I have been working on a project to apply lettering, numbering and striping decals to a Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0. It has been recommended elsewhere to use Future floor wax as a substitute for Glosscote. My experience was not good.
I found it difficult to get the finish to lay flat by brushing it on. I did not try airbrushing it.
When I applied Champ decal setting solution, sections of the underlying Future turned a lighter color, from black to a light grey. I also found the decal setting solution was softening the Future. Some of the lighter spots became less noticeable after a day but they were still there. Some didn’t disappear at all. One section looked so bad that I scrubbed off the decals and started over.
On the positive side, I found that the Future and the underlying Polly Scale were easily removed by coating the whole surface with Champ decal setting solution and lighting scrubbing with one of the plastic microbrushes. I then used an Exacto chisel blade to lightly slide across the surface, neatly removing the Future and the Poly Scale back to the original plastic surface.
To solve the decal problem, I repainted the surface by brush with Poly Scale and found it glossy enough to decal right over it.
In this process, I did learn that it is NOT a good idea to get Microscale decals anyplace near where you are using Champ decal solution. It is also not a good idea to use Micro Sol with Champ decals; it doesn’t make them set down on the surface, and allows the decal to slide out of position when you least expect it.
I have had good success using Future to remove scratches from clear plastic and to glue MV Products headlight lenses into pot metal, brass or plastic. It would probably be good for gluing flat pieces of clear plastic into window frames. I haven’t tried that yet.
Comments anyone?