Alright, I'll aske the magic question again. How do you tint the inside of your canopy? I have the Testor's spray tint, but don't like the finish. What other methods are there??

I used RITE brand powered dye on my F-16 canopy. Here's what I did;

-fill a pot with the amount of water described in the instructions
-let it start to warm up, then sprinkle in the powder, stiring as you pour it in
-heat the mixture to 140 deg, keep stiring.
-have the sink tap running with cold water
-over the sink (have a helper) pour the mix into the canopy, swirling it around to cover all the edges.
-swirl for a minute, pour back into pot then immediatly place canopy under cold water and rinse out the mix. Wipe dry.

If it's not dark enough repeat. I did mine about 4-5 times before I got to a nice light tint that I wanted. The reason for the cold water is to cool down the canopy so it doesn't get deformed and to get rid of the mix so it doesn't leave a darker spot anywhere on the canopy.

This is just the way I did mine and there might be many other ways of doing it.

Hope this helps.


Kelvin.

That's about the best way I've found too... The RIT dye colors can be mixed to get the color you're after. You just need to make sure that the canopy is free of fingerprints. Wiping down with white vinegar first cleans well without damage, and seems to make the dye take better.

Fill a pot with water enough to submerge largest piece, and heat to just shy of deforming the plastic (use scrap to test). Add Ritt dye (1 pkg per gal) and salt (a few tablespoons per gallon). The salt is a very important ingredient that helps the dye take!. Submerge pieces in solution for a minute or so. Rinse with cool water and check density. Repeat until desired darkness is acheived.
DON"T FORGET THE SALT!

Hmmmm......didn't know about the salt.

I've never used the salt, and it still works. but it should be noted that depending on what the MGF made the canopy out of, the dye methode may not work. It is the method I use, and I have had a few canopies that just would not take to dying.

Tinting a Goldberg canopy. ANyone had any trouble with these?

The trick with rit is to heat it to between 130 and 140 this is a must do or the dye will not take on the canopy when you are done pour the dye into a plastic jug for use at a latter time. I have used the same batch to do four canopy's but each time you have to leave the piece you are dying in the mix a little longer works great but the heat is important the first time around I think it must activate the dye because if you don't cook it first it will not work.

Hideho all,

And one more thing...
I use one pkg of black, and one pkg of indigo blue, mixed together..

A real smoke color...black only looks dosen't look as good as the two mixed together.

I'll have to try that Mike. Does the blue make it so dark you can't see inside?? Thats where I mount my gas guage (one of those light bars for the battery) so I like the canopy dark but not so dark I can't see inside.

Considering Mike is mixing black and indigo blue for a smoke tint, what other combinations are folks using to get the best effects for various tints?

Brown and gold for that F-16 canopy color... (Nick, ...I used this on a Goldberg Extra canopy and it worked fine. Just heat and clean as described above).

Just so y'all don't think I'm wack. The salt tip came from Scale Modeler Mag.
The Ritt method works great on some, not at all on others. My TF Cessna canopy came out awesome, but a H9 conopy wouldn't take at all.
I swear on the salt thing though.

I agree with the salt thing, too.

But please don't do what I did and follow the directions on the package of RIT dye. It says to add dish washing detergent, about one or two teaspoons.

I couldn't get my canopy to take the dye so I added a pair of air stones hooked them to an air pump and put them in the bottom of the bucket for agitation and and left for lunch.

Holy cow, what a mess I had when I got back. With the soap and the air stones I had black dye everywhere. The head of black foam was as big as a Buick.

Ended up just spraying the canopy. ***Sigh***

BE CAREFULL!!!!!!

I did this to a Something Extra canopy, actually 2, I melted the 1st, started out on low, wasnt hapnin, so, stoked fire a little and , oh yea it tinted allright.

Where is this dye available? Any grocery store, home depot maybe, all of the above?

Grocery store is the best bet.

Wall Mart carries it to over by wash powders

Thanks Flap I will give it a try, the spray stuff did not give me satisfactory results. BTW I tried the spray stuff on a Dynaflite super decathlon and used oven cleaner to take it back off.

Still haven't decided on the magic formula for tinting my canopy with the dye. Can someone post pic(s) of their canopy and give the "formula" you used to get the finish??

STEP ONE: Go to hobby shop
STEP TWO: Ask for spray tint

What brand of spray tint. I have tried Testors and Pactra. they worked fine on smaller parts but I could not get a uniform light tint with either. It could be my technique, I did heat the can in a toaster oven, (turned on the toaster function then shut it off before putting the paint in it this helps thin the paint) but on the windshield of the super decathlon (Dynaflite) I'm building for a friend, it turned out terrible. lucky oven cleaner took it back off. Learned that one from building model cars. So any tips you can offer, short of rits dye, as this sounds like a pain, and I don't have a pot big enough to use dye. I do not want the windows to dark. any and all tips are welcome. Garry

Pactra.....The can says "Racing Finish" in the middle of the can and "window tint" at the bottom of the can.
It can be a little tricky at first, but oonce you get the hang of it, I think you will like it.
It isn't fuel proof! Coats must be very, very light!

one problem i have noticed by seeing peoples creations on plastics witht he spray.. is the outcome depends on the persons ability to control the spray.. ive seen peoples stuff come out messy.. and they used very light sprays.. (spray, dry, spray dry.. etc..) what i mean by messy.. is it doens't look even like the rit method produces.. but if your good.. it will look even.. if your tinting a pos canapy.. try the paint.. and see how yo do.. or on a scrap piece.. but for the big $$ stuff.. your have a better chance of good results with the rit.. you just need to grab the things between your legs and do it.. =)