'Klear' As A Varnish

[fishplanebeer]

A number of builds I've perused have used Klear as the base varnish before applying decals so thought I might give it a go as I still a 90% full bottle of the original stuff which I only ever use for canopy dipping.

 

My questions are, what would you thin it with and more importantly what would you use to clean the airbrush with afterwards as I know from experience that it is not easy to remove unless you use an ammonia based liquid such as Windex? The last thing I want to do is end up with a clogged airbrush and have to invest in a replacement nozzle.

 

Regards

Colin.

[bentwaters81tfw]

Just use a soft flat brush. It's self levelling. Not too heavy a coat or you will get bubbles, but these will go. Clean it in water afterwards. It's that simple.

[Mark Harmsworth]

It is easy to apply with a brush - which avoids all that airbrush cleaning effort. Use a wide flat bush. Any pooling can be wicked up with a bit of kitchen towel. The brush can be cleaned with Windowlene (the clear blue stuff which may be the same as Windex) and then under a tap. Works a treat.

Mark

[Des]

As with the other comments a soft brush does the trick.

 

Always find it best to decant a small amount of the KLEAR into another container as a little really does go a long way , take care to draw the surplus off the brush onto the edge of whatever you have decanted it into and apply slowly and smoothly.

 

As well as providing a high gloss for decaling with a bit of trial and error testing a mix of Klear and Tamiya X-21 Flat Base can provide anything from a just off-gloss through satin to matt finish that applies just as easily and dries just as quickly for a finishing coat.

[ckw]

Don't disagree with any of the above, but I do airbrush it thinned 50/50 with IPA and the cleaned with the cellulose thinner I use for all cleaning,

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[RobL]

I've used Klear/Future on several builds.  I have 2 bottle of the current US formulation, one open and slightly used, one never opened.  However I was finding that airbrushing it on caused it to remain tacky for far too long (weeks in one example that I chucked before I found out when/if the Klear had actually dried) - never had that problem with the bottle of old original formula that I started out with.  Also had problems with brushing it on, it seemed to fill panel lines so a clay wash wouldn't work.

 

So I gave up on it and went back to using Tamiya clears for everything but canopies.  YMMV.

 

With regards to cleaning - just use water, but clean immediately so that you don't give the Klear/Future time to dry.

Edited April 14, 2021 by RobL

[G.E.SAUNDERS]

                   hi All ,

 

                               does KLEER/FUTURE have a Shelf Life ?

                              Provided it's keeped stored in a cool place out of the Sunlight .

 

                                                                                            cheery "Modellin' " mumbas !

 

                                                                                                                   Geoff

[RobL]

First bottle I used was well over 15yrs old and worked fine.  Dunno about the current stuff but I've had mine for over 2 years now.

Edited April 14, 2021 by RobL

[ckw]

9 hours ago, RobL said:

I have 2 bottle of the current US formulation, one open and slightly used, one never opened.

I think Johnson's changed the Klear formulation making it unsuitable for our uses, but then re-released the original formulation under another name. In the UK the correct stuff is "Pledge Revive-it", which dries within 10 - 15 minutes (though I tend to let it harden for a bit longer)

 

9 hours ago, RobL said:

Also had problems with brushing it on, it seemed to fill panel lines so a clay wash wouldn't work.

Yes this is a risk as it has a tendancy to pool if applied too heavily. Thinning with IPA can help avoid this, but I prefer airbrushing to ensure the thinnest possible coat.

 

I think many would say you should use a varnish designed for the purpose anyway. But in my experience, Klear seems tougher and less susceptible to finger marks than some varnishes I've tried. It is also much, much cheaper than any modelling varnish I know of!

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[Troy Smith]

1 hour ago, ckw said:

Klear seems tougher and less susceptible to finger marks than some varnishes I've tried.

because it's meant for floors....  

FWIW, the consensus is that Lakeland Quick Shine is the same stuff as Kleer.    

https://www.lakeland.co.uk/20286/Quick-Shine-Floor-Finish-800ml

 

 

1 hour ago, ckw said:

It is also much, much cheaper than any modelling varnish I know of!

Anything sold in teeny little pots tends to be expensive...    

[RobL]

On 14/04/2021 at 10:24, ckw said:

I think Johnson's changed the Klear formulation making it unsuitable for our uses, but then re-released the original formulation under another name. In the UK the correct stuff is "Pledge Revive-it", which dries within 10 - 15 minutes (though I tend to let it harden for a bit longer)

 

 

Well, this is how I understand what happened, there was quite a lot of discussion about it on a private members site I was a member of...

 

Between the time my mother bought a bottle back in, probably around the turn of the century, or just after, maybe even in the late 90s (yeah the bottle I "borrowed" when I started modelling again in 2014ish was that old), and about 2016, they changed the UK formula to a milky looking liquid, possibly due to EU laws about kids drinking clear stuff.  Back in 2017ish people on that forum came across someone on Amazon and Ebay selling the US version on import, so we all started buying that.

 

I bought a bottle of the milky looking UK version around 2016 time, and it kind of worked, but it required several more coats than the usual "one and done" and it was the only product I've used (so far) that has "orange peeled" on me!

 

It got rebranded in the UK, and went back to being clear sometime around 2018/2019 as I understand it, but it may have been rebranded in the UK at least once more since then.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by RobL