Help please……

Future virgin hits problem.
After applying Future as carefully as possible, following to the letter, the tried and tested methods described on site, it seems that it has …er….sort of eaten the edges of the last colour applied to the scheme. I checked and made sure the surfaces of the camo scheme were nice and evenly smooth before I started. It feels mighty smooth under a finger tip but when closely inspected it looks like it has a slight step to the paint patches.
I applied the future with a broad flat brush to the Bv 155. Picture of pre-future in Pig Pile progress thread.
All paint were mixes of Humbrol matt enamels.
The method of painting the camo was white coat, add blutac blobs, grey coat, add more blutac blobs and finally the last coat grey-blue.
I don’t think it’s the last paint applied as the undersides are the same colour and no future problem there.
I have so far applied 2 coats ready for decals and another 2 coats.

I can’t show a pic, as I’m home for the weekend and have no digi-cam with me.

I would be most grateful if anyone has any ideas or can tell me how you can get future off….wet and dry?
Or can dried future be sanded with wet and dry?…as that might help….????

Thanks in advance
Cheers
Peter

Ho-kay, Flitz, since none of the pros are stepping forward, I'll take a crack at this one.
1. I wouldn't recommend wet sanding on Future- it's a polymer and has a tendency to 'roll' off in tiny beads, rather than sanding cleanly (learned this one stripping years of accumulated layers from the former stove location in redesigned kitchen...)
2. I work almost exclusively with acrylics, and in over 20 yrs. this hasn't failed me- Ammonia.
you may want to thin it, as it stinks to high heaven and may attack other types of paints. I know from experience that it will take off a white-glued canopy .
Test it in an inconspicuous area first, of course. Dip a soft cotton cloth(I use a pre washed nappy- unused of course !) into the ammonia(forgot to mention- Windex W/ammonia also works and is already thinned out), wring out the excess, and very lighly buff the model until all traces of sheen are gone. Then wash the model in mild detergent & warm water to remove any traces of Ammonia before recoating. Clear as mud?
3. As to how this occured? Not certain but I have a theory - Finger oils. When applying Open polymer masking compounds(Blu-tac etc.) I've noticed that most of us have a tendency to roll it between our hands to soften it a bit. The polymer won't absorb the oils picked up in this process, and they get transferred to the surface of your model. As the applied Future begins to cure, it offgasses and heats slightly, turning these oils viscuous and allowing the Future under the slightly raised edge of your otherwise excellent paint job.
There. Overly complicated answer to reatively simple question. :-) In simpler terms- Fingers greasy, Paint no sticky! :-)
So, here I sit, sweating buckets until someone agrees or Flitzer takes out a contract on me with the Sudanese Mafia for ruining his Bv 155

LOGANSDAD has got it right for stripping future, although I've never done it. He has also probably nailed the reason for the problem, although I have never had a problem with Future after masking with Blue-Tack. If the Future has "eaten" the edges of the
last colour applied, but none of the others, it's possible that this colour wasn't quite dry?
Bv 155 looks pretty cool, by the way, Peter.
Mal

Thanks Bob,
Great answer. Very understandable. Excellent.

As I mentioned the one colour underside is unaffected. The three colour topside is.
After removing the blutac I did wash the plane in a little liquid dish soap and loads of tepid water. But maybe a little finger oil lingered in a crevice or two.
I use enamels because they are no problem in this climate here in Saudi whereas acrylics dry almost mid air no matter how diluted.
This is the first time I’ve used future. I normally use varnish coats before and after decals.

Anyway I’ll give it a whirl….nothing tried, nothing gained.

The Luft 46 profiles are all printed out and spiral bound into a lttle booklet, Its in my suitcase so I won’t forget it. I’ll post it on arrival in UK.

And thanks Mal. The paint was dry, in fact I did the underside last and this has welcomed the future with open arms.

Cheers and many thanks.
Peter

:-)

WOW! Validation from both Flitzer and Holdfast in the same day! I'd better quit while I'm ahead, I might start to think I know something! :-)
Thanks, guys, it's always good to feel useful even in small ways. And Peter (If I may call you that...), I haven't forgotten about the profiles. Looking forward to it like a kid at Christmas. Drooling, ya might even say. They've given me even more incentive to scratch one of the unavailable airframes listed on Luft '46. If it comes out well enough, I might even consider resicasting it for limited release- do you think there might be an interest in say, a Bv 212 or 215? Oops getting a bit so I'll get back to work now. Glad to be of service! Cheers (should be a Guinness icon )

p.s.- is the "what the smeg" in your sig box a ref to one of the damn funniest & creative BBC scifi shows ever made?

Well…..drastic action report on the future saga.

After pondering the good advise I decided to take drastic action. No point in being half hearted.
Against what some might say, a sensible approach, I decided to take a strip of fine wet and dry to the poor Bv 155 and teach that naughty future a lesson…lol. The resoning being, if I strip it completely it’ll need more work than I’ve got time if I’ve any chance at all of completing it in time for the pig pile bash….bash as it turns out is the right word.
I figured if wet and dry didn’t work, I can always….yes, you guessed it…strip it. So while there was a chance, albeit a slim one, I decided to try the sanding first.
Bob you were right the future did roll up into micro balls, but with a little more rubbing and washing they disappeared and luckily the balling effect happened on larger flat areas so it was not too much a problem. I used a fair amount of Fairy liquid and continually rinsed the plane in water.
I think I’ve saved it. The surfaces are now very smooth and…er….let’s say blended. In some areas the mottle effect has been enhanced and overall I’m pleased…but better read relieved. Sure, there’s a pile more touch up and paint rescue work to do, but far less than re-doing the whole kitandkaboodle.
I do not recommend this method as I think I’m simply extremely lucky in getting away with it. But at least this time the gamble was worth the risk.
I’ll take the plane to work tomorrow and do a digicam shot and post it.

Bob. It would be great if you started doing limited edition kits….Merlin has in the past, so if you need any advise I’m sure he’d be happy to give you the lowdown.
There's a few new profiles and plenty of pushers in the booklet.

And Peter’s fine…I’ve been called a lot worse…lol.

And yes smeg is Red Dwarfese. I was hooked from the first episode and still am….tee shirts the lot.

Thanks again and cheers
Peter
:-)

Asa promised..
These are pics of the Bv 155 after the wet and dry last resort to removing the future....lucky!
Please forgive the crappy pics as the company digicam isn't A1.





Most of the powder work and blending has survived resonably well.

Cheers
Peter
:-)

Now I'm in a position to try and reapply the future, I wondered if anyone has futured over a coat of matt varnish and if there were problems?

Cheers
Peter

I have done it.
I first gave the old Bv a light coat of Humbrol matt varnish then two coats of future according to Mal's great feature...and I am no longer a future virgin.
It's smooth and shiney in all the right places.
What a relief after the first weird reaction.

Now its ready for decals.
How long should I leave it before the future is water safe?
Cheers
Peter