future cracked ?

No problem using an enamel/oil wash over an acrylic, but don't wait too long to wipe off the excess.

I think i'am gunna ditch the future/ pledge for the next kit, and try using one of the gloss clear coats by tamiya , gunz etc etc. I haven't had much experiance using the these ,but i will check out a few of the threads on this site , to get a few idea's on what to do. One more thing , is it safe using an oil wash over these acrylic clear coats? All i ever seam to read about is an oil wash over future, never oil wash over acrylic gloss clear coat. they both are acrylics arn't they?

Oh well, I'm out of ideas...

I have just picked up a container in which I have stored some of this stuff and noticed there is some dried spillage which crumbles when I pick it off (in a similar way to Tamiya's "clear" colours). At other tmes I've picked spillage off this container which comes off as a tough flexible film, so I am guessing that the properties do change over time.

Phil_H wrote:

The only other thing that I can think of is that your clear coat may have been laid on too thickly (which may have caused it to dry at an uneven rate) and/or your model may kept in a location with extreme variations in temp/humidity.

Future is an extremely tough coating, and self levels wonderfully. It is very hard to cause the stuff to crack because of variations in thickness (I've tried, albeit inadvertantly!) It is also highly resistant to adverse effects of temperature and humidity, much less so than most paints. So I think these scenarios are unlikely—although not impossible. I went to the SC Johnson website for Australia  Pledge One Go is both a cleaning and shine product, and its formulation is therefore almost certainly not the same as Future. Its performance may be very different when applied to a plastic model. Pledge Vinyl Magic may be a product to try.

rube wrote:

hello everybody, thanks for all the responses. I would just like to add my reasons for suspecting the pledge one go ,causing the cracks.The base coats were sprayed, and were allowed to dry for "6 WEEKS" it takes me a while to get motivated somtimes! In  that time there didn't appear to be any problem with the paint job. When i finally got around to applying the future/pledge clear coat , i sprayed 3 coats,and let the plane dry for a few weeks.then the plane was decaled and a bit of panel line darkening added,than it was thrown on the shelf until i got get motivated again.when i picked up the plane for the fist time in six weeks,last week, i noticed all the cracks covering the plane.as far as air presures go, the clear was sprayed at about 12-15 psi and the future/pledge wasn't thinned. I have also heared that johnsons have another product ,sold here in australia, called super shine, that supposed to be the same as future as well. what da ya reckon!

According to Matt Swan's article,

In Australia the Future's past is long and convoluted. Originally it went under the name "Stride Right" or "Super Stride" then the name was changed to "Shine Magic" or "Super Shine". Then, in January 2002 the product was discontinued!

So I don't think you will be able to find it.

The only other thing that I can think of is that your clear coat may have been laid on too thickly (which may have caused it to dry at an uneven rate) and/or your model may kept in a location with extreme variations in temp/humidity.

hello everybody, thanks for all the responses. I would just like to add my reasons for suspecting the pledge one go ,causing the cracks.The base coats were sprayed, and were allowed to dry for "6 WEEKS" it takes me a while to get motivated somtimes! In  that time there didn't appear to be any problem with the paint job. When i finally got around to applying the future/pledge clear coat , i sprayed 3 coats,and let the plane dry for a few weeks.then the plane was decaled and a bit of panel line darkening added,than it was thrown on the shelf until i got get motivated again.when i picked up the plane for the fist time in six weeks,last week, i noticed all the cracks covering the plane.as far as air presures go, the clear was sprayed at about 12-15 psi and the future/pledge wasn't thinned. I have also heared that johnsons have another product ,sold here in australia, called super shine, that supposed to be the same as future as well. what da ya reckon!

Johnson's Pledge One Go is indeed the Australian cousin to Future.

However, unlike the original Future, which is crystal clear, One Go is a slightly cloudy light brown colour. It works just fine as a canopy dip but not quite so well as a gloss coat.

I have only used this on one model so far, without any adverse results. I would add though that I wasn't able to get the reputed high gloss finish of Future. I might be able to put that down to my only applying a very thin coat which was thinned approximately 50/50 with methylated spirits (aka denatured alcohol).

Similar to what Ross has mentioned, I have noticed similar "spiderweb" cracking on some of my old models from the mid-late 80's which were painted in gloss Tamiya acrylics. However, these were not gloss coated, so it's impossible to tell whether the cracking was a characteristic of the paint itself, whether it might be an interaction with the clear coat in your case, or whether mine simply cracked due to age.

Just to avoid any confusion, this is the product I'm talking about.

Here on the other side of the world where "Future" is "Future," "Johnson's Pledge" is a furniture polish. Coating your model with that would guarantee adhesion problems!  Might want to double check—should be labeled as an acrylic floor "wax." According to "The Complete Future" by Matt Swan, your product is not the right one. Check out the article on his web site.

The only time I have heard of crawling (the technical term for the spiderweb or alligator cracks you are getting) with Tamiya acrylics and or Future was when overcoating Tamiya gloss colors. Tamiya gloss colors often contain a silicone gloss enhancing additive—which interferes with the adhesion of overlying coats.

If the Australian product you are using is slightly differently formulated, and contains such an additive, it will produce the same result. 

i applied 3 layers of future thinned about 1/3 future/windex onto a fully cured painted surface (tamiya acrylic thinned with 99% isopropyl alcohol) with 30 minutes between coats using a air brush at 12psi (could of been 8, i forget right now). No cracking 1 1/2 weeks later.

 

If everything you have done is the same as what has been suggested, i would get a second bottle of assuie future (re-check to make sure you are using the right brand) as the only thing i can think of  would be impurities. If you are using a air brush i would also recommend you very throughly clean it out first.