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Use of future and Tamiya panel line accent
Matty-man
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Posted: Friday, April 24, 2020 - 11:39 PM UTC
Hi all,

Super long-time lurker here. Back into modeling after a 30-year hiatus and learning a lot from the site.

I have about 12 completed models, all following the same process:
Spray a coat of Tamiya flat black
Wait 24 h
Spray coats of Tamiya flat colors
Wait 24 h between colors
Brush on Future (Pledge, newest incarnation)
Wait 24 h
Apply decals
Wait 24 h
Brush on Future
Wait 24 h
Apply Tamiya panel line accent
Wait 24 h
Wipe off excess with paper towel or q-tip dipped in tamiya X-20 thinner (or maybe Testor's enamel thinner. I took a year off due to work and might have forgotten this specific reagent)
I have been quite happy with the results, and sometimes my models look a little bit like I see posted here.
However, after a year hiatus everything is FUBAR. Everything goes well until I go to wipe off the excess panel line accent. Now the stuff seems to have soaked into the future such that it does not wipe off easily leaving nice dark panel lines. Instead the thinner relatively quickly eats through the panel line accent, the future, the paint, and down to the plastic. The whole future/paint stuff becomes "sticky" and wipes off. Thus ruining everything.
This is quite disheartening because I was really enjoying getting into this again and watching my models improve with each one. Now I have three sitting on my bench in various states of awfulness and two more that I am afraid to continue with. If anyone has any idea what I might suddenly be doing wrong, I am all ears :-)
RobinNilsson
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Posted: Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 12:00 AM UTC
Did you get new bottles of any of the products you use?
Basic procedure when trouble shooting something that used to work before:
Did I replace anything?

Are you sure about which thinner/solvent you used for wiping off the excessive panel line accent?

/ Robin
Matty-man
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Posted: Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 12:11 AM UTC
My Pledge was a bit yellowish so thought maybe that was the problem. I saw a recent post here about the new incarnation of Future (Pledge) recently so went out and bought a new bottle, and it did the same thing. Everything else is the same as the last time I used it last year. I am assuming I used Tamiya X-20 thinner because that is what it says to use on the bottle of panel line accent.

What seems to strangest to me is that the Pledge does not seem to lay down a nice glossy coat. It seems sort of "grainy" and "flat" and there's not much capillary action. And, as I mentioned, the panel accent line stuff almost seems to "soak in" to the future and not sit on top of it as another layer like I am assuming it should. I will continue to play with this on my two current projects that are now paint donkeys :-(


Hoppas att allt går bra med ni med den virusen i sverige!
barkingdigger
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ARMORAMA
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Posted: Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 12:23 AM UTC
Like Robin said, have you replaced anything? Future has been through a number of name and formula changes over the years, without any consultation with the modelling fraternity! Take a scrap model, coat with Future, and then the Tamiya stuff to see if it's one of those two. We already know the Tamiya enamel will eat the acrylic paint if left unprotected, so the Future coat is there to act as a barrier, which it seems to have failed at.

If the Future is the problem you will need to find another gloss coat. I use Micro Gloss a lot and it is good, but those tiny bottles get expensive. Whatever you move to, test it out first!

[EDIT - just saw your latest post. It's the Future that has let you down for sure. Sorry! And did you say X20? That's the lacquer thinner, which is hotter than X20A...]
RobinNilsson
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Posted: Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 12:26 AM UTC
Maybe consider swapping out the panel line accent for something based on oil paint (artists type)?



Covid-19: The healthcare system seems to be coping.
We are trying to figure out which factors to use to identify risk groups and why parts of the population seems to get hit harder. In some suburbs where people live too crowded the councils are offering evacuation accomodation to get the elderly away from those who go to work and could bring the virus back home.
We don't have enough test coverage to say anything about how widespread the virus is. There is presumably lots of people who have none or very light symptoms without being visible in the statistics but we don't have any percentages yet.
People are following the advice about working at home if possible, they don't go to restaurants or cinemas, travelling has reduced a lot. Shopping centres are half empty since the customers stay at home. The restaurants have been told to make sure that there is distance between guests. The national train company has tweked the seat booking system to make sure that there is an empty seat next to every booked seat. Those travelling together who want to sit next to each other (a couple who sleep together for instance) need to contact the booking office to override the spreader-function.
There is very little in the way of hard and enforced rules, people act sensibly anyway. There is no "lockdown", we just behave sensibly. Our politicians follwo the advise they get from experts. The biggest concern, aside from the covid-19, is the unemployment when businesses shut down because of no customers.
The skies above my suburb have gone quiet since commercial flights have almost all been cancelled (no passengers).
RobinNilsson
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Posted: Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 12:27 AM UTC
as time goes by more and more of us are having issues with the Future ....
Matty-man
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Posted: Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 01:10 AM UTC
I have seen a few posts regarding this, http://armorama.com/forums/284695

And someone posted a photo of the new Pledge that was said to be the same as the old Future. It's the yellow/brown label that says "Pledge revive it". Don't know how to search the forums to find the pictures that were posted.

I will experiment :-)
Matty-man
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Posted: Saturday, April 25, 2020 - 01:43 AM UTC
OK! So I was using X-20A, but the panel line accent says to use X-20. So I used some Testor's enamel thinner and it works MUCH better now. I can remove the excess panel line accent without dissolving the Future or other underlying layers.

User error strikes again :-)
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