Future?

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Evangelion

Original Poster:

7,729 posts

178 months

Sunday 3rd April 2011
quotequote all
No, not the future, just Future.

Future is a product developed by Johnson in the US, the UK equivalent being Johnson's Klear, although there has long been speculation as to whether the formulation is the same or not.

Future/Klear is a hard clear acrylic covering for floors, but modellers have been finding uses for it for years. It comes in a bottle of about 1/2 a litre, which will last the average modeller a long time and cost less than £3 the last time I bought some.

It can be used as a gloss coating before and after decalling. Acrylic paint such as Tamiya can be added to it to form translucent colours, or Tamiya Flat Base added to make it matt or satin depending on the amount. Some modellers even use it instead of Micro Sol and similar products, when applying decals. One of its more interesting uses is for clear parts such as cockpit canopies; drop a canopy into Future/Klear, take it aout and leave it to dry and it looks much better. Small blemishes are rendered invisible.

Caution: Johnson's Klear disappeared from the UK about a year ago. Its replacement, "Pledge Multi Surface Floor Wax," is NOT the same thing. It is a pale brown colour instead of clear and is much thinner. It is early days yet so opinions differ as to how different it is; some experimentation might be necessary before committing it to an important project!

For more on this fascinating product, Swanny's Models has a whole page of info:

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




NervySi

67 posts

157 months

Sunday 3rd April 2011
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Thanks, great post. I must use Klear in just every project I build for something or other. Apparently it will also provide a barrier coat between a 'hot' paint coat and any other paint liable to react with it, like auto spray paint over enamel. I don't recall ever trying it though.

Shame if Klear has disappeared, though in my experience the XDGG acrylic clear gloss varnish sold by Hannants in their Xtra Colour range is just about the same (apart from being 10x more expensive!)

Red Firecracker

5,276 posts

227 months

Sunday 3rd April 2011
quotequote all
The new formulation is different, it leaves a slight tint on clear items, such as glazing. However, people have reprted it to be okay on painted surfaces. I guess that is a suck it and see conundrum.

Lakeland Quickshine is touted as a direct replacement for 'old Klear' though and is cheaper than trying to buy original bottles on eBay or even the decanted jars of old Klear.

Alclad have also released a product aimed at being a replacement for Klear;

Alclad Klear Kote Gloss which is getting good reviews.

Edited by Red Firecracker on Sunday 3rd April 11:08

tangerine_sedge

4,783 posts

218 months

Monday 4th April 2011
quotequote all
great posts guys - I've never used this magical solution before and thought that I never would. It looks like I have some alternatives now smile

Evangelion

Original Poster:

7,729 posts

178 months

Monday 4th April 2011
quotequote all
I also read on the web somewhere that Future - the original US one - is available in some branches of ASDA (well they are owned by Wal-Mart). I'll investigate this later in the week.