Tricktrack

My Feedback: (2)

I am wondering if anyone is having any luck with tinting the canopy on the wild hare planes. I did see the one at edge540.com that was painted with testors.

A friend of mine tried to tint his for the 35% extra with rit and it did nothing, just wiped right off.

Thanks for any suggestions.

dcs155

My Feedback: (2)

I used the rit dye method on my wild hare 35% giles and it worked great,just need a really big pot to hold the rit and water mixture and then get the complete canopy submerged. the black, dark blue or green seem to work the best, just be carefull not to get the water to hot. I have never measured the exact temp, but get the water just hot enough that it doesn't feel hot enough to burn your finger,make sure to wear some rubber gloves as the rit dye will have your hand or fingers tinted as well.I then masked the perimeter with 3m fine line tape and painted the frame to match the plane, the correct ultra-cote color matched perfect. hope this helps, Dave

zx32tt

My Feedback: (9)

I had pretty good results using the Rit dye method. I used 1 pkg of black and 1 pkg of navy blue. I would warn that the water should NOT be hotter than 140 degree's F. Anything even slightly hotter will distort the canopy and cause a lot of grief.
Z

vypr

My Feedback: (6)

An alternitice to the difficulty of the rit die method is using the window tint car paint that the RC car guys use. its availible at most of the hobby ships that carry cars and it works great. I used it on my edge to great success. The only downside is htat you cant clean it with alcohol, it takes it off even dry... ask me how I found out

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

How were you able to get a pot big enough to completely submerge the "entire" canopy. I'm guessing if you do it sectionally you'll see the dye line....

badfish

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXCY44&P=7
I've used this stuff for a few years now. works great. also it applies to the INSIDE of the canopy so you don't have to worry about wiping it off when your cleaning your plane. the more coats you apply the darker the canopy will come out. just make sure you cover the canopy on the hot days.
steve.

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

Whys that steve? Do the tinted canopy's get hotter or something?

RVBlack

My Feedback: (27)

What I do is get a 5 gal. bucket , I use brown dye (it seems nothing else sticks), about three cup's of vinegar for 4 gal. I put about 3 gal. with hot tap, add about a gal. of very hot from the stove,add my dye, vinegar, hint:I put a hole a little bigger then a pin hole in the canopy so I can get a small wire to hold it (like a big tea bag) I check it every 5 min. takes about 10-15 min.

badfish

much hotter. also depends on how dark you tint it. It took a 95 deg. day bright sunshine to warp my GP caps canopy. some canopys are thicker than others. some can take more heat than others. a few of my other planes I have never covered and never had a problem with. so, on the really hot days I'll throw a towel over them now.
steve

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

Ok thanks...I have a office trash can that will work perfectly!!
Do you add salt like the dye instructions say?
I would like to try denim blue. My plane is going to be mostly blue and the pain will be yello won the canopy. Have you tried that color yet?

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

Use Tamiya (sp), or your favorite canopy spray paint, They comes in many color and are easier than the dye method. I've use both.

crfabbro

My Feedback: (56)

I just tinted the canopy on my Ca super extra with the Tamiya spray tint and was
amazed at how easy and smooth it went on. Make sure you have a mask and
good ventilation!

Mitsu1

My Feedback: (13)

Do you have a pic of your canopy tint? I plan to tint my canopy and bought Pactra spray tint. I have to figure out how to spray around some cross bracing that is inside the underside of the hatch because the hatch and canopy are one molded piece (ARF), that is painted on the outside to create the separation between the canopy/hatch appearance. Trying to figure out how to get a smooth consistent spray of the entire inside of the canopy. I don't think removing the bracing inside the hatch is going to be an option. There's about 6 inches between each cross brace.

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

Well the spray method sounds a bit dangerous to me...too much like paint...if you make a mistake its over. You don't spray evenly, it don't look right. Let me know if I'm wrong. The tinting process seems gradual, lots of time to look at it adjust, etc. I really am looking only for the lightest of tinting...a couple of shades thats about it. Can you do that with the spray?

badfish

here's a couple pics of my yaks canopy I just sprayed with 1 coat. and the larger, darker canopy next to it has about 4 coats. yes, I assume you could mess it up while spraying. but it's pretty easy. I clean the canopy real well. when it is sprayed it takes a few seconds to spread out, then it becomes translucent like. If I want it darker I'll hit it with a heat gun (from a safe distance) and shoot another coat in about a minute. the darker canopy probably took about ten minutes to do. quick and simple. I'm sure dyeing would work just fine also.
steve.

redflyboy122

My Feedback: (1)

might be a dumb question but do you spray the inside or outside of the canopy?

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

inside

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

I think thats one of the drawbacks of the spray its not fuel or solvent proof....

badfish

if your getting fuel on the inside of your canopy. you've got bigger problems.

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

Thats why you HAVE to paint it on the inside.....no ifs, ands or buts.

marksextra

My Feedback: (28)

I've used the dye method and it seems mine has slowly faided just a bit over the last year. food for thought

BaldEagel

Pic shows green metalflake in a clear with an overcoat of blue metalic over all done from the inside the effect in sunlight is quite stunning. These are for a car lexan bodies and are easy to use.

Mike

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

Ok, I tried this. Left the canopy in for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Its as clear as day 'cept for a fine blue around the edge where its cut.

3d-aholic

My Feedback: (7)

Well I bought the paint tint in a can....and ruined my cowl...kind of like I thought I might.

Paint sputtered out of the cheap nozzles and dropped a couple of big gobs of tint on there. Not much you can do about it. Dang I which the dye would have worked.

RTK

My Feedback: (1)

Use Tamiya (sp) available at Tower. I have had good luck with it on 3 canopies, so much easier than dye.