tinting inside of the canopy
 

hi,

i have read a post about tinting the inside of the canopy (Ritt dye), but don't know how to do it...

don't want to stain the outside since it's an ARF and it has trim Monokote (on the outside)

the question is : how to proceed? has anyone done this sort of thing before?

thanks for helping,

Vasek

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

Don't think you can tint just the inside of the canopy with RIT DYE, you can however use the spray tint to tint the inside of the canopy....To use the RIT you have to submerge the entire canopy in hot (not boiling) water before you trim it, if you have already trimmed the canopy hten don't waist your time with the RIT or you will be buying another canopy. The hot water will roll it up like a cigar, trust me, I know from experience. If you usse that spray try and get your hands on SPATZ modelers paint, this stuff works great, if not then use Testes or something like that( I forgot the name) That one works well too..Good Luck.

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

thanks shogun,

is the SPATZ traslucent? where can one get it?

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

Most of the Hobby Shops I've been to carry them, and yes they are available in translucent colors.

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I use Pactra spray paint desiged for RC cars to tint the inside of the canopy.

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

You can use Rit Clothing dye to tint the inside of clear canopys. I have done many of them.

1. Fill your kitchen sink with HOT water from the stove (Slightly less than boiling, Don't put boiling water into the sink you don't want to warp your canopy) When the water is poured into the sink the temp will drop due to the cooler sink.
2. After you fill your sink up so that the canopy will be fully covered when it is put in the water, pour in the Rit Dye and then mix it eavenly. (The water will look VERY dark but that is ok. The Plastic in the canopy will not soak up all the color.)
3. once the color is even through out the sink, Dip your canopy into the sink and hold it under the water for about 2 or 3 minutes. The longer you leave it in the dye the more dye it will soak up and the darker the color will be.

I often use the Dark Blue color and it leaves the canopys light blue. You WILL like the even color and how nicely it looks. It is MUCH easier than you might think!!!!

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

Ya know Hoss, if you had read the actual post, he DOESN'T WANT TO TINT THE OUTSIDE OF THE CANOPY!

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I went to the LHS and found Testor MODEL MASTER, Transparent Black Window Tint

it is made for tinting model car windows from the inside so it should work well on my canopy

before I go ahead, is there a specific technique of sraying this evenly? or just the regular cover by several horiz. passes?

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

If the paint is not fuel proof ya bettter seal the canopy good or it will mess it up. When I paint the inside I mask off the outside so no overspray will get on it and then just spray in smooth strokes until it's covered.

WCB

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I had a REAL BAD problem before when I painted part of a canopy to match the trim on the plane, It reacted with the canopy and bent (melted) it all up......

I posted the steps cause that will allow you to get the whole Canopy tinted and it looks REAL professional!!!!! Worth the effort of reapllying Monokote if needed. It is fuel proof!!! No special painting techniques required.

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I wanted an aluminum bubble canopy. I sprayed it on the inside with some fine-looking aluminum paint from a spray can (don't recall the brand). Looking at the canopy from the inside, it was a beautiful aluminum. Looking at it from the outside it was a medium grey. Not what I wanted, but I used it anyway. The aluminum color came to the surface of the paint, which was grey underneath. I was miffed!

Jim

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

flyinghuntster is right the only thing he did not mention was to tape up the out side of the canopy before submerging. I died a canopy for my 540 33% Edge that was pretty good size and it turned out great. Like he said the longer you leave it in there the more color you get.

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I read several posts about the RITE dye method v.s. the spray paint method. Personally I found the RITE method to work the best and gave the most professional results. I didn't like the spray method and for me it didn't look too good.

-tychoc

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I agree.......Die is better for me at least......good luck..

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

thanx guys, i will try the paint .... will post pics before & after

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I have run into canopy material that would not take RIT dye no matter how long it was submerged or how hot the water was. Unfortunately, there is no one standard canopy material- acetate, butyrate, lexan, etc. I wish there were....Jim

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

Vasek.....Good luck with what ever choice you make and please share Pix with us.

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I tried the Rit-Dye method and screwed it up basically.

I made the water too hot and didn't have a good way to get the thing back out of the bucket anyways.

This is a Sig Cap 231 ARF so it's not like the canopy will fit inside just any pot. (I used a 5 gal. bucket and just dumped boiling water into it.) Melted it instantly, but the color looked nice. With the right temp. water I think it would work great.


Since I melted the first one, I will try the spray today. (Again with the right temp. water.. the rit-dye would prolly do the job.. although very messy)

I will post pics of how I go about doing it. I read another thread about using a box and only doing the inside of the canopy.

Wish me luck...

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

crash, good luck with that!

i haven't got around doing mine yet, but will do both methods.

i will rit a patriot canopy & spray the inside the one for my f-16.... when i get to it :eek:

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

Hi!
I used blue Tamaiya translucent model car paint (acryl) on my SIG CAP 231 EX canopy, sprayed from the inside.
Model is 5 years old. Paint is 15 ....or more.

Regards!
Jan K
Sweden

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

I have about 5 years total into the hobby. (Still very much a rookie) Only about to finish my first kit, but I have completed a few ARFs.

I thought I'd share my little adventure this weekend on tinting a canopy using both methods discussed. The only thing I had to go on is the information from this forum.

I found a little canopy to an unknown plane on the 'dollar' table at my local hobby store and thought I'd use that to test the Pactra Black Window Tint. After cleaning and masking it off, I started to spray. My main problem was that I couldn't get an even looking finish. At the time I didn't think about wiping it out with a rubbing alcohol, so it ended up being way too dark for my tastes.

It's hard to show it but you can still see through it... barely...


Time to try the Rit-Dye.


I don't even want to begin to think what the wife would say to me if I got this stuff on something in the house, so I used three buckets for this. (#1 dye, #2 - rinse / check the color, #3 - final rinse) The water temps. were between 130-140 F, and using a lid really helped maintain this temp. After 2 hours the water had only dropped about 10 degrees.

I tried adding the salt, vinegar, and tapping my shoes three times saying there is no tint like home.. there is no tint like home.. The problem is that after the first hour or so, that's about all the darker it was going to get. After every two hours I would make a new batch of water / dye and bring the temp. back up to 140F, but it didn't seem to matter.

I did finally end up making a strong batch of 24 oz. of the liquid dye (that's six boxes of the powder btw), tossed in about 6 cups of vinegar, and 6 cups of salt. This was all done in about 4 gallons of water. I found the same results with one bottle of 8 oz. dye as I did with all the other versions. (I did end up leaving it down all night on the last batch. The test canopy that got the spray while the sun was still up, is laughing and mocking me this whole time.)

So it's not the dye. It's not the mixture. It's how hot the water is. Remember I said I melted my first one, because I made the water too hot... But the color was good.. (not that I could use it.. I'm just saying.. it did have good color.. )


I'm not suggesting there is a number one right answer.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I can improve on either method, I would be interested.

The picture of the Funtana canopy is how dark I wanted this one to be.

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

Since your experimenting ,try using a bowl and the microwave with your stain..I don`t know if it will work,but ,maybe you can find a setting,on the microwave that will get close to the plastics melting point, without actually melting it..I know that when I use the Mic to make tomatoe soup from the can,it seems to get hot enought to "stain" the plastic bowl..Or maybe try using an electric "crock pot" to keep the "right temperature" let us know how it`s going ..GOOD LUCK..DAVE B.

RE: tinting inside of the canopy
 

Besides wondering about how to tint my canopies, I am a plastic model buider besides, and one of the very best techniques to GLOSS out a canopy is through the use of Future Floor Polish. Tints can be added to those also. If one was brave enough to try it and it didnt work, it removes with alcohol. This might be a drawback for its fuelproof though...

Anyways I thought I would pass that along, as dipping a plastic model canopy in that stuff, sheets into an unblemished shine every time.

I'll try and pass on a webpage next time i dig.