Tinting Canopies

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Techniques
1

I’m building a 1/48 F-102, mostly inspired by the fantastic Bear Hunt article and video a couple of months ago. I also recently bought from a local artist, Paul Wentzel a painting depicting a very similar Arctic encounter, which I’m planning on duplicating in model form.

My reference materials suggest that the front part of the windscreen is a smoke/blue tint. I know the standard method is to add Tamiya clear smoke to Future and do the usual dip and harden until you get the shade you want.

I’ve encountered a problem–I’m getting a gooey coagulated color mix which I can’t get clear or even. (Fortunately, I’ve tried this on the sprues so I haven’t ruined any parts yet!)

A couple of questions and possibilities…

(1) My Future has been in my inventory for about a year. Could it be old and a new solution would work?

(2) To get the blue/smoke color, I’ve mixed the Tamiya Smoke (X-19) with some Mr. Hobby Blue Smoke (H96). Are they incompatible, and is this causing the goo?

(3) Are there any Tamiya only or Mr. Hobby only colors that would get the effect I’m looking for? Or should I just do one or the other and let it go at that. The Mr. Hobby was my first experiment but even with multiple coats seemed to light for the proper effect.

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.

Fred

fbshipley2@cox.net

2

If it were me, I’d mix up some Tamiya Smoke and Tamiya Clear Blue and airbrush them on.

Another option…blue food coloring in the Future?

3

Thanks, just gto some blue and black food coloring. Also found some Tamiya clear blue, which I didn’t think I had, so I should be in good shape. We’ll see what works best.

Fred

4

If you are getting a congealed mess, probably not because the Future is old, but an incompatibility between the Future and the Tamiya.

5

[dto:] Works perfectly for me & if you find the colour is too strong, adding some Future will tone it down.

& as Hawkeye said, the problem is most likely incompatibility between the paints being used.

6

I’ve had good results mixing Future with Black India Ink.

7

“” (2) To get the blue/smoke color, I’ve mixed the Tamiya Smoke (X-19) with some Mr. Hobby Blue Smoke (H96). Are they incompatible, and is this causing the goo? “”

Problem is most likely to be the Mr Hobby/Tamiya gooping.

As others suggest food colouring is good with future, but I’d be inclined to add tiny amounts of blue to Tamiya smoke to get the shade you want, then add future to get the tint you want.

It’s always easier to add another dip/spray of a colour than it is to correct a too dark application, so take it easy.