How to do window tinting?

[Coelacanth]

I did a forum search for "tinted windows" and surprisingly, no useful results appeared. How do you do a smoke window tint on a lexan body?

[Eau Rouge]

Thinned down black and spray it on light, even coats. You don't need much to make them look tinted. Mix black with Parma's clear middle coat for the best results.

[Coelacanth]

Is there a way to do it without an airbrush? Doh...

[scr8p]

go buy real automotive tint and apply it like you would on a car window. then you don't have to spray anything.

[Eau Rouge]

SpazStix makes a window tint in a rattle can but I have never used it before, so I can't comment on the performance or appearance. Tamiya made a rattle can in their Lexan sprays, too. I think it was called Smoke or something like that. I can't get either anywhere around here so I don't use them to paint.

[Coelacanth]

Thanks for the leads, I'll have to give one of those ideas a try. If anyone else has suggestions that worked, I'd appreciate hearing about them.

[shodog]

if you go to a window tinting place, they would have plenty of scraps they could give you

[Coelacanth]

if you go to a window tinting place, they would have plenty of scraps they could give you

I'm hesitant of using the stick-on window tint because, on nearly every car I've seen with tinting, it eventually bubbles and looks like a$$. I'm thinking with the inherent flexibility of lexan, this would be an even greater possibility...but I don't speak from actual experience, just observation.

[Coelacanth]

I should mention I've used Krylon Stained Glass, which is great for tinting a clear surface with a translucent color, but it only comes in red, yellow & blue. I've never seen something similar in smoke acrylic.

http://www.krylon.com/products/stained_glass_color

[DHood]

The Tamiya smoke works great but don't use their window tint, it sucks.

[shirochanwrx]

Real automotive tint works great and costs next to nothing for a big roll at Walmart, Autozone, etc. I've used it a couple of times and never had a problem with bubbles ... do it like it says on the label with some water with a couple drops of dish soap and it works great.

Plus, real window is tough, flexible stuff. Strips of it are great for protecting / reinforcing wheel wells, although I haven't used it on anything that takes the beating that the rear wheel arches do in short course bodies.

[Coelacanth]

I picked up something called VHT NightShades, which is intended for smoking out taillight/headlight lenses. I'll have to test it before using it, of course, but it's good for plastics. I'm mostly concerned what it will do if sprayed over top of already-painted lexan paint...of course, I could mask off the already-painted areas, but it'd be interesting to see if it attacks existing paint.

[Coelacanth]

Has anybody tried Pactra Window Tint? It's made specifically for Lexan.

http://www.testors.com/products/137987

[vwjuice]

I was at the lhs last night and they had Tamiya window tint in the spray can. Like the pactra stuff. They also had Tamiya transparent paint that could be used for doing colored window tinting.

[LTO_Dave]

I picked up something called VHT NightShades, which is intended for smoking out taillight/headlight lenses. I'll have to test it before using it, of course, but it's good for plastics. I'm mostly concerned what it will do if sprayed over top of already-painted lexan paint...of course, I could mask off the already-painted areas, but it'd be interesting to see if it attacks existing paint.

I used the VHT stuff on my RC10 runner body with no issues. Practice on some lexan scraps first...it goes on heavy and requires a very light coat.