Papa51

My Feedback: (3)

Has anyone attempted tinting the canopy on the Bobcat 50? Is the canopy material receptive to the Rit dye method?

rcjets_63

My Feedback: (4)

I've tinted several Bandit canopies before with RIT dye and other fabric dyes available at the grocery store. The canopy does take a while to dye (about 20-45) minutes with hot water (about 140 degrees - full hot water from the kitchen tap) depending on how dark you want it. Cut off a piece of the excess canopy and test it first to see how long it will take. Do not trim the canopy before dying as it may curl a bit in the hot water.

The hardest part of the whole process is finding a container large enough to accomodate the canopy. The method I finally adopted was to take a cardboard box long enough that the canopy can be layed flat; the box will be much wider than the canopy, but use large pieces of styrofoam or wood to make it narrower. Then use a large garbage bag to line the box. Put the canopy in the dye upside down to prevent air bubbles from being trapped at the top.

Regards,

Jim

Papa51

My Feedback: (3)

Thanks Jim but I am asking specifically about the canopy on the Nitoplanes Bobcat 50 jet. I've sucessfully tinted canopies using Rit dye too but some canopy materials on some ARFs are not receptive to Rit dye depending on what material it is made of. I have had some stay crystal clear regardless of how hot the water, how strong you mix the dye or how long you let the canopy sit in the dye solution. Just trying to avoid going to all the trouble and mess of setting up to dye a canopy if someone else out there has tried on this particular ARF canopy and could not achieve satisfactory results. I really like the garbage bag idea.......never thought of that. I could have avoided ruining some plastic food storage containers, that's for sure.

dbsonic

My Feedback: (3)

I did a Viper canopy here recently and 140 is about right. no more than 150 for sure or it will melt the canopy.
Test scrap is a good idea just to be sure.