Future Decal Clearcoat?

[TsgtRet]

Has anyone tried this instead of the "standard" spray clear? I seem to remember reading about this several years ago. If so, how did you apply it? All input appreciated!

[waaytoomuchintothis]

You can brush it or air brush it, no thinning required. Some people waste a lot of it by dipping and allowing the body to sit and drip. I have never found that necessary. I only air brush Future when there is a danger of filling in details and making all my hard work look like it is a Lexan bubble. I almost always just brush it on with a fat brush and "float" the Future on, flooding to let the levelers in the Future do their job best.

BTW, I'm still looking at all those lost air fields you sent me. Incredible. I used to drag race on one outside of Memphis. They actually held Nationals there a few times.

[Z-carfan]

I used Future to coat my HO racers and to coat some model airplanes for a 3D WWII game I played. Held up well to hands and to crashes.

For the 1/32 cars I have built and painted currently, used the typical lacquer and such, but plan to try 'Future' again.

As for how I applied it, just poured in the cup on the airbrush and sprayed it.

[RichD]

I have been using Future for years. The name of the product was changed to Pledge With Future Shine, then to Pledge Floor Care Multi Surface Finish. In my experience that while Future is easy to apply and gives a nice shine it is not durable enough to protect decals for very long. Future is about 75% water, so it takes a number of applications to build up a decent coating in any case. Since Future is water based it will not attack decals or paint, however if you brush it on inkjet printed decals that have not been sealed it may cause them to smudge. Future has been known to cause some types of white paint to turn brown. Some types of solvent based clear coats can attack decals, so I use a couple of coats of Future as a barrier before I clear coat my cars. After i apply a solvent based clear coat I top off my projects with a couple of coats of Future.

[Rleog]

"Some types of solvent based clear coats can attack decals, so I use a couple of coats of Future as a barrier before I clear coat my cars. After i apply a solvent based clear coat I top off my projects with a couple of coats of Future."

Interesting, Rich. After wrinkling larger decals with solvent based clear coats (a pathetic example of this are the '66' decals on my 2E in the current Can Am proxy), I started spraying clear coat before the decals, then protecting the decals with coats of Future.

I may try your method on my next build.

Thanks,
Bob G

[TsgtRet]

I guess I wasn't clear (no pun intended) as to what I was asking. I "Future" every car I build and most of my RTRs as well. I was asking about using Future on a sheet of freshly printed decals instead of the clear spray. I spoke to DR about it and tried it last night. I used a couple of the decals this morning and it works great! The only problem I ran into was not letting the ink dry long enough so I smeared a couple of numbers :roll: ; it was a sheet of roundels so no big deal. Thanks for all of the responses and thanks to "The Doc" for the guidance. I'll post the results in a few days, once my parts order gets here.

[mattb]

There is a decal solvent called "Markfit", I think that is the name, the bottle is downstairs. It says to coat the body where the decals go, coat the top of the decals when you apply them and then dry like always to remove water. After it is dry it says to coat the decals one more time and let it dry. I've done this my last two cars and clear coated with Testors lacquer like always and had no wrinkling or problems. I waited a day or two after the application to spray the clear. One set of decals was from Indycals the other from Bruce Patterson.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

[RichD]

When I print my own decals I coat them with Testors decal bonder before I cut them out and put them on the car. If I put the bonder on too heavy the decals can smudge, so I apply three light coats with about a half hour of drying time between coats. After the decals are on the car they get two coats of Future before I do the entire car with a solvent based clear. The bonder by itself might give enough protection, but there would be no coating on the edges of the decals and those might get attacked by the solvents in the clear coat. If you have some spare decals it is not a bad idea to try diferent combinations of paint, decals and clear coat on some scrap material before you use it on a car.

[proxieken]

Why does my floor polish crack up after a while and look horrible? I have a few cars that are ruined by this.

[RichD]

I have not seen that problem, however you can use ammonia to remove the Future. Perhaps it is the paint that has actually cracked, sometimes that happens if the paint is not fully dried before you put the Future on.

[strangebrew]

I'm no expert, but I print my decals on a low cost ink-jet printer.
I suffer from lack of patience, so I only let the ink set for a few minutes then spray a medium coat of clear enamel
over the sheet, either Ace Hardware or Krylon brand.
Sometimes 1 coat....sometimes 2.......it depends on how much of a hurry I'm in.
I sometimes apply the decals as soon as it is dry to the touch.
I coat the application area with something called Micro Set from Microscale Industries before I apply them,
then coat the applied decal a 2nd time & dab with a damp paper towel.
I found this product at a local train shop.
I think the most important element here is the quality of the decal material.
I've been buying mine on line from Micro Mark lately.
I sometimes spray the model as soon as I dry the applied decals, OK............. almost all the time.
A I said I don't have that much patience. It usually works OK..........Good Luck