Applying Future

[mfogg]

...

[waaytoomuchintothis]

I have never used nor needed more than one coat. I apply with a soft brush, because the instructions on the bottle make it clear that the product needs some thickness for the levellers (what makes it smooth and shiny), to work. To make the car handleable without fingerprints all over I sometimes use a silicone cloth days later, it is meant for fine guitar bodies.

[HomeRacingWorld]

1. I use 2 coats using a small brush.

2. Until it is dry. Usually 20 minutes.

3. I do. I use Meguiars Gold Class automotive polish.

[TsgtRet]

Usually one or 2 coats (depending on the nooks and crannies of the body).
Usually 15 minutes between coats.
Don't use wax/polish but will use a cloth intended for eyeglasses and computer screens to buff it up.

[VenturaAlfa]

It depends on the thickness of the decals I am using.

First, I use a soft brush and put on a fairly thin coat so that the decals don't wrinkle.

After that I put on 1 to 3 additional coats so that the decals look like part of the paint like the tampo printed decals used by the slot manufacturers do. The future flows really well and hides the edges of the decals.

I have never used wax over the top of the future.

Ventura Alfa

[dreinecke]

[mfogg]

...

[RichD]

I have found that Future is not very durable and will not protect decals for too long. I actually had some Future analyzed a few years back, it is only about 25% solids, the rest being mostly water. The formulation also contains a little ammonia, which can yellow some types of paint. I use a more robust clear coat, like Testors clear and top that off with couple of coats of Future. Some types of clear coats have very strong solvents that can attack decals. Usually I will put a couple of coats of Future on decals before I use a solvent based clear coat. If you are using ink jet printed decals brushing on Future will often smudge them. If you have an air brush you can spray on light coats of Future. I use Testors bonder spray on inkjet decals before I put them on a car.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

What do you do with your cars Rich? Future is very tough. I have never seen decals beat up under Future. I am beginning to wonder about how people run their cars differently from me and the guys I run races with. I put a lot of work into paint an decals. I would never allow one of my paint jobs to be treated in such a way as to ruin decals right through Future. That may be it in a nutshell.

The one time I messed up paint with it, it was a Tamiya white paint and it turned a creamy yellow. It turned out that bottle I was using was 7 years old, and the yellow was the Future. It washed off, according to the instructions and because there was only one thick coat, the decals were fine because I wiped the Future off without scrubbing or immersing. A fresh coat of Future, and I had the white car I wanted.

[TsgtRet]

The bottle I'm working with is 4 or 5 years old, no yellowing noted as of yet.
I apply my Future with a damp, flat brush about 1/4" wide. I usually apply it over the decals while they are still "damp", as a result the decals wrinkle and bond to the paint in much the same way as with Solvaset. After the "wrinkling" has abated I apply my second coat. Virtually all of the decals I use are homemade on the computer and I have never had Future cause the ink to run unless I didn't coat the decals properly after printing (2-3 light coats of the clear sealant).

[mfogg]

...

[waaytoomuchintothis]

That's a heck of a demonstration, Fogg. That's the shade of yellow on my Ford GT40 that shocked me. But as I say, it was only on there about 24 hours... If it hadn't been on a white car, I never would have noticed. The dark metallic blue front deck didn't show the yellow at all, but boy did the rest of that car look swampy!

The only thing I would add is that over the 7 years that bottle had been in use, it was used on dozens of cars, so it had lots of exposure to air many times. I have been using a piece of plastic food wrap under the bottle cap for about 4 years now, and there is no trace of yellowing in the new bottle.

About the toughness of a single heavy coating... remember it is for floors. Think about street shoes walking on your paint job. Its plenty tough.

[RichD]

I have had the decals on the sides of HO cars get damaged just from ordinary handling. Probably the oil from a person's skin attacks the Future. When you put Future on a car it will mostly run off of vertical surfaces, so it would take many coats to cover those properly. The problem of yellowing is fairly well known. If you are using paint that you have not used along with Future before it would be a god idea to do a trial application on something expendable.

[arroldn]

When I first painted cars for the Forums Cup 8yrs ago the decals would be trash when the cars came back home, just using Future. I now clear coat the car with Testors and then Future over them. Decals look good as new.

[chappy]

When finishing the car off, what kind of was do you use?
Can you also was a car that is not clear coated?
For eliminating light scratches will Eagle chrome polish work?
Bob