Thomas Schultz

Looking for some information on how to paint a canopy.

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

You can either paint the inside or the outside of the canopy.

The best way is to paint the inside of the canopy. That way the paint is protected from the exhaust residue.

If you do not have a steady hand or there is a lot of painting to do, you may be better off masking and painting the outside.

If you are painting the inside almost any paint for plastics will work fine. If you are painting the outside, use a fuel proof paint (ACRYLIC lacquer/enamel are fuel proof ), but test it on a scrap piece of the canopy first to insure it is compatible with the plastic (don't ask me how I know about that ).

Jim Thomerson

I painted a canopy inside with aluminum spray can paint. If you looked at the canopy from the inside it was nice and silver, from the outside it was muddy grey.

Jim

d_bodary

My Feedback: (85)

For a transparent canopy use pactra candy paints such as purple red or blue. maybe other colors i don't know. i have tried the spray cans and they go on heavy if you want a darker tint that is fine. thinning it 50/50 and spraying it with an airbrush is the way to go if you want a real light tint. if you can only use spray cans leave the spray can in some hot tap water for about ten minutes before you spray so the paint atomizes better. i use saran wrap and tape it over the outside of the canopy so i can see the tint build up. if you are going to paint it black pactra also sells a window tint. these paints can be located in the hobby shop in the rc car department. I only spray from the inside that way i don't have to worry about scratching the paint. Also i used a pearl paint once before and it looked pretty good allthough it was not transparent. Hope these ideas help

majortom-RCU

My Feedback: (40)

I like an opaque black canopy. I use acrylic paint, applied with a brush to the inside. It dries quickly, and what shows up on the outside is a nice clean shiny black.

Bob101

Like someone mentioned above pactra pants made to paint lexan bodies of R/C cars/trucks. Not only do they make transparent and candy colors they make actual "tint" that's used to simulate window tint and that is what I use. Spray it on the inside (mask the outside first) but remember - by the time you look at it and you think it's dark enough - youv'e got it too dark because off the plane the canopy is backlit and it will take a lot of tint to appear tinted. However, when you stick it on the plane with no light behind it - it will appear as black paint. So my advice is to a few thin coats and place it on the plane or something solid to eyeball and see what it looks like before you get it too dark.