, is its self-levelling abilities.
Unless you are doing tank cars, the majority of the time, you are decalling flat sides … you only need to spray the Future on the surfaces you are decalling, not the entire car. Hold each surface as horizontal as possible when you spray it, allowing the Future to self level - this will also aid in avoiding runs. It only takes 15-30 seconds for the coat to skin and not run, then do another side.
Another option - and one that I use more often than not - is to just brush it on ! Use a soft 1/2" brush and flow on a nice even coat. Future’s self levelling properties will eliminate any brush marks, and it dries down surprisingly thin. This method works great for spot decalling on flat finish surfaces. Once the whole car is dull coated, the different sheens will all blend back together.
what i do is dilute future in 96 proof alcohol medical grade (can´t get isopropyl), @ 50% concentration and spray it thru a chinese cheapo airbrush at 6 inches from my model at aprox 35 pressure, covers extremely well. i also decal on directly and seal afterwards with dull coat thru the same airbrush