I was working on my Kawanishi George and getting it ready for paint and weathering. I shot the entire plane with Tamiya Flat Acrylic Aluminum. I then shot MM Japanese Navy Green enamel over the top areas, leaving the nm finish on the undersides. Next day I used a sharp toothpick to chip the green paint. It came out looking fantastic. About 3-4 days later, I sprayed some Future thinned just a tad with rubbing alcohol over the entire plane in preparations for decaling and washes. A couple of hours later, I noticed that the Future had clouded and hazed only around the chipped areas, but the rest of the plane was glossy and smooth.
I thought about taking some ammonia and carefully stripping the Future off on the top area, but first I took some MM flat and brushed it on a couple of hazed spots. To my surprise, the haze was almost completely gone! It actually adds tone and color variation to the paint by breaking up the solid green with slightlty faded areas. This is the first time I experienced any such reaction when using Future.

The alcohal probably reacted with the tamiya paint a little bit, as alcohal will eat away at acrilic paint. Was the haze metalic due to the alluminum paint?

The underside is Tamiya acrylic alum. but the Future did not react on it.

I have never heard of anyone thinning future before nor can I see any reason to thin it, and so I suspect that is where your problem lies. Sorry it ruined your hard work.

Sorry to hear about your situation -- I sure will also be unhappy after all that hard work.

But what's your purpose of mixing alcohol with Future? No need to thin it, as Darren mentioned. For me the only thing I add to it is a flat base if I need to control how flat or shiny the finish should be. For decal and wash work, I'll put it on as is.

I've also read some folks mix it food coloring to get various shades -- haven't tried it though. In removing future, I use a windshield glass cleaner (i.e. Windex) as the odor of pure ammonia is too much for me. Cheers

Tat and Darren

I read about using thinning Future with alcohol here:

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

I add 3-5drops to the mix and it seems to make it spray smoother. I have used it many times without any problems. I think all is not lost since the haze may disappear almost completely after spraying flat clear. I have my fingers crossed!

Jeez, am embarassed with this. Its the same link I have bookmarked long ago and got me into Future in the first place. Just goes to show that I haven't really been reading thru. Thanks for pointing this out Ernie. And its good to hear that you have things under control. Good luck. Tat

Ernie it dries when neat to a high gloss finish and so I cannot see how it would help other than possibly creating thinner layers. A high gloss finish means that it has a very smooth finish to it and thus reflects light as opposed to a matt finish which traps light. Please stick to using future neat unless someone comes up with a very good reason to thin this product, and if you feel you must thin it I would suggest using water as that is what it is designed to be mixed with.

Well, here's an update. I brushed Future on the plane this morning straight from the bottle and the haze is 99% gone. As of this evening, it has not shown any reaction. Maybe it was the alcohol, the humidity or the position of the planets?

That's good to hear Ernie. If I'm not going for a flat finish, I'd stick to using Future straight as it brushes (hand or AB) just fine. I'd always expect a reaction, be it good or bad, when mixing stuff, so I'd say the alcohol had something to do with it. Case in point is adding a flat base to Future -- if its not mixed thoroughly, you get whitish spots on the finish. Cheers -- Tat