"clear bases with floor polish?" Topic

I have read one of the uses for floor polish (Pledge with Future Shine, for example) is to coat model airplane canopies. They say it protects from scratches and makes them look very clear.

Has anyone tried this on clear bases? I have some bases from Litko which I have not used yet. I could and probably will experiment on one first, of course, but I'd like to know whether this helps anything or changes the appearance.

thanks
andy

It should work.

Tony

I've used Future to repair fogging on clear plastic canopies, and to impart a reflective "glazed" look on painted opaque canopies, but I haven't tried applying it to clear bases for anything.

Future is pretty self-smoothing, so it ought to work, but you should try it. You might need to put it on really "wet" to avoid all the dimples and swirls from the brush.

All that said, I don't understand what you're trying to accomplish. What is scratching up your clear miniature bases? Is it really less trouble to experiment with applying protective coatings than to just replace one once in a while?

- Ix

I'm not having a problem. I just read that canopies look very clear coated with this stuff. I wondered if it would make my clear bases look even clearer.

I haven't used my bases yet.

andy

Future doesn't make a perfectly clear canopy look even more clear. What it does is fix fogging and etching and other less-than-transparent areas by filling in the micro-pits and micro-scratches and hardening into a clear, glossy, transparent coating with a very smooth texture. It's pretty good at this, but not perfect. I have used it to fix canopies that got lightly fogged by glue fumes or etched by acetone, but it was only a partial remedy for some canopies that got heavily fogged by matte varnish overspray.

- Ix

I actually sprayed clear gloss paint to restore some large plastic discs. It filled in the scratches pretty well & cleared up the "fogginess" of small scratches.