Tutorial- Using Future on clear parts.

robiwon · Post by **robiwon** » Sun Sep 16, 2012 12:06 pm

Here is a step by step tutorial on how to use Future or Pledge with Future Shine, on a clear plastic part. In the first pic you will see the materials needed to dip a part in Future. You will need the clear part, tweezers, a container to hold you Future, a paper towel, some sort of rack, and a box to put the part in to dry. Pictures are clickable.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... t16012.jpg

First step is to hold the clear part with your tweezers. Here I am holding the window frame of the side window from my Fujimi Spinner kit. The Future will cover the section of frame after I set the part down as Future will level itself out. Even if it didn't, the frame will be painted anyway.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... t16013.jpg

Lift the part out slowly. After dipping the part in Future, hold the part at an angle so a corner is pointing down. You want as much excess Future to run off the part. Let this drip back into your container. If you have any bubbles on the part that didn't pop or run off, re-dip the part.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... t16014.jpg

There will likely still be some excess that will not drip off. This is where your papertowel comes in. Hold the bottom corner of the part and just touch it to the papertowel. The papertowel will wick away the last drop or so of Future.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... t16015.jpg

I made a small plastic rack out of plastic strip and half round to set my parts on after dipping. You dont want to set the part on something with a lot of surface contact between the parts or they will get stuck together. Yes, Future can be used as a glue. But that is another thread that I will post later.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... t16016.jpg

Here the rack and part have been placed in a box. You want to leave this covered until the Future dries so no dust or other particles land on the part. I typically leave the parts in a box for 24 hours to make sure the Future has cured completely.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... t16017.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... t16018.jpg

In 24 hours, I'll post a pic of the result, along with a comparison of the other window that has not been dipped yet.

Keep an eye out for another exciting installment on how to use Future on your workbench! Please comment or add any tips/tricks you may have on using Future!

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 11:45 am

I use a similar method for canopies. Pulling the canopy out of the Future dip I keep it oriented so the excess Future runs to a low point and carefully blot it off with a paper coffee filter or two. Coffee filters are less absorbent than paper towels but they have less lint. I place the part on a new coffee filter in a plastic box. I can never clean all the dust off of cardboard.

So Future experts, how do I coat small rectangular windows (5mm x 4mm and 5mm x 13mm) cut from thin sheet plastic?

Future wicked under them when I taped them down and airbrushed them.

Dipping then in Future and holding them in tweezers as they dried produced lumps where the tweezers touched the edges. Some of the windows had a wavy finish.

Holding the parts in tweezers and brushing the Future on to one side at a time produced the best results so far but there are still small lumps where the future touches the edges.

Thanks,

Mike

robiwon · Post by **robiwon** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:06 pm

Thanks for posting Wug. Have you tried dipping the larger sheet first and then cutting the windows out?

robiwon · Post by **robiwon** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 7:32 pm

O.K. Here are the pics of the dipped window and an undipped window. The dipped window is on the right. Kinda hard to tell in the pic but the window on the left has a slight "milky" look when compared to the window on the right.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... 7th012.jpg

Here is another angle. Dipped window is on the bottom.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/ ... 7th013.jpg

In person there is a noticeable difference between the two. The dipped window is much smoother on the surface and looks more like glass than plastic.

irishtrek · Post by **irishtrek** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:21 pm

So, any suggestions on how to fix a cracked canopy??? I got an unbuilt YF-23 from Testors that was in storage for a few years and when I got it out and went to build it I discovered the canopy was cracked.
A couple of years ago I airbrushed some acrilyc paint onto a model and it came up when I removed the masking tape so I then airbrushed some future onto the model and tried masking tape and the future stuck so it can also be used as a primer!!!

robiwon · Post by **robiwon** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:35 am

Irishtrek, you can try dipping it in Future. Sadly though, while Future may help diminish the appearence of the crack it will probably still be visible.

Wug · Post by **Wug** » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:30 pm

Thanks robiwon,

I thought about cutting the windows form a larger sheet that was already coated with Future but I'm such a clumsy modeler the windows would need to be polished out again before I finished.

For people who haven't seen it yet, here's Swanny Models Complete Future.

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

From his excellent tip page:

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

Mike