If you're reading this, there is a strong chance you're into scale modelling and heard about the magical fluid called "Future Floor Shine", a.k.a. "Pledge with Future Shine". I won't go into details, many have covered the subject before me, suffice to say that this miracle product is essentially an acrylic gloss varnish, with a distinct artificial apple scent, that has many applications in the hobby: gloss coat, restore the shine on clear parts, glue small photoeteched elements, and so forth....
Now if you've tried to find a bottle of the miracle stuff, you will have realized that it's been discontinued for a while, and that many modellers claim that the manufacturer just rebranded the stuff and gave it a slightly different formula. The new name is Johnson "Klear" (or "Klir" in French speaking countries) and it (allegedly) works the exact same wonders.
Now is that true? Let's find out.
I conducted a small experiment, testing 4 different products, namely:
- "Pledge with future shine", which is exactly the same as the former "Future Floor Polish". (I used to have a bottle of the "original" Future, which I bought back in 1995 - yes, I'm that old- and got the "pledge" one shortly before my "future" supply ran out. There was not the slightest difference between the 2)
- "Johnson Klir", claimed to perform exactly the same by many french-speaking modellers
- "Johnson Sols Plus", which some claim is a rebranding of Johnson Klir.
- "Pial", which is some sort of floor polish sold in Switzerland. Forget about this one, it has absolutely no modelling use.
As you can see, all products have a milky aspect, except "Pledge". Both "Klir" and "Sols plus" look and smell virtually the same, while "Pledge" retains that "artificial apple" scent that whoever used Future once will recall. As for "Pial", well, forget about it, and just use it as a floor polish.
First test conducted was to scratch pièces of clear styrene with 2000 grade sandpaper....
... and give them a dip:
So here it goes: as far as the "dipping" treatment is concerned, "Pledge with future shine" is vastly superior to the other 2. So is Klir/sols plus the "same"? No Sir....
Second test was to airbrush each product on prepainted parts. I sprayed Tamiya XF68 Brown, Tamiya XF 60 Dark Yellow and Italeri 4766AP Flat Non Specular Blue Gray on dark olive plastic parts.
Next I sprayed each section with the corresponding product, and sprayed a 4th section with "normal" gloss acrylic varnish thinned with 50% rubbing alcohol.
On the dark yellow, here is what I got:
BEFORE
AFTER
Here again, "Pledge/Future" gives better results. Oddly enough, "Klir" and "Sols Plus" seem to behave differently, even though they really look like the same product straight from the bottle. Here "Sols Plus" gave a surprisingly good result, even slightly better than the "normal" gloss varnish. But for the latter, the use of rubbing alcohol as a thinner might have impaired its performances.
On a glossier initial coat (XF 68 dark Brown), here is what I got:
BEFORE
AFTER
Once again, the results are pretty much the same...
Finally with the Sea Blue-Gray
BEFORE
AFTER
Now it's hard to see any differences, except perhaps that "Klir" hasn't affected the original finish much, and that "Sols Plus" still behaves better.
Now I should mention the fact that "Sols Plus" is extremely thin and tends to "run" when sprayed, even at moderate pressures. I did not have this problem with "Future" and "normal" varnish.
Conclusion: "Klir" is DEFINITELY not the same as "Future" and "Sols Plus" might have some similar properties (but it's really a pain in the sphincter to spray properly). I wouldn' t recommend using any of these products besides their original use. I might even write a post about their cleaning properties in the future if I don't have anything better to do....
Happy Modelling
Treflon
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