What do you guys recommend for a clear coat on canopys.

I've used Dupont Nasom Clear coat on canopies. Sand the canopies starting with 600 grit, then 1000, after you've got a nice milky surface shoot the clear to it. Looks like glass in the end.

I have NEVER had a canopy work out that I have tried to clear. I am not saying it can't be done, but I have ruined several trying for the 'glass' look. They is always a problem with the film thickness, or one or two sags, or a blemish. A very tricky thing.

Best regards

Greg Anixter

Sand it as mentioned above then use "Future Floor Polish" Works like a charm, crystal clear!!!!!!!!!

Not a jet but here is one on a P-47. I haven't had time to do my Panther yet.

Terry, Do you spray the future? Do you thin it?

Dennis

Just wipe it on with a rag!!!!!!!!!!

Huhhhhh!

Future is the way to go. Especially on a jet. Glow fuel will screw it up.
Future is well-known amongst he scale plastic modeling set.

I am not am expert on clearing canopies (especially because I did not succeed) but I have tried, and I can paint a little. I am sure there are many valid techniques, and it may be that the actual canopy material makes a difference. I tried my best to apply Future to a BVM clear canopy. I dipped the canopy in Future, and had runs and sags and a few bubbles with Future. I tried airbrushing Future and got uneven coverage, I tried wiping Future and got streaks and a little lint from my clean rag, and I tried thinning Future a little. So, maybe it is just me, but I purchased and used several clear canopies and gave that one up. And, by the way, I tried stripping the unacceptable canopies with ammonia which is the solvent for Future but it left a residue. So... I would most definately experiment on a piece of scrap material before I tried it on my canopy, or have a spare handy. As a side note, Future, has a strong 'perfume-like' oder.

All the best!

Greg Anixter

Just curious to hear why you wanted to clear coat your canopy? If its because you have some fine scratches... you would achieve a far better finish by polishing them out.
Personally I have not seen any canopy that has been sprayed and is 100% blemish and optically distortion free, you can always tell a clear coated canopy.... not a big deal of coarse unless you are talking about a serious scale job really.
Heres the product by Novus I use and can highly recommend to all looking to get a sparkling clear canopy, Its good enough for
Mc Donnel Douglas and Cessna Aircraft company also...
http://www.noscratch.com/novus/

Flitz metal polish will also do the trick, just lots of elbow grease.

I'll have to try the future route. Nice lookin canopy Terry.

sand with 600 wet, then clear with good high gloss polyurethane. I use PPG, but DuPont works well also. I have done this on many race planes, and it works fantastic. If you want, you can even wet sand the canopy with 1500 (after the clear dry's) and go for either a second coat or just polish out like you would a painted finish. Just be careful when using a high speed polisher on the plastic canopy, if you get it too hot it will distort. But like fl-copters says above, sand until its an even milky color...dont worry, the clear will bring it all back to life.
Hope it all works out,
Dave

Great timing, haveing completed two test flights of our Inverted V-Tail jet, I'm preparing for clear coat application. I have been informed that I need to clearcoat the model then apply the Promark decals then shoot another clearcoat, does this sound correct?

You could do it that way, but I have always applied my decals directly to the color coat, then cleared. no problems. You will get a distict edge around the decals though. After the first coat, you can sand with some 400 wet to smooth the edges, then shoot another coat of clear. You'll still have a raised spot on the decals, but the distinct edge will be gone.

Greg,

You might want to try this method.

'Sand' the canopy with a 3m green scuff pad and lots of water until the water no longer beads and lays flat on the surface. (easy to see this)
Clean up with clean water and Windex and when completely dry, LIGHTLY tack rag the surface.
Shoot the clear on first in a light mist coat (almost dry) and let it sit for 3 - 5 minutes.
Then come back with a 'medium' wet coat, shooting past the canopy on each pass.

Let it dry completely, then polish with KIT. Absolutley amazing polish.

W.G. Hunter

My way,

Sand with 1000 grit, then spray with PPG 2021 using 3 parts reducer (DT885) to 1 part paint, apply 1 very light tack coat, and then a few minutes later apply a couple or three just wet coats. For our current temperture wait about 8 hours and wet sand with 2500 in one direction only untill you have a uniform finish then use 6000, 8000 and 12000 micro-mesh to really shine it up, then 3M finiss-it (sp?) to gloss it. If you wait more than about 24 hours to work the paint it will be hard to get it to polish up.

In my opinion you can get a better polish on the fresh paint than the plastic of the canopy.

You might look up Kent Landerfield in your area, he flies at the Broken Arrow ATF site, he is a master of this sort of thing.

Steven

Thanks Guys, great tips and options. I'll experiment with it all.

Godspeed! ;-)

Your canopy is plastic. It needs to be polished. Use the Noscratch as above (I use it on my Citation in between very powerful polishing) or go to your closest fbo and get a bottle of plexiglass polish (like noscratch), or go to your local plastics store and get the scratch remover/polish. Do it correctly, not cosmetically, clear coat does mess up a lot of canopies due to the different plastics used or the improper mixing of the clear coat. Plastic scratch remover and polish both have a grit in them which is equal to sand paper up in the 5000 or better range, it works and not much effort. Enjoy.