KLEAR, take a look!

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m1ks

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Because i'm sick of seeing people ripping off others with smoke and mirrors.

New-old, nothing in it, N O T H I N G !

[video=youtube;k6dXkL6CwGY]

 

Ian M

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Nice one miks. I couldn't agree with you more. One tiny detail. It stated to be used as a cheap varnish because there was not a readily available acrylic varnish at the time.

Or so the stegosaurus told me....

Ian M
 
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I only use it on clear parts myself.I don't find it that good as a clear varnish.Dries patchy and runs really easily.And yes I have tried brushing and spraying it on several models.Not a fan.
 
M

m1ks

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\ said:
Nice one miks. I couldn't agree with you more. One tiny detail. It stated to be used as a cheap varnish because there was not a readily available acrylic varnish at the time. Or so the stegosaurus told me....

Ian M
Thanks Ian, I didn't know that, maybe i'm not as old as I thought I was, ;)
 

geegad

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I've used klear to seal models and decals and it works a treat got three of the bottles 1 old and 2 new both work the same bosh!!!!
 
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treyzx10r

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Excellent Vid Mike,thanks for taking the time to Klear that up for us! On a side note you mentioned ca glue for securing canopies the foam safe (gold label here in the States) does'nt fog at all just my .02
 
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m1ks

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\ said:
Excellent Vid Mike,thanks for taking the time to Klear that up for us! On a side note you mentioned ca glue for securing canopies the foam safe (gold label here in the States) does'nt fog at all just my .02
Another useful bit of info, thanks, don't know if we can get that in the UK but will have a look.

What i've found however, I never apply straight from the tube / bottle to the part, drop onto a piece of card on the table, and use my MkI sewing needle chucked in pin vice to tactically apply drops, as I said in the video, never once fogged a clear part, I use superglue on everything clear, lenses, canopies, headlights, taillights, car windows and once even an entire 1/144th Sweet Hawker hurricane which was moulded in clear styrene and looked too good to paint.

I guess we must have some foam safe stuff given the amount of foam RC models floating, (pardong the pun), around now, thinking back when I was flying my Ikarus piccolo, I recall a guy with a Bell 222 and a Huey bodyshell, they were made of Depron and as he tried to repair then huey tail after a bad landing discovered that superglue melts depron foam quite aggressively, there were a few choice words.
 
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Boldman

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Brilliant, well said! I stuck a bottle of old Klear on eBay a year or so ago when I was moving house and couldn't believe that the BIDDING went over £25 for it... I've got my original bottle which is still about 2/3rd full plus I have a bottle of the new stuff sitting on the shelf. Thinning paint.. whatever next!!! I did experiment with it and pigments to see if it would make glossy "wet mud" but that didn't really work well. I hear it can also make floor nice and shiny!
 
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m1ks

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Watered pva is pretty good for that wet mud look.

But, hang on, it can be used to make your floors shiny, dammit, I didn't realise, that's got to be worth £20, :D

I wonder what other household uses SC johnsons modelling range can do, lol
 
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Keith9657

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Good video, Mick. Whatever else it can do, its not worth £20 a bottle.

Keith
 

yak face

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The funny thing is , if you work it out , £20 is about right for 500 ml of acrylic gloss varnish (based on Vallejo 60ml bottles at around £2.75 ea) . Still a bit silly though , when you can get the new stuff for £3.50 , now that is a bargain!! (personally i prefer the smell and clear colour of the old type ,plus it IS slightly different - its a bit more viscose) tony
 

Ian M

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Its great for treating the shower cabins glass door.

Ian M
 
M

m1ks

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The funny thing is , if you work it out , £20 is about right for 500 ml of acrylic gloss varnish (based on Vallejo 60ml bottles at around £2.75 ea) . Still a bit silly though , when you can get the new stuff for £3.50 , now that is a bargain!! (personally i prefer the smell and clear colour of the old type ,plus it IS slightly different - its a bit more viscose) tony
That's assuming one brand only and are you taking thinned quantity into account?

Xtracrylics, I mention in passing as I have some and it's superb in cost and operation (AND is completely dry and cured enough to decal and oil wash onto in 15 minutes as an added bonus) is 300ml=£5, will thin out to AT LEAST twice it's volume, (with water) and still be milky airbrush consistency so 600ml=£5=almost as cheap as the new Klear at £3.50=750ml

100ml=£3.25, (prices from hannants who I believe are the owners of the Xtracrylics range? corerct me if wrong), £3.25 x 2.5=£8.12=250ml of varnish, doubled in water for thinning to spray, (thicker than Klear) consistency=£8.12=500ml.

So even at it's pricier option in 100ml bottles, still less than half the price of old stock exhorbitant prices.

If you actually thinned the stuff to Klear consistency, it's even cheaper, most likely cheaper even than the new stuff for a 750ml bottle quantity based on the 300ml price.

If you took your Vallejo and thinned to consistency into account I think you'd find that the odds were not the same.

I disagree on the viscosity, as you see in my video, i have the 2 side by side and both being in the same room and same temp I honestly can't see that one is thicker than the other, even if the new one was a smidge thicker, that's juat another bonus, a splash of water to thin it further and you have 800ml for £3.50, :smiling3:

I brush paint either, (whichever is closer as I lean over to pick up a bottle when I pre-decal coat) as I realised it coated and settled cleaner than spraying without flooding or pooling while aiming for that 'wet coat' and any slight excess can be wicked back with the bristles and have honestly not noticed any difference in operation or application.

As for preference, if you can justify the extra £16.50 per bottle, (or £3.54 per 100ml-based on a cost of £20 per bottle which is a low average currently. £4.00 per 100ml-old - £0.46 per 100ml-new), then thats fine.

The point of the video wasn't to suggest people don't buy it IF they know the differences and would rather have the older stuff, but to make people who had been convinced that they absolutely MUST have the older stuff as the newer stuff will not do what the older one does, (which clearly is either an outright lie or misinformation), aware of the actual facts and that the new stuff will do them exactly the same job leaving them £16.50 to spend on a couple of Airfix 1/72's and some paint and a brush or two.

I'm all for encouraging newcomers and onwardly encouraging modellers still discovering those little tips to continue, expand their knowledge and above all enjoy, theres too much stuff in the world convincing people they need things they don't without modelling going that way too, it was always a cheap fun hobby to me with the option of splashing out on specialist or expensive if and when you choose to, not because someone says you need to.

Peronally, I prefer also the lack of perfume in the older one, only because if coating a large model the perfume lingers awhile in my modelling cave but it means opening the window to air it more frequently, the big question is, do I like it £16.50, minimum worth, the answer is, No

Reminds me of a Newsthump poll for the iphone 5 I saw recently, choose from 2 questions, are you going to buy the new iphone 5 which is basically an iphone 4 with a different name

a) Yes, I have a bundle of 50's burning a hole in my wallet

b) No, i'm not a moron

:D
 
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m1ks

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Its great for treating the shower cabins glass door. Ian M
Another useful tip, :smiling3:

Apparently it's good for wooden floors too, though at that price you've REALLY gotta love your wooden floors!
 
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andygh

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In the video you say that there is no difference apart from the colour, the smell and the bottle, do you mean chemically? Practically? I'm not sure what you're basing this on

How did you compare the two? Saying they're the same without any evidence is just adding another opinion to this never ending argument

As an aside, my "old" Klear has quite a pleasant smell :thumbsup:
 

yak face

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Good point on the thinned varnish ,i hadnt thought of it that way. The old stuff is the one thats more viscose by the way. Im not in any way saying its ok to pay daft prices for the old stuff , i certainly wont be! tony
 
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m1ks

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\ said:
In the video you say that there is no difference apart from the colour, the smell and the bottle, do you mean chemically? Practically? I'm not sure what you're basing this onHow did you compare the two? Saying they're the same without any evidence is just adding another opinion to this never ending argument
I'm curious, did you watch the whole video?

I think I make quite clear in the video that I'm basing this on (almost a years worth of) real life hands on practical experience from a modelling use point of view. For the record I never said they were the same, clearly, even in the simplest terms they are not 'the same' as one is a different colour and perfumed, what I said and I stand by is that they both 'behave the same and do the same things with neither one nor the other doing anything better or worse'

I'm not an industrial chemist, (or any other type of chemist for that matter and clearly don't have access to complex testing machinery/GCMS or other marvellous forensic equipment in the video)

That however, is utterly irrelevant, an industrial chemist could sample the two and tell you that one contains 0.005% greater quantity of nonionic surfactants and a splash of chanel No5 but it makes no difference to real world results in use for a modeller, it's obvious the formula isn't going to have changed much as it's intended use is the same, sealing and giving a sheen to wooden and lino flooring.

Now, I could have made a video saying, here's me painting one wing of an aircraft with the old and the other wing with the new, (which I have incidentally), but then we have the option of having a 12 hour video to prove that I haven't cleverly substituted the model during the drying process, which no-one in their right mind would want to watch, ( I know the expression 'watching paint dry' exists but.....) if I did the whole 'heres one I painted earlier' thing anyone bloody minded enough could accuse me of the above.

So what I did just to be absolutely clear:

Not mentioned in the video as I was focusing on the script i'd laid out

(pretty much the first test when I bought the new stuff), I painted one aircraft wing, 48th BF109G for anyone interested, with the old and one with the new, let them dry three coats each total, saw no visible difference to the sheen and no difference to the application.

I have tested numerous clear parts, painted and dipped with both old and new to see no difference in application or end result.

I have airbrushed and brush painted both onto numerous models and test pieces seeing no difference in application or sheen or end result.

I have coated parts, allowed them to dry and re-wetted them to establish that it dissolves in itself and wipes clean, both old and new do this.

I have tested that an ammonia solution will likewise strip both products, it does.

Of course anyone so minded could say, I could have made this up but ask one very important question.

What do I have to gain from this?

I'll tell you if you're still wondering, nothing!

I have no shares, nor affiliation with SC Johnson or the Klear brand old or new

I have no shares, nor affiliation with Morrisons, (where I bought my own at full retail price), or Sainsburys, or somerfield, or Netto, or Aldi or Wickes or Wilko etc etc etc etc

I have taken the time to test these aside one another though it became apparent to me early on that the new was just the same in operation and I could have kept this all to myself and sold my own old bottle for £20+

I have taken the time to prepare a script covering the pertinent information, film and edit a video, (which to those never having done this is quite time consuming), for anyone and everyone with access to the internet to see entirely free of charge with no request for payment nor donation.

My only 'reward' for this effort is that people who have been confused between the two and their use and ability will no longer be confused and unecessarily out of pocket for something they simply do not need when a much cheaper readily available replacement is sitting right in front of you on the supermarket shelves.

As said, this is mainly for newcomers who are being befuddled by conflicting information based on hearsay, assumption, guesstimation and plain outright personal profit reasons, (I don't say this last lightly, a modeller on another forum has openly admitted to stockpiling several bottles of the old and selling it on ebay for profit)

If an older member or user of the stuff, for whatever reason still prefers the old formula then by all means buy it, it really comes down to do YOU think it's worth the extra minimum of £16.50 per bottle or £3.54 per 100ml?

I'm not telling people what to decide, merely providing evidence based on my own experience.

As far as i'm concerned, there is no argument, it HAS ended, i've proven to myself that they both do the same thing in the modelling perspective, what others choose to believe is up to them but if I can help save newcomers some money to better spend on models rather than myth then i'm pleased.
 
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john i am

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thanks for taking the time doing the video it was very helpful i have never used it before but will get myself a bottle next time i go to morrisons cheers
 
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andygh

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OK, that's pretty much what I expected

Thanks for taking the time :thumbs-up:
 
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Baz Williams

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Many thanks Mick. I bought a bottle in Sainsburys today; £3.65 I think. I cant wait to give it a try.

Baz
 
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