omega333 Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Can anyone help me with a thinning ratio for Future and Windex assuming the Windex available here in the uk has the correct ammonia solution, if not is household ammonia at 5% solution suitable and what would be the thinning ratio for that? It is to be used for a gloss finishing coat on top of acrylic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreadeddrew Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Sorry Omega,I don't have the answer,but I'll be keeping an eye on this as I'd like to know too. Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Do you need to thin them, my Future is thin enough as is and I would have thought the Windex would be also. Not sure if the UK Windex (or alternative) has ammonia in it, and sorry don't have the ratio for the ammonia solution. But I'm sure someone will be along shortly with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andygif290368 Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 (edited) if I was going to thin Future, I'd just use plain old water. If you think about it if your polishing the floor with it, it's a couple of capfuls in a bucket of water and applied with a mop.... Ammonia is just going to make the process stinky and potentially burn your hands and irritate your lungs, or peel the underlying paint off. Edited May 23, 2016 by andygif290368 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveCromie Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Hi Omega For Klear/Future I find it sprays easily enough without thinning through my old generic Chinese siphon feed airbrush so long as I pass some Windex (with Ammonia) through it immediately afterwards to stop it gumming things up. If I wanted to run it through my H&S Evolution (0.2mm needle/nozzle) I would thin it with water but never having felt the need to do this I have no idea what ratio I would use. As for Windex, can you tell me what you need to thin it for? I can't think of an application that would require it to be thinned - but I do lack imagination! DC PS Depending on where you shop, you can buy Windex with Ammonia but a lot of larger retailers appear to have dropped it instead of the more pleasant smelling (but utterly useless for cleaning Klear/Future out of your airbrush!) variety. You might have more luck getting the ammonia version in DIY stores rather than supermarkets. DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omega333 Posted May 21, 2016 Author Share Posted May 21, 2016 I recalled reading about thinning future, however, the author may have only found it neccessary because of needle/nozzle size combo, If Windex is only used for cleaning after using Future then I may have missunderstood what was going on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenshirt Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 I do not thin and I spray it through my H&S .20 nozzle. Ammonia breaks down the acrylic resin binder in Klear/Future, so is not a very good thinner, but makes a great cleaner for your airbrush. Just flush, do NOT let the ammonia sit/soak as it will attack the chrome plating. I actually use Klear/Future to thin my Vallejo and Humbrol acrylics. I mix 50/50 with paint, then add a drop or two of Windsor&Newton retarder to the dropper bottle (20ml, just like the Vallejo bottles) to have pre-mixed airbrush ready paint handy. If I need to thin more, I use water a drop at a time in my brush cup for the specific job. Also, UK Windex does not have ammonia in it. Works good as a flow improver if you add a drop, but not otherwise useful. Here in US Windex does contain ammonia and I use it to flush my airbrush to clean it. Tim 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viscount806x Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 I'd concur with those above who suggest that it sprays from the bottle. I use a cheapie single action 'airbrush' from E Bay for doing it and it works fine. Brushing also works well. Use water to clean out the 'brush but do it straightaway or you will have to go down the ammonia route with the awful fumes that go with that. I note that a further suggestion to use water also features above. I'd be wary of that one. Go just that bit too far and it loses it's surface tension and 'pools' into droplets on the model. I know this because someone gave me as bottle once which unbeknown to me, someone had watered down and it was useless. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoenixII Posted May 21, 2016 Share Posted May 21, 2016 Only use for ammonia is to strip Klear/Future. It's floor POLISH, used for what was intended, it has to be stripped back periodically, as 'foot traffic' is 'localised', look at the bar floor! The areas that get little wear tend to pick up a lot of dirt, so 'strip back' becomes necessary. N.B. Mechanical floor polishers / striping machines use three types of disc, course, medium and fine, the fine disc has more cutting ability than 80 grit sandpaper! (Tip, malt vinegar is an alternate stripper for acrylic, BUT it STINKS!!) Paul (Rep selling floor products 20+ years) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omega333 Posted May 22, 2016 Author Share Posted May 22, 2016 Hi everyone - thanks very much for your contributions you have all been vey helpful Hunted down the source of my info to thin Future clear with Windex, it was within a 'YouTube' tutorial on the use of 'Tamiya' 'panel line accent colour'. A thinning ratio of 60 future:40 Windex is recommended, but I think I will try without thinning first and see how I get on - what sort of pressure do you use with Future? Thanks Phoenix I'll remember to get in touch for some lengthy (free?) demonstrations when the little lady finds out I have a load of floor polish... and enough spare time on my hands to be building models. Stu.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenshirt Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 - what sort of pressure do you use with Future? 15-20 psi. My spray booth is in a controlled temperature humidity area that stays ~72 *F and ~50% RH. Tim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Belbin Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 . . . it loses it's surface tension and 'pools' into droplets on the model. I know this because someone gave me as bottle once which unbeknown to me, someone had watered down and it was useless. That's interesting about the pooling. I sprayed a model once and got exactly that so I've never bothered to spray it since - perhaps my bottle was contaminated. I gave a member here some a while ago - I wonder if that was you and that we both suffered from the same contaminated bottle - I've never added water . . . Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Laidlaw Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 I had problems with thinned Future pooling - I was brushing it on as I can't get on with spraying it - so I stopped using it. However, when trying out Roy Sutherland's wash recipe, I used distilled water instead of tap water, and it worked like a dream. Worth bearing in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoenixII Posted May 23, 2016 Share Posted May 23, 2016 Thanks Phoenix I'll remember to get in touch for some lengthy (free?) demonstrations when the little lady finds out I have a load of floor polish... and enough spare time on my hands to be building models. Stu.. Ah ha, you just want a laugh, you've SEEN me trying to control one of those machines of the devil! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky Pilot Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 I use Klear thinned 50:50 with tap water, the H & S airbrush set at 15 psi and the jet adjusted for a very fine spray. A couple of light coats gives a good mattish finish which takes decals well. After a final fixing coat(s) I have a finished surface without any evidence of a sheen. Works well on all of the acrylics that I have tried - LifeColor, Gunze, Vallejo, Tamiya etc. I clean the A/B with a 10% Ammonia mix. As for over-the-pond Windex, her in't UK we have Windowlene which, I am informed by the manufacturers, does not contain Ammonia . HTH John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sky Pilot Posted May 31, 2016 Share Posted May 31, 2016 Ah ha, you just want a laugh, you've SEEN me trying to control one of those machines of the devil! "machines of the devil" - d'you mean the wife ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoenixII Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 BRAVE MAN!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich G Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 When I read the title of this thread I thought it was going to be about the future of thinning products! Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andygif290368 Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 on a surrealist note, dont thin the future too far or you'll cause a rent in the fabric of the universe... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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