Future/Klear Fogging On 2nd Coat?

John Howling Mouse · May 03, 2008, 03:49:56 PM

Am painting the flat black (Acryl) diorama base for my A-5 Menaz with Future/Klear in order to give it a bit of gloss (makes it easy to wipe down, etc.).

First coat was applied about 1.5 hours ago and was dry to the touch. I normally recoat (on models) at about this point.

This time, however, I noticed each swipe of the brush seemed to result in a noticeable "pool" outline of cloudiness as it dried. Weird. I don't know if it will stay like that or not.

Never had this situation on models when prepping for decals using multiple layers of Future so I'm a little bit baffled.

Any ideas?

Ed S · May 03, 2008, 05:59:00 PM

I've never had anything like that happen when I've used Future. I suspect that the first coat hadn't cured long enough and the second started to soften and redesolve it. I'd wait a day and see if dries clear.

Ed

Mossie · May 03, 2008, 06:20:15 PM

How do you store it Baz? I have one that tended to be in a sunlight patch on the shelf & the contents went a little cloudier than normal, has been fine when I apply it though. Anywhere too sunny, hot or cold may affect it, if it's kept in a basement or garage, store it inside instead & make sure the missus doesn't use it for it's real purpose!

John Howling Mouse · May 04, 2008, 06:43:26 PM

I store it on the workbench. Some sunlight but not too intense or for too long. This stuff maybe a little on the old side, come to think of it.

I think Ed's got it: it just started reacting with the first coat. It looks okay today. Not great----just okay.
Halfway through applying the second coat (after I already realized I was starting to have problems with the cloudiness), some guy shows up at our place selling aerial photographs of the homesteads in our area.

I told him to come in because I was in mid-paintjob and kept painting the base (with the A-5 Menaz on it) while he watched and he was pretty amazed.

When he told me they charge $200 for a photo they've already taken of our place, I was amazed, too!

John Howling Mouse · May 27, 2009, 07:44:51 PM

Well, I am now convinced that the "Pledge with Future" replacement of original "Future" is not the same chemistry.
It is thinner, has poorer coverage and no longer has that magic self-levelling quality of old Future. I noticed it does not even smell the same, anymore.
It does not protect the finish nearly as well as the old stuff, either. I find that the same MicroSol and MicroSet I used without
any difficulty before now reacts with the Future finish, clouding it and/or making it slightly tacky, regardless of how long I had let
the Future cure before applying decals. Found out the hard way when I blotted an applied decal with the usual facial tissue and it left a film of tissue lint stuck to the clear coat around the decal. Yuck. I think I may switch to Tamiya clear acrylic for my glosscoats.

Too bad. I sure liked the original Future...

Mossie · May 28, 2009, 01:41:51 AM

Yeah, this has already hit the UK & by all reports just isn't up to the job. It won't be long before you won't see the 'real' stuff on the shelves so I'd recommend stockpiling a few bottles, it's already getting hard to find over here. Hopefully some enterprising soul will get hold of the formulation from Johnsons, although the price will go up considerably.

Radish · May 28, 2009, 01:50:53 AM

Letter I wrote to Neil Robinson points this out and it's published in MAM this month. SAMI phoned the company to check that production has ceased and it has.

NARSES2 · May 28, 2009, 02:19:52 AM

I laid in enough a few for me and a couple for ~~speculation~~ sorry investment

HOG · May 28, 2009, 08:52:19 AM

I wonder how the losses due to the replacement with the new stuff will affect company sales. I mean, there must be a few thousand modellers around who buy this and not worry about shiny foors as opposed to their shiny decals.
A question.
My main use for Future/Klear is canopy dipping. Has anyone tried using Tamiya clear for this?
Cheers

G

Mossie · May 28, 2009, 08:57:47 AM

Hate to say it, but we're probably a thimble in the Ocean. One bottle lasts a modeler years, whereas you tend to use a lot more for polishing floors. These companies tend to do production batches of household chemicals in the thousands, if not tens of thousands, so their profits will probably not even flicker.

PR19_Kit · May 28, 2009, 03:47:02 PM

I'm not sure if I mentioned it here or elsewhere, but the larger Asdas and most Wilkinsons still seem to stock the old version. I bought 3 bottles from my local Asda (Bristol Cribbs Causeway) and they must had 50 bottles in two card crate thingies at the time. That should outlast me I reckon, as I'm still only 1/3 of the way down my first bottle bought about 5-7 years ago!

As they say 'But now while stocks lost'!

John Howling Mouse · June 06, 2009, 12:19:25 PM

I'm beginning to wonder if the new version might be seen as an equally disappointing product for the floor polishing task it is targeted.
Some of the lacking properties I've found re: models would show up on a floor coat, too.

utahbob · January 08, 2013, 04:00:52 PM

I just ran out of my old stash of "Future" and seen the new stuff with "Pledge" mixed in. I have read the past review and basically it sucks for clear model use. Does anybody have a substitute?
TIA
Bob

NARSES2 · January 09, 2013, 01:27:06 AM

I'm told the new Humbrol varnish is very good but not sure if available in the US ?

PR19_Kit · January 09, 2013, 02:52:52 AM

Humbrol actually mention that it's spelt 'clear' and not 'klear' in their publicity too, which ought to be a good pointer. You can bet it'll be a LOT more expensive /cc than the old Kleer was though! Luckily I have three bottles of the old staff locked away in my secure safe.