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A Replacement For Pledge? Here It Is!

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A few quick notes about this post/video:

  • This is a review of the product for use with scale models. NOT FLOORS.
  • Yes, it’s cloudy. No, it doesn’t go on cloudy.
  • I’m not saying this is a super gloss coat. It is a utility coat. If you want a super deep gloss finish get a proper super deep gloss finish product for scale models.
  • I use this stuff. It has worked for me. I’ve had no problems. If you have, I’m sure you can find an alternative.

A replacement for Pledge (or Future) has been on my mind ever since SC Johnson announced they were no longer going to be making the acrylic floor polish in January 2022. It’s been a favorite of mine for years. Not just as an acrylic gloss coat, but also as a decal setting solution, gluing on photoetch and clear parts, as a canopy dip, a thinning agent, and so much more. It’s cheap, effective, and reliable.

A few years ago I’d heard a rumor that they were discontinuing the product, so I immediately went out and purchased five more bottles. At the time, the rumor was not true – so I ended up with a huge supply. And I’ve still got three bottles left.

Unfortunately, when the product was actually discontinued in January 2022, I somehow missed the memo. By the time I found out, it had reached Unobtanium status. But now that I no longer do aircraft modeling, I wasn’t too worried about it. My rate of consumption had dropped dramatically, so I figured that by the time I ran out, a replacement would have emerged.

A Replacement For Pledge Emerges

Over the course of 2022, I heard a few suggestions for possible replacements for Pledge. More and more, one name kept coming up: Holloway House Quick Shine. I decided to take a wait-and-see approach to trying it though, figuring some sort of consensus would emerge. And after a few months it did. The stuff basically works like Pledge.

I headed over to my local Walmart and picked up a bottle. My testing methodology was simple. Treat it like it was Pledge. I knew how the old product behaved inside and out, having applied it to hundreds of models. I figured if I used it like Pledge, I’d see very quickly if it was a suitable replacement. Additionally, it would be easy to note any differences.

You can watch the video for the details, but I’m happy to say it works just fine. If you used Pledge, you’ll adapt to this immediately. And if you’ve not used Pledge, you can still use my old guides as a primer on the uses of floor polish in modeling. This one covers general use, and this one is specific to airbrushing.

Comments

17 responses to “A Replacement For Pledge? Here It Is!”

  1. Nick Kalair

    This is NOT an alternative to pledge gloss. Pledge floor gloss is a resin base polymer, which actually coats, increase a hard coating, giving it to shine. This Holloway house is a wax that is diluted in a white powder form, and does not give nearly the sink protection, nor look.

    1. It’s worked fine for me, otherwise I’d not have recommended it.

    1. Jason

      Quit spreading facts. 😉

  2. Alys Jinjahl

    does it seem to have the same durability as pledge? You can get decent gloss from a lot of things, but durability is hard.

    1. I’ve only used in a limited fashion, compared to my experience with Pledge/ However, I haven’t seen any indications of durability problems, and I’ve not had any communicated to me. HTH

      1. Alys Jinjahl

        awesome. I just picked up a bottle at the local Wally World.

  3. instant073d4d2d2e

    You could wipe Pledge off with ammonia window cleaner if necessary. Any idea / thoughts about what might wipe this off if necessary? Thanks for the tip!!

    1. Thanks for your kind words!

      I’d never had much occasion to wipe Pledge off. If I did clean it, I typically used alcohol. I’ve not tested it with Quick Shine, other than cleaning my airbrush. For that I use alcohol also, with a final clean of lacquer thinner. I stopped using ammonia based products as it began to strip the finish from my airbrushes.

      Certainly give it some tests!

      HTH

  4. Charles Gallagher

    I’ve only ever used pledge to fill scratches and defects in clear parts. What’s the benefit of using it on other model parts?

    1. It can be used for many things! I’ve most often used it for a gloss coat for decals and panel lining, but it can also be used as a gloss medium for water based acrylics, canopy adhesive, photoetch adhesive for some parts, instrument panel dials, rain/wet effects, and probably a few other things I’m forgetting. It’s quite useful!

      Thanks for visiting the site!

  5. andrew beddow

    Thanks for the video and advice. Hope you are feeling better. On the Holloway House products topic, my local Canadian Tire has the”Multi-surface” Floor Finish Quick Shine as you showed, but they also have a Quick Shine “Floor Luster” with Carnauba Wax in it. Don’t know if you have seen it or used it, but perhaps that gives a better gloss finish?

    1. Thanks Andrew!

      I’ve not seen that one, so I have no idea how it works. Right now I still have enough of the old Pledge and my new bottle of Quickshine that I doubt if I’ll need more gloss coat products for another decade! 😊

      Thanks for visiting the site! Happy day to you friend.

  6. LB

    Why would you tell such a lie! I just wasted money buying two bottles of this garbage. If you want an almost matte finish, then this is your product. The Pledge formerly Future is high gloss first pass and others. This says if you want it shinier to ut more coats on it. That is unbelievable. It can only get as shiny as it gets. Nothing shiny here folks.

    1. It’s worked for me, and many others. You can certainly find alternatives.

  7. Chris Jones

    Have you tried the Quick Shine with the purple label? I’m leery of the green label, because it’s slightly cloudy and worrying that will affect my models, particularly as I use it as a base for oil or enamel washes.

    1. I’ve used the green label. It works. Pledge in the UK was cloudy like that because of some law. You can try the purple label but many folks have told me it didn’t work.

      I’m sticking with the green label.

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