Dying Canopies, Step-By-Step

[Sky Sharkster]

Hello All,
I've posted this method (in text) before, but now I've got a digital camera, so maybe a photo step-by-step will be more useful. I picked up a metal pan for $2.00 at a yard sale, RIT Dye for a couple of bucks a pack, a cheap pair of pliers and a disposable stir stick are the basic tools. Paper towels and window cleaner are needed, also.
This canopy is going to be Golden Yellow, if a darker hue is needed, a bit of Black will work. I used 1/2 pack of yellow dye and enough water to cover the canopy.
After mixing the dye with boiling water, remove and let cool for a few minutes. Protect the work area with newspaper.
Good Luck!
Ron

[rhino]

Cool! Thanks for the clear step-by-steps.

[groundrushesup]

Originally Posted by Sky Sharkster

Hello All,
I've posted this method (in text) before, but now I've got a digital camera, so maybe a photo step-by-step will be more useful. I picked up a metal pan for $2.00 at a yard sale, RIT Dye for a couple of bucks a pack, a cheap pair of pliers and a disposable stir stick are the basic tools. Paper towels and window cleaner are needed, also.
This canopy is going to be Golden Yellow, if a darker hue is needed, a bit of Black will work. I used 1/2 pack of yellow dye and enough water to cover the canopy.
After mixing the dye with boiling water, remove and let cool for a few minutes. Protect the work area with newspaper.
Good Luck!
Ron

Thanks for the tutorial.

Have you ever tried using Future to tint your canopies? I've seen people have great success with both methods, the boil-in before the future method.

[Sky Sharkster]

Hello GRU,
I've never tried the Future method. How does it work? Is it like a wax or tinted coating?
Ron

[groundrushesup]

Originally Posted by Sky Sharkster

Hello GRU,
I've never tried the Future method. How does it work? Is it like a wax or tinted coating?
Ron

Yeah it is an acrylic floor wax that modelers often use - it dries clear and hard like a candy coat, and you can use stuff like food coloring and/or acrylic paints like Tamiya's translucents to get a good effect.

A friend of mine uses the RIT / boil method to lay down a base coat of color - the yellow like you used, and then future polish tinted with some Tamiya 'smoke' (translucent black) and Tamiya translucent gold to get the spectacularly realistic effect of that gold-tinted filter found on many a modern jet's canopy.

It is very cool. I think I'm gonna do it to my T-28's canopy when it gets here. I'll post pics if I remember

Future is also great at hiding scratches on clear plastic. Best thing is, it is like 6 bucks for a big ol' jug (found mine at Home Depot).

[Ramovan]

Great idea. I'm working on a winter project and would like to use this method with black dye for dark windows. Any experience with how black turns out?

[groundrushesup]

Originally Posted by Ramovan

Great idea. I'm working on a winter project and would like to use this method with black dye for dark windows. Any experience with how black turns out?

If I may... Depends on the base pigment. Some go a ruddy brown, while some go indigo-ish. My friend did find a kind of pigment that stayed relatively black-ish but I cant recall right now. I'll send him an email and ask.

[Sky Sharkster]

Hello Randy,
Yes, I've tried black dye, in fact the first few I did, I used black. GRU is right, if you only dip it a few seconds it's more of a reddish-brown, but after a couple more immersions it turns pale gray and if continued, eventually gets very dark, almost solid black.
Here's photos of one I did about 1/2 way to solid black. This is a Hobby Hanger kit of the Edge 540. The canopy supplied was much thicker material then the SIG canopies, so it took longer to absorb color;
Good Luck!
Ron

[Ramovan]

Originally Posted by Sky Sharkster

Hello Randy,
Yes, I've tried black dye, in fact the first few I did, I used black. GRU is right, if you only dip it a few seconds it's more of a reddish-brown, but after a couple more immersions it turns pale gray and if continued, eventually gets very dark, almost solid black.
Here's photos of one I did about 1/2 way to solid black. This is a Hobby Hanger kit of the Edge 540. The canopy supplied was much thicker material then the SIG canopies, so it took longer to absorb color;
Good Luck!
Ron

Sounds good - I think I'll try it. I want to tint the windows on a Top Flite Stinson Reliant I'm building. The kit comes with a flat piece of window material. Perhaps I'll try a test piece before doing the full sheet. Even turning out brown wouldn't be too bad. Your canopy look nice.