Canopies

[Guest]

Just a quick Q

as we know most aircraft dont have clear canopies now days. they are slightly tinted to stop glare from the sun.

can anyone suggest a way of doing this?

is there a clear grey paint made by anyone? or maybe putting a little bit of blacky-brown into some Johnsons so it puts the tint to it when is diped in it.

i think i may experiment with the latter on some hacks but if anyone has any better ideas it would be much appriciated.

Richard

[Guest]

Didn't Tamiya do a clear smoke?

Or maybe a clear varnish with a hint of some pigment would do the job.

[Guest]

not that i can find in their catologue Richard. I tried some black in some johnsons and it has worked quite well.

I needed to put a supprising amount of black into a small amount of Johnsons to get the desired effect. I am a bit hesitant of doing it on my F-16 though. I will have to get it perfect before putting it onto the model.

[Guest]

Richard just add a couple of drops of food colour to johnsons and bobs your uncle

[Guest]

il give it ago!

is that tried and tested nigel?

[Guest]

Didn't Tamiya do a clear smoke? Or maybe a clear varnish with a hint of some pigment would do the job.

they do

i was gonna get some for my car body shell but decided not to

[Guest]

Yes i have been doing it for years

[Guest]

Tamiya still do Clear Smoke. Also check out this link, you should find it interesting:

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/tnt1/001-100/TNT063_Tinting%20Canopies_Gok/tnt063.htm

[Guest]

thanks thats great Richard....and demonstrated on an F-16 lol!

will add that site to the tutorials bit, its quite good!

[wonwinglo]

'Winsor and Newton' do water based inks that work as well on canopies,to beak the surface tension on the canopy and make the ink flow, just wipe over with diluted washing up liquid.

Test out on clear sprue before eve committing any process to your precious model.

[Guest]

Do Not Reat DO NOT use washing up liquid !!!!!! it breaks down the pigments over time and causes light refraction !! if you need to get rid of surace tension on anything use a dishwasher rinse aid its dirt cheap and is the best wetting agent money can buy (sorry Barry but wash up liquid nowdays is so full of surficants that it breaks down) and causes no end of probs

[wonwinglo]

Thanks Nigel for that correction,dishwasher rinse it is then,in fact it will come in handy for various jobs.

That will explain the warnings for people,not to use it to clean their vehicles with it either ?

[Guest]

can someone please explain what is ment by "wetting" and "surface tension" and how it works/how to do it.

also if i get some rinse aid does it matter that it has lemon francrance in it?

thanks

[Guest]

well i have tested and tested and finaly got the right shade (well at least it will be once i build up enough layers!) now all i need to do is know what all this "wetting" and stuff is.

...or does it not really matter?

Richard

[wonwinglo]

RJ,the term 'wetting out' refers to the surface tension generated on things like plastic etc,have you ever noticed what happens when you try to apply acrylic paint sometimes to plastic ? it sort of disperses because of the surface tension on the plastic,a wetting agent is something that gets rid of the tension prior to painting,you may have got away with it on your canopy but it can present a problem sometimes.