I'm going to decal and clear coat a couple of Tyco pro/Afx bodies this week. I tried future and it works well and with several coats you can create a fat finish. But i was wondering why folks use Future instead of a spray enamel top coat. Isn't enamel harder and tougher? My cars will be runners as well as static models for scenery. Please give your sage opinions. thx, mj

Enamel will destroy most computer printed decals. Stick with acrylic top coat.

Looks good.
Dries fast.
Never had to re-apply it.
If you want to call a "do-over"... you can.

nd

:dude:

Big thing for me is that it doesn't yellow besides the other 4

Big thing for me is that it doesn't yellow besides the other 4

I have plastic models I clear coated with Future 20 years ago and the paint is still perfect today. Other I sprayed with Glosscote from Testors, after about 5 years they got cloudy and yellow. I never tried removing Future but I have put new coats on over old coats up to 7 years later with no problems.

Oh......... thats why. Thanks i'm convinced!! mj

Not 100% correct. It does yellow, it is only noticable on white, and for odd reasons "gulf blue"..... it turns it a pale green. Now I use Tamiya clear acylic x-22, or detal ceramcoat gloss varnish. Its for pottery glazing, and is acrylic. I think someone on this board uses it and I decided to give it a try. Its very durable and gives a hard finish - like a laquer as I have wet sanded and polished it - try that with future.

Sped, mine never has, even on white. I have a Hooters T-Bird I did shortly after Alan Kulwicki died in 1993, the white is just as white now as it was 14 years ago. Even the Davey Allison car I did the same year hasn't yellowed over the white on the decals. And I have the exact same bottle now that I had then, haven't used it all.

One of the drawbacks to enamels is how hard they dry. On a flexible surface, i.e. a plastic body, they are actually more prone to cracking and chipping. Acrylics have more flex and are not as susceptible to the cracking.
I am reminded of the beautiful clear body STP Turbine I painted 35+ years ago. I matched the paint perfectly, flawless decals and painted the inside of the body for a perfect and beautiful car... until the first time I hit a wall. All of the paint chipped and fell out of the body. And I do mean ALL of the paint.
Granted the hard plastic bodies aren't as flexible as the old hard plastic clear bodies... but you get the idea.

Gary
AKA LeeRoy98
www.marioncountyraceway.com

Leeroy, part of that also had to do with the type of plastic I'll bet. Lexan bodies required a special type of paint that was flexible, or it would shatter like you experienced. When I vacuformed cars I used PETG and could use standard enamels. I still used a clear coat over the decals, usually Future, and they held pretty well.

With future you don't have to wet sand and polish. The more coats you put on the shinier it gets. Never had any trouble with it turning any colors another color. You could add coloring to it though.

Had this link for Future as one of my bookmarks from long ago. It's still active. It talks about using it for models.

<http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html>

Joe

"Lexan bodies required a special type of paint"

True, but I'm talking pre-Lexan where the bodies were made of a hard clear plastic. They were more flexible than the hard plastic bodies, but not a lot and when I say ALL of the paint came off... I mean ALL of the paint came off... pretty funny now.

Gary
AKA LeeRoy98
www.marioncountyraceway.com

Had this link for Future as one of my bookmarks from long ago. It's still active. It talks about using it for models.

<http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html>

Joe
Good artical, thanks :thumbsup:

http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html


rr

A must read!

Thanks for the link rr.

Very cool, now I can tint windows!