Coloring a Canopy.
 

I am building a Venus II and it has a clear plastic canopy.

I want to keep it transparent but make it much darker, tinted, like a real aircraft.

I don't want to paint it out, just dye or stain it?

Thanks for the suggestions.

RE: Coloring a Canopy.
 

This is what I use. Spray lightly and it's transparent.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCY44&P=ML

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXCY22&P=SM

RE: Coloring a Canopy.
 

years ago we used to use RIT dye to color our canopies. First you mix up a strong solution of the dye useing boiling water, when the dye is completely disolved let it cool down completely. Then immerse your canopy in the dye and keep checking till the canopy is the shade you want. I would use dark grey dye for the dark smoked tint

RE: Coloring a Canopy.
 

Unfortunately, a large number of the canopies made today are of plastic that does not take die.

It's a flip of the coin whether or not the canopy you've got will take die. I lost the flip twice so far. Tried twice in the last year and neither canopy took die at all. Wound up spraying them both.

It's almost impossible to tell what the plastic is just from looking at it, so no way to tell ahead of time if your canopy will take die or not.

RE: Coloring a Canopy.
 

Yep, his rockness is right. So far this year I am 5 for 1. The one was just yesterday too. It was an old canopy from maybe A Tower Up-Roar or something I had in the shop. It took the dye so fast it was finished in 15 minutes. I don't let the dye pot cool all the way, I get it down to about 125 degrees. You can mix in salt and vinegar with the dye and it then works well with some of the newer plastics.
I also toss in A few APC props just to color match the plane, works great with any of the darker colors. Warning!!! Do not do this with yellow!!! Friends don't let friends fly with ugly props!!!:)

RE: Coloring a Canopy.
 

I used a can of black paint from Freds, cost 99 cents. This was on my venus II been there all summer no problems. Oh yeah I sprayed it on the inside.

RE: Coloring a Canopy.
 

I tried black Rit dye and it had no effect even though I left it in the dye for 6 hours.
So I used the Pactra Polycarb Window Tint. This worked very well.

THanks for your help.

RE: Coloring a Canopy.
 

Glad it worked out. :D