Dyeing canopies

[RC Storick]

It had been about 20 years sense I had done one. So I thought I would try my hand at it. The first go around was a disaster! I ruined 3 canopies right from the start. Water way too hot. I bought 2 more from Randy. This time I started to heat the water on the stove and instead of waiting for it to boil I started to dip right away. I kept dipping till my hand could not stand it any more. This seems to be the trick.

After dipping wash canopy off in could water.

You will notice I was using pliers in this photo. These are the ones that were ruined! I did the next batch bare handed. Thats what I used as a temp gage.

[captcurt]

After ruining a few, and also finding that some of the newer plastics don't take the dye very well, I started dusting them with paint on the inside.  It works very well and the color will match perfectly.  I have used the acrylic paints and smoke effect paint that the RC race car modellers use.  Haven't dyed one since.

FWIW

Curt

[RC Storick]

Some links from Walter Umland

http://www.builtrightflyright.com/MiscHelpPgs/hints.htm
 
http://www.builtrightflyright.com/MiscHelpPgs/HelpDocs/TintingCanopies3.pdf
 
http://www.builtrightflyright.com/MiscHelpPgs/HelpDocs/tintingcanopies.txt