Len Geisler Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I am working on getting parts together for my gasser pick up build and wanted my glass and dash to closely match in color. Any one ever try to dye the glass with RIT Cloth dye???? I wanna give this a try......... Let me know your thouhgts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaronw Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I am working on getting parts together for my gasser pick up build and wanted my glass and dash to closely match in color. Any one ever try to dye the glass with RIT Cloth dye???? I wanna give this a try......... Let me know your thouhgts I don't know about using RIT but in Matt Swan's article on Future he talks about adding food color to tint windows. http://www.swannysmodels.com/TheCompleteFuture.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I haven't done it myself, but I've seen articles about using RIT to dye kit glass. Apparently it works pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAL Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 I am working on getting parts together for my gasser pick up build and wanted my glass and dash to closely match in color. Any one ever try to dye the glass with RIT Cloth dye???? I wanna give this a try......... Let me know your thouhgts Maybe it depends on the particular clear parts. I heard that you could, too, and I try it but all I ever made was a mess of a pot. So from experience, NO it doesn't work. It just beads up and rolls off. I spent a fair amount of time trying different things to make it work but couldn't come up with a concoction that worked - not even something that worked a little bit or kind of worked, or even worked but not real well. It just didn't work at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry P. Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Apparently the trick is to use very hot water...not so hot that it'll distort the kit parts, but as hot as possible. Then you have to let the clear parts soak in the dye...it's not just a quick dip. I'm not sure how long the soak should be, but I'd put the part in the dye and check the progress every couple of minutes. It may take quite a while for the dye to get the "glass" as tinted as you want. The good thing about this process is, that unlike spraying transparent paint on the kit glass, the dye actually gets into the plastic...it won't scratch or rub off. Like I said, I've never actually tried this technique but I've read about it. Another way to go to get "tinted" glass is to use colored acetate sheet. Of course it depends on whether or not you can find colored acetate in the shade you want your "glass' to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAL Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Apparently the trick is to use very hot water...not so hot that it'll distort the kit parts, but as hot as possible. Then you have to let the clear parts soak in the dye...it's not just a quick dip. I'm not sure how long the soak should be, but I'd put the part in the dye and check the progress every couple of minutes. It may take quite a while for the dye to get the "glass" as tinted as you want. The good thing about this process is, that unlike spraying transparent paint on the kit glass, the dye actually gets into the plastic...it won't scratch or rub off. Like I said, I've never actually tried this technique but I've read about it. Another way to go to get "tinted" glass is to use colored acetate sheet. Of course it depends on whether or not you can find colored acetate in the shade you want your "glass' to be. yeah, I actaully did it on the stove top at low temp - much lower than RIT recommends - but as high as I could go without melting the part, and had it in for 1/2 hr at one point. I even tried heating putting the part in and letting it sit overnight. Not even a hint of tint. AFAIK it just doesn't work. I can't think of anything that I haven't tried to make it work. Time in the dye. Temp Iso lightly roughing up the clear different ratios of dye and water and I cannot even remember all what I tried it was some time ago, but I did try for over a week before giving up on it. If someone has indeed got this to work I would sure like to know how. Maybe I overlooked something - however I highly doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom Zoom Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I saw a test of RIT dye on kit glass a number of years ago by Tim Kolankiewicz and Tommy May, and those guys can build circles around most of us. They melted a few parts before figuring out how hot/how long to dunk the parts for success. It sounded like a complete fiasco and hassle; also because the clear parts might warp at different temps depending on manufacturer. I think it's probably a lot better to tint Future w/food coloring and dip the clear part in that. You can easily remove Future...you can't remove warp from clear parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
novadose71 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I ruined two sets of windows for the AMT Concept Camaro with hot water and RIT. The tint actually absorbed(?) into the glass and polished out nicely, but the warpage was a too much to overcome, thicker kit windows might not warp as easily. Then I had to explain to the wife that I had to purchase a third kit for another set of "glass". 40 bucks just to end up with clear windows in the end. I might try the tinted Future on my 56 Victoria glass, sounds like a good idea. Oh yeah, and Bob's right, warp is very hard(impossible) to remove from clear parts, I've tried, ask my wife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyclaw Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 you can easily "tint" the clear parts by applying tamiya clear acrylic colors with an airbrush....you will have to mix them down with tamiya clear; and thin with alcohol; but great results can be readily had; with a minimum of effort........matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kasteer Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 I tried a little black food coloring in some future for the t-tops on my 79 camaro. I didn't have an airbrush so they may work better, but brushing in on an d hoping for it to self level doesn't work. Had dark and light spots and the black food coloring actually had a green tint to it. Needless to say, I cleaned it up and the t-tops are clear... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Geisler Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 Guys.... Thanks for all the input, sounds like I am going acetate sheet hunting.....I may give the future method a shot also... I will post some pics once I get there.... Thanks again.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornpatch Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 Hi all The main problem with using the Rit Dye on the windsheilds is that they are a hard plastic with a sheen on them. Rit can not adhere to it, you need to take the sheen off with a lite sanding, not hard just enough to get it unshiny. Heat up the water just hot enough to desolve the dye, stir real good, let cool so not to warp windsheild, put in for tint, checking often so as to get the right color. After color is achevied, let dry throughly and make sure dye is set. put on 2 coats of Future. Windsheild should look like tinted glass. Thats the way I have done it a couple of times and had good success with it, the trick is to get the glass so it will absorb the dye. Rit Dye is a cloth stain it needs something to grab on to, and it wont hold to smooth surfaces. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnut509 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 ok it sounds a little messy AND IT IS but u can take a sharpie apart and smash all the ink onto a sponge and just wipe it on the clear parts they make plenty of sharpie lke markers with all types of colors and it doesnt matter if the "glass"is shiny or not it will grab rite on just make shure u wipe the whole part in one pass or it will streak. also it has to be a really fine sponge. then clear it. looks sweet and u can tint any color u can find in a sharpie or other perm marker. i suggest practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len Geisler Posted February 11, 2008 Author Share Posted February 11, 2008 ok it sounds a little messy AND IT IS but u can take a sharpie apart and smash all the ink onto a sponge and just wipe it on the clear parts they make plenty of sharpie lke markers with all types of colors and it doesnt matter if the "glass"is shiny or not it will grab rite on just make shure u wipe the whole part in one pass or it will streak. also it has to be a really fine sponge. then clear it. looks sweet and u can tint any color u can find in a sharpie or other perm marker. i suggest practice. HMMM Interesting....... I may have to try this one...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnut509 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 HMMM Interesting....... I may have to try this one...... be careful!! u only get one shot at it if its not rite its ruined no way to reverse it and i have tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wingnut509 Posted February 11, 2008 Share Posted February 11, 2008 HMMM Interesting....... I may have to try this one...... be careful!! u only get one shot at it if its not rite its ruined no way to reverse it and i have tried. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Metallic Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 For those of you wanting to try the RIT dye technique here are a few tips. I've actually done this, so I'm not just hypothisizing(is that a word?) 1)Buy yourself a cheap/used pot to heat the dye in. Try yard sales or thrift shops. 2)Buy a cheap mesh strainer from the cooking section of your favorite store. If you can find a plastic one that would be best so it doesn't transfer the heat to your clear part. The strainer is to keep your part from making contact with the sides of the hot pan which will cause melting or warpage. 3) Follow the directions on the RIT package for preparing the dye 4) A light "polishing" is a good idea to give the dye something to soak into. Use one of those very high # polishing clothes or the buffing parts of a ladies manicure stick. I originally read about this method in a magazine, and gave it a try. Longer soaking makes for a darker tint, so monitor your progress, but each successize dye session reduces it's effectivness. I did this on the glass roof insert for AMT's 56 Ford, and it came out pretty good, but it was the wrong color in the end, so i never used it and did not take pics of the results. I would be more inclined to try the tinting Future technique because it is reversible, but the RIT dye tinting can be done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lownslow Posted February 17, 2008 Share Posted February 17, 2008 did this with decal paper i sprayed candy orange over clear decal sheet then layed the decal behind the glass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantrix Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 If you are just needing a flat piece, try using plastic shim stock. It's used by machinists and engineers and it comes in a wide variety of colors (each color designating a size) and some are transparent. This was done with it. I have also seen transparent green and yellow. I've no idea where you would go for this, I pulled mine from the trash at work. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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