Many Uses of Floor Polish on Model Cars

Ok, being the cheap SOB that i am, i am always looking outside the hobby for things with uses in it.

Originally i was going to do this write up on just the first two, Future Floor Polish and Pledge with Future Shine as they are the same thing, pledge bought out Future a while ago and kept the same formula. I have since found an even lower cost alternative, which is the LA’s Totally Awesome Mop & Shine, this can be found for a single dollar at the dollar store and in every test i have tried so far, it is identical (it looks a little milky in the bottle compared to the future but thats the only difference i have seen).

 

first off what is it?
these products are all water clear liquid acrylics

the uses are almost to many to count but i will list as many as i have tried myself here, if anyone has any other uses after my list, by all means please add them.

Painting:

when using acrylics, either hobby acrylics or craft, i use future to thin them. because of its thin consistency it can be used similar to water to thin paints for use in an airbrush. if i am using craft acrylics such as the apple barrel brand you can find in 2oz bottles at wallmart, i generally mix them 1:1 and add a squirt of windex before i shoot. the windex makes a good wetting agent and lowers the surface tension on the paint so it flows better.

the acrylic can also be sprayed directly from the bottle with an air brush, one coat adds sheen to dull parts, the more coats you build up, the more gloss will be in the finish. these products are all self leveling so it is rare to end up with orange peel unledd the previous layers of paint had it before the gloss coats. for a showroom shine, try this, shoot the body with 3 medium wet coats of the polish, allowing a day between each coat, ( i didnt say it was quick ) then for the fourth and final coat, cut the polish with 25% simple green cleaner. something in the simple green reacts with the polish. set the body aside to dry for another day in a dust free environment. when you next look at it, it will still look “wet”, its not. most times you will not even need to polish it out after this technique. if you do choose to use a polishing kit just make sure you let it dry thoroughly before you try. i normally go overnight if i am using my food dehydrator drying oven or a few days if i am just air drying it. it will polish out just like any other clearcoat and is very durable.

Detailing:
the polish can also be used for detailing items, flow some into the bezels of your dash gauges and let dry, it will give the illusion of a glass lense over the gauge face. it is also useful for attaching photo etched items to both the interior and exterior of the vehicle, scripts can be attached with it and once it is dry it is nothing short of invisible, headlight lenses or tail light lenses can be “glued in with it.
i take small bottles, fill them 3/4 full of future and then tint them with food coloring or acrylic paint, this is great for a candy effect or colored anodizing over chrome. flow some tinted red over chrome tail lights for a see through instant light. use blue and red tinted polish on fuel line fittings.

the polish is also an excellent adhesive for flocking, paint your interior your base color of choice and then use a brush to flow the future anywhere you want your flock to be, apply your flocking and let dry. once dry you can flip the interior and tap off any excess.

ever have a decal that just doesnt want to stick? a bit of future can act as an adhesive and get them to stay were they are supposed to.

windows:

when you open a kit, wipe down the kit glass so its spotless and then dip it in a small bowl of the polish, tap it on a piece of paper towel to remove excess and set it aside to dry, the polish will make the glass look thinner ( dont ask how cause i dunno) it will also protect against finger prints.
you can also use it to repair damaged glass, i will not get into the detail of the process as alex drake / mastermodeler has already done so on his site:
http://public.fotki.com/mastermodeler/tutorials/1/clearing-damaged-glass/
i cant say it any better than he has so go take a look.

you can use future as a small seam filler, combine it with either baking soda or talcum powder until it is about as thick as a pancake batter, use a toothpick to apply to the gap. it dries farily quickly to a hard sandable finish.

well for now i am tapped on my uses. if i remember any more i will throw them up here for all to try.
cya soon

Paint Stripping 101

i see this question asked a minimum of 3 times a week in various forums and groups i am on.
so instead of repeating myself over and over again i figure its a good idea to make a post about it.

first off, why would we need to strip parts?
[list]restoring an already built kit
bad paint job that needs to be redone
trade or purchase of a started kit in a color you dont like
plan for a laquer paint job but body already painted with enamel ( never paint lacquer over enamel as the paint will react and craze, you can however paint enamel over lacquer )
chrome needs to be removed for realistic finishing[/list]

it is always better to start with bare plastic when beginning to finish a kit. you wont end up with the buildup of paint which might make you lose finer details.

let me start by making a personal statement here, this is my own opinion and i have reasons behind it.

do not use easy off oven cleaner or brake fluid to strip your plastic kits.
easy off oven cleaner is made to break down baked on carbon inside of an oven, it is highly caustic, can leave chemical burns on your skin, the fumes are deadly if concentrated and at the end of the day, its more expensive than any of the other options i will give you.
brake fluid is glycol based, this can cause a chemical reaction in some styrene making it brittle, also it can be hard to remove all of the residue from brake fluid as it is “sticky” and would need to be scrubbed heavily with warm soapy water and flushed thoroughly before you could even think of applying paint.

 

now that you know why i dont like those 2 compounds for stripping plastic, lets get on to the list of things i have had success with.

L.A.’s Totally Awesome cleaner ( found at the dollar store )

Westleys Bleach White ( found at auto supply stores )

Castrols Super Clean

Purple Power

Pine Sol

91% Rubbing Alcohol

all of the above mentioned strippers work well with STYRENE, if i am stripping resin, the only one i use is the westleys bleach white, i have not experimented with the others on resin so if you do, do it at your own risk.

now for my method of stripping that works well for me.

all these strippers work well at room temperature, but, they work even better if warmed up a bit.

for room temp stripping, simply fill a shallow tupperware bowl(dip tank), big enough to fit your parts to be stripped in, with your stripper of choice and then submerge your kit in it. give it 24 hours and check your progress. if the cleaning solution is fresh, there is a good chance you will be able pull your parts out at this time, give then a good wash with some soap and water and be ready for finishing. there are occasions where you will want to give then a scrub with a toothbrush in the stubborn areas and re submerge them for a few more hours to get the remaining bits off.

now if you want to strip things quicker and plan on doing a fair bit of stripping in your modeling routine then you will want to add a bit of heat. maybe heat isnt the right term here as it is more “warmth” you are looking for.
how do you get the stripper warm?
the quick and easy way is to get a container slightly larger then your “dip tank”
prepare your parts as normal and submerge in your stripper of choice.
then set your dip tank in the other container and fill with hot water ( depending on the capacity of your dip tank you may be able to add boiling water to the holding tank. your target temp in the dip tank should be between 115 and 125 degrees. anything hotter and you run the risk of melting or warping the parts.

looking for a more permanent solution?
hit your local thrift store or garage sales and find a large crock pot
to test the temp you fill it with water and set the crock pot onto its “warm” setting. after 30 mins check the temperature of the water. ( always leave the lid off a crock pot if you are stripping, even the smallest ones will get too hot if the lid is left on )
if the water is too hot, there are 2 ways to regulate this. first is to find something to use as a spacer under the “pot” to hold it up off the heating coil a bit. i have had good luck using a couple shallow sockets from my tool set placed in strategic places. this add’s an air gap between coil and pot and keeps the temp lower. an alternative to this technique is to use a disposable foil loaf pan which you can get cheap enough at any shopping center or dollar store. squish the foil to the rough shape of the interior of the pot and fill with your test water, let it set for 30 mins and see what the temp is. should come in pretty close to the target temps.

the simple addition of this heat makes any of the above mentioned strippers work 10x better and faster. i have had 20 year old paint fall off of kits after as little as an hour using this method.

 

now for the last little tidbit i can offer, stripping chrome..
you dont need anything fancy or extravagant to strip chrome, simple unscented household bleach works wonderfully well.
the fresher the bleach the better , this doesnt mean going by the sell by date, this means a freshly opened bottle. i buy the smallest bottles i can find when it comes to bleach. after opening the bottle, the bleach becomes stale very quickly, sometimes within a week or two. the same bottle that stripped chrome in 5 minutes when it was just opened, can take a week to strip a small part after a month. its not worth the wait. keep fresh bleach on hand as often as you can.

follow up all stripping of paint with a good wash in warm soapy water, dish washing detergent works quite well for this.
let the parts dry and then prep for paint as normal.

i hope this helps a few people find their way to restoring some old builds.

if anyone uses anything different with any success, let us know here