I got the italeri 1/48 F-22 . I googled some pix and some raptors seem to have gold tinted canopies whyle othere appear to have “normal” canopies.
What is the standard?
Thanx
Theuns
It has radar reduction coating
Stealth canopy[edit]
Have Glass is the code name for a series of RCS reduction measures for the F-16 fighter. Its primary aspect is the addition of an indium-tin-oxide layer to the gold tinted cockpit canopy. This is reflective to radar frequencies, while it may seem odd, adding a radar reflective coating actually reduces the plane’s visibility to radar. An ordinary canopy would let radar signals straight through where they would strike the many edges and corners inside and bounce back strongly to the source, the reflective layer dissipates these signals instead. Overall, Have Glass reduces an F-16’s RCS (radar-cross section) by some 15 percent. The gold tint also reduces glare from the sun to provide better visibility.
I know, that’s regarding the F-16, but would imagine that it’s a standard thing on the F-22. It very well may be the angle that shows more gold tint in some pics than it does in others (???).
Dug a little more…
"The canopy of the F-22s cockpit has a thin layer of gold on it to keep emissions from entering or leaving the cockpit. "…Truth???
Interesting tidbit…
“There is no chance of a post-ejection canopy-seat-pilot collision as the canopy (with frame) weighs slightly more on one side than the other. When the canopy is jettisoned, the weight differential is enough to make it slice nearly 90 degrees to the right as it clears the aircraft.”
Exactly, Fermis. The best way to explain this is that a flat object that returns radar is like a person in a dark room running from side to side with a plate of glass while a person with a flash light tries to pick them out. They’ll get two returns; one incoming and one exiting. And depending on the frequency of the signal, the faster; the closer the returns and therefore the position of the target, will be.
A person running from side to side with a basket ball will get a constant return the whole way.
OK, so gold it is then,just interesting to see it less visable in some pix than others…now to try and simulate it.
Theuns
The Revell 1/72 F-22 has a yellow tinted canopy to simulate the gold.
I will give that a try, food coloring in future sprayed on…gold would have been cooler but I have not seen gold food color yet.
Take a look on Youtube for a video on the Fox 3 Custom Models page. He did a cool technique for coloring canopy glass. In his example he did it on a cockpit for an EA-6B. It’s quite a few steps, but the finished product is well worth it.
will do thanx
I’ve seen Alcad bottles labeled “mirrored gold for lexan,” would that work for this?
It might in a very light coat. I would try shooting it on some scrap clear before I messed up a canopy with it. I like to test any new painting technique on scrap before ruining a kit. Just my thoughs…
1 part Jacquard # 674 Interference Gold and 9 parts future acrylic. It’s a very fine pigment.
Paint onto canopy. has gold tint and a pearl hue from various angles. For F-16’s, EA-6B’s, F-22, and any others.
They have Green, Blue, Violet and red. Green or violet works great for HUD’s.
Green works great for radar screens in the cockpit.
Purple or blue for coated lenses on tanks or ships.
The interference is transparent and makes the canopy look coated instead of painted just like the real aircraft.
Add violet to Tamiya smoke and paint lenses on FLIR or IR heads on missiles.
Available at most arts and crafts stores.
More info and details at:
Paint or airbrush? I’m working on a Hasegawa F22 and tried this on your recommendation, airbrushed the kit’s darkened canopy with the interference gold/ pledge mixture, let it dry, then dipped in pure pledge to seal the canopy and regain some of the optical quality lost during the airbrushing (it can look a little “fuzzy”).
It took a lot of testing to find how much pigment was right. Too much and the “interference” part stops working and the canopy is just gold under all light. Too little and you don’t get the effect, but still reduce the clarity of the canopy.
Guess I’ll know in 24 hours when the pledge is dry, but it’s looking pretty sweet right now. Pigment is so fine that even diluted 10x it isn’t too grainy. The gold is subtle, but just seeing the canopy change colour as the light dances over it is worth the effort.