MyAlbum

John E
Nice, clean build, John. Looks like your experimentation went well. What problems did you have with Future (Pledge)?

John Novak
The Vallejo primer and Tamiya acrylics went on so smooth and even, I thought a layer of Future would be smooth and glossy. It was more like a micro-orange-peel texture. I had even lightly rubbed the flat acrylic finish with 0000 steel wool to make it smoother, but the Future seemed to amplify the tiny roughness of the flat finish rather than smoothing it. Then I sprayed it a bit thicker, but it started to drip down the sides, so I stopped trying for perfect smoothness. I figured it was glossy enough (though bumpy) for decals, so I applied them and then lightly brushed a coat of Future (to try brushing rather than airbrushing). After 2 light brushed-on coats it started to look better, plus the decals had fully blended in. After a couple rounds of touch-ups and oil wash attempts, 2-3 light coats of Vallejo satin varnish evened it all out and gave it just the right sheen. In the end, I am very happy with the the result based on what my objective was. But, the layers of Future were meant as practice for a high-gloss finish like a Ferrari or Tamiya's new 300SL, and I doubt I would have been able to achieve the level of smoothness that I've seen at local IPMS chapters/contests. I either need to improve my Future skills or find a better gloss clear. I did dip the canopy in Future, which I had never done, and, well, WOW.

Ulf Petersen
Very nice!👍

Ekki
Very well done.

Hanno Kleinecke
Very nice and clean work John ! Maybe you'd like to try Alclad's Clear Kote Gloss, the best stuff I worked with so far. I had the same issues with Future in some cases, sometimes it helped sweeping the surfaces with acrylic thinner from Lifecolor first .

John E
I've had problems with Future in the past. Now, I don't thin it and I spray on light coats until I get a very smooth gloss. It seems to work pretty well. In the past, I either had runs or or that orange peeling you are describing. I've never tried to get that super high finish used on cars though. I think you have to spray a lot of light coats and then sand it with varying grades of very fine sandpaper. Other guys on here know more about that than I do. And yeah, the canopy really pops after a coat of Future, huh? 🙂

Bulldog Scale Models
John great work, I have a one question the Vallejo primer when you Airbrushed it what settings you use in your Compressor and What Airbrush you use i used Vallejo primer some time ago but the result was not so great.

John Novak
I wish I would have made a note of the psi... normally it would've been 15-20, but I do think I turned it up to 25 or so based on a few reviews I had read. Idea: keep a notepad near airbrush to record settings, thinner ratios, paint mix ratios, and success reports. I use a Paasche VL double-action siphon-feed airbrush that I've had for about 25 years but only used a few times, ever. I had been having some trouble with it, but after an extremely thorough cleaning it worked like a champ. I think I even used the smallest needle -- I remember wanting to thin it but not settling on the right thinner to use, and just trying it straight from the bottle. I used the 73.601 Acrylic-Polyurethane Surface Primer in Grey. Result was a smooth, thin layer that adhered well and seemed to accentuate rather than diminish detail. It's more sandable than I thought, but I didn't have to sand much so I can't fully endorse its sandability.

Soeren R.
Great job!