I have painted the inside of a canopy black and liked the way it looked. I didn't have the plane very long so I have no idea of how it stood up over time.

I thought I read something since that said never to paint the inside black; Is this true or was I dreaming this?

What is the best method for tinting a canopy? I would like it difficult to see through as I'm not a fan of looking at all the electronics when on the flight line.

Thanks!

I have painted the canopy black on the inside on many of my planes that didn't really have a cockpit or a pilot figure. I personally have never had a problem with it. Might depend on how big the canopy is though. My experience is with the canopies like on a 4-Star .40.

Likewise, painted bunches of canopies on inside, just be sure to mask off so paint can't get on outside of canopy. About any paint seems to work as long as you clean the inside with denatured alcohol. Never had any problems.

The biggest problem - and probably why you have heard that it's a bad idea - is that black will absorb heat from the sunlight. Therefore you will be heating up the electronics inside. Electronics don't like heat. You may have noticed - if you have ever been at a major event - that the competitors almost always lay a piece of cloth/towel, etc. over the cockpit so that the heat doesn't get in. It's like a closed car on a sunny day.

As for tinting, I use Rit dye from the drugstore. It will work on some plastics and not on others - just have to try it on the material your canopy is made of.

Seems like most ARF's these days have a canopy plastic that does not absorb Rite Dye. The kits put out by Great Planes still do, I think.

Try using Testors Pactra Candy colors. From the RC Car department. They have a few different colors red, blue, purple and i think a couple other colors. I normally tape the outside of the canopy using saran wrap the clear stuff. that way i can see the color build up from the outside. I myself don't like black canopies depending on how thin they are they can warp and do bad things from the sun.

Dennis

The heat build up makes good sense. Using the dye; how do you apply it? And if it doesn't work does it ruin the canopy?

I would really like a tint if I can figure this out.

FYI: this is on a QuiQue Yak just in case someone may have experience with his planes/canopies.

Thanks!

To use the Rit dye I use the hottest water available from the tap (I've found that this doesn't distort the plastic, though if it's any hotter it will), and thoroughly mix in the dye. Then put the canopy in, making sure that it is fully submerged and keep it in. You can check it every 15 minutes or so to see if it is as dark as you want - the longer the darker - and you rinse it each time you remove it from the dye so that you get a true indication of the darkness.

If it doesn't 'take' on the canopy there's no problem, you are just out the couple of $ for the dye, as the dye will easily wash off with water or isopropyl alcohol.

I've done the rit dye thing on two comp-arf and if i recall correctly, I had a thermometer to measure the temp of the water. My tap water wasn't hot enough, so would keep adding pots of hot water to the total solution to keep the temp up. I don't recall what the temp needed to be but I do know that I had to dye the one twice because the temp of the water wasn't high enough. I wanna say tap water was like 150 and temp needed was 170 but I really don't recall. I think i put in the extreme composites edge 540 thread. early on.