future

It is basically a clear acrylic paint!  It has a very low viscosity, and a somewhat longer drying time than many acrylic paints.  This allows it to self-level, and makes a great gloss clearcoat.

Its uses include making canopies and windows super clear, clearcoating small areas of flat finish for decaling (to prevent silvering), or as an overall glosscoat finish.  It is cheaper than many other acrylic gloss finishes sold as a paint.

Keep monitoring this forum, and others in the tools, techniques, and reference materials section, for frequent discussions on the use of future.

As Don says...

But in the UK, Future/Pledge/Pledge with Future Shine.... is now discontinued.

SC Johnson Pledge Floor Care Multi-Surface Finish, clear liquid, clear bottle, with a bluey label with blue wellies on it, is the last/latest incarnation of Future/etc...

The "good stuff"
Appears to be currently available in the US. (?)

PLEDGE KLEAR MULTI-SURFACE WAX, white bottle, blue cap, milky, very perfumed liquid, (sucessor to the above in the UK), is discontinued in the UK.

According to SC  Johnson:
"We are sorry to say that this product was discontinued and is, therefore, no longer available in stores.
 Unfortunately we do not have an alternative product.
Your interest in this product will be recorded so that our marketing department is aware that there is still a demand for this product."

Hope that 'Kleers' that up!

I picked up "the good stuff" at walmart a week or so ago.

My question is does it need to be thinned to airbrush or is it good straight from the bottle?

It is good straight from the bottle in an airbrush 

It strips, not thins, with ammonia.

A diluted ammonia solution like Windex is good.

This is a VERY useful feature. I use Future as a base for weathering. If I really screw up, I can strip the Future off with windex, and usually preserve the underlying color coats.

Future also handbrushes well with a wide soft brush.

Beware though, as it is very low viscosity, it runs. Like all good paint apps, thin coats and more of them is better than a thick coat.

I came across a little tip that did work well.  Although Future does spray well straight out the bottle, try adding just a bit of Windex as a "thinner".  I was sceptical at first, but the Future did spray great, leveled fast and gave no sign of any orange-peel at all.  I can't remember where I read the tip but give it a try if you're a Future Fan.  I think you'll like the results.

Gary

To answer how long will Future stay in good condition, my current bottle is from 2000, is  1/2 used and is crystal clear. The previous bottle I had was over 25 years old and was a tad light honey color so it discarded.

I get better results hand brushing than spraying it. When hand brushed I get a glass smooth finish while I get a pebbly finish when sprayed. I have thinned it with regular rubbing alcohol and have gotten better results when sprayed.

Take a canopy for example, you polish it with extra fine polishing compund then dip it in Future and when dry, the clarity is 10x better than before.

Future can also be used to secure loose stubburn decals. Brush over it and it will stay down. You can also get rid of "steps" on thick decals by brushing Future from the center of the decal out as the step is slowly filled in by future.

The clarity of these Monogram F-4 canopies were dramatically improved by polishing them and dipping them in Future. When dry and cured they look like glass.

This is the turret of my 1/25 scale Academy Panther. The decals were a nightmare because they were VERY thick having a very visual step and refused to stay down. Not even Solvaset couldn't keep them down! I brushed on multiple coats of Future from the decal center and feathering out. I did this about 10 times at minimal. Set it aside to cure for a couple of days then gave it a light sanding with an xtra fine pad then brushed on another coat of Future. Finally a flat clear acrylic coat was sprayed to kill the gloss and as you can see the decal looks as if it was painted on.