Getting an even coat of smoke tint or clear colours over a large area...?

[Matt Bacon]

Anyone got any suggestions on how to lay down a transparent, even, non-distorting coat of a clear colour?

I'm finally getting back to the workbench (I hope) with the Jaguar XJ220. The XJ220 has a well-smoked sunroof, and in theory should also have blue-green tinted windows. I've done a few "smoked" windows notably these:

...but you can't really see clearly through them, and it doesn't really matter since you can see in through the main cabin windows, and all they are concealing is the "boot", really. The other times I've used the clear colours it's been on small parts like lights, or the odd cabin window on a helicopter, where the optical quality is a lot less noticeable.

The sunroof on the Jag is one of the main ways to view the cabin, and obviously if all the other windows are green-tinted, I need them to be as optically "clean" as possible as well. I've got Tamiya clear colours, and could try tinted Klear. The problem is whenever I've tried airbrushing either, I get a slightly "frosted" look.

Has anyone got any top tips for a foolproof way of tinting clear parts that leaves them as transparent as unpainted plastic...?

Any and all suggestions much appreciated.

bestest,

M

[Matt T.]

I haven't done it myself, but have read of others tinting windows by dipping them in a mixture of Future & Tamiya Smoke, then hanging them vertically and gently touching the bottom-most corner onto a paper towel.

[jbwelda]

to fix that frosty look have you tried spraying the inside of the glass instead of the outside?

I have found the Tamiya clears do about the best you can expect but I have never really gotten a perfect result. acceptable yes, but perfect, no. always some gradation of tint or something. I have also used (airbrushed) future tinted with the clear colors to thin them out some. again, close but not perfect.

about the transparency issue: you will never find a way to tint the plastic and retain its transparency, its always going to be reduced, the question is, by how much?

jb

[Mike_G]

Have you considered using automotive tint film?