CANOPY TINTING

Is there any way to effectively and inexpensively tint
a canopy? If so, where would I have it done and what
does it involve?
GORDY

I would like to know this as well. I used to tint my plexiglas canopies
on my Hobbie Hawk RC sailplanes. I would heat up water with yellow food
tint and put the canopy in the boiling water for 20 seconds. I'd pull
it out and wollaa it was bright yellow. I'd be to scared to dip my
sailplane canopy in hot water. Too afraid of distortion.

It would be great to be able to do something on the canopy to help
knock out some of the UV's on some of these older gliders. I don't even
know if I can replace my LS-6 canopy with a New UV/tinted canopy.
Sunscreen is cheaper, that's for sure.

Thanks,
Jerz

Gordon Schubert wrote:
Is there any way to effectively and inexpensively tint
a canopy? If so, where would I have it done and what
does it involve?
GORDY

An original LS6 clear canopy should be made from proper
mecaplex which filters a lot of UV already - about
95% according to an article on the DG website.

Tinted Mecaplex has the tint right through the perspex.
A home made surface tint on a clear glider canopy
could be an expensive mistake if it goes wrong.

John Galloway




At 16:30 03 February 2005, wrote:
I would like to know this as well. I used to tint my
plexiglas canopies
on my Hobbie Hawk RC sailplanes. I would heat up water
with yellow food
tint and put the canopy in the boiling water for 20
seconds. I'd pull
it out and wollaa it was bright yellow. I'd be to scared
to dip my
sailplane canopy in hot water. Too afraid of distortion.

It would be great to be able to do something on the
canopy to help
knock out some of the UV's on some of these older gliders.
I don't even
know if I can replace my LS-6 canopy with a New UV/tinted
canopy.
Sunscreen is cheaper, that's for sure.

Thanks,
Jerz

Gordon Schubert wrote:
Is there any way to effectively and inexpensively
tint
a canopy? If so, where would I have it done and what
does it involve?
GORDY

Earlier, John Galloway wrote:

...made from proper mecaplex...

Just to be clear about such things, Mecaplex is the company in
Switzerland that makes canopy transparencies for many European and
other glider companies:

http://www.mecaplex.ch

Acrylic (such as Rohn and Haas Plexiglas(tm)), and less often
polycarbonate (such as DuPont Lexan(tm)) are what they make the canopy
transparencies out of.

Mecaplex also makes most of the sliding windows and rails used in
glider canopies. For these products, they usually use a standard
acrylic casting with "Mecaplex" embossed on it.

Contrary to popular belief, Mecaplex canopies are quite cost-effective
when ordered in moderate quantities such as a box of ten. They only get
expensive when the sailplane manufacturer adds their markup, and then
the distributor adds their markup plus intercontinental freight, and
then the installer adds their fees plus local shipping charges. Then a
$700 bubble becomes a $3200 proposition.

One place that seems to specialize in UV-blocking acrylic canopy
transparencies is Thermotec:

http://home.inreach.com/thermotc/

Be prepared to supply your own tooling, or pay their rates for
developing tooling to make one-off articles.

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com

Hi Bob,

About 4 years ago I stopped at the Mecaplex Stand at the
Freidrichshafen Aero and asked specificaly the question regarding UV.
They were very explicit and indicated that all their canopys were made
of materials that were UV blocking. They followed up by sending me a
copy of their catalog which listed that feature for their full range of
materials. As I remember they were all in the high 90 % range. I am
sure, if asked, they would happily supply this data.

Lorry (LJ)