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Steve Brown

Well Known Member
Finally got tired of replacing the duct tape / aluminum foil shade on my back window.

I read the various posts on Plexiglas painting and it seemed like 2 part polyurethane would be best. Unfortunately, what I have read elsewhere is that it should only be sprayed while wearing a positive pressure respirator (which I don't have) and I didn't want to brush it on.

So, I used Rust-oleum "Plastic". I took a few pictures of the process and outcome. The white on the inside is duct tape residue which came right off with WD40:

http://brown-web.net/Flying/painting.htm

Here is what I did:
-Masked off the area
-Sanded the surface with 600 grit sandpaper
-Cleaned with mineral spirits
-Dried well
-Put on 2 coats of black. 20 minutes between coats
-Put on 3 coats of white. 20 minutes between coats
-Let dry one hour then removed the masking
-Let it sit a week, flew yesterday

That is what I did and so far the paint is sticking. I'm not recommending this procedure until I see if its still sticking a year from now.

That last step is probably not necessary, but the can says its a week to full strength.

It blocks light well, but there are some slightly thin areas. Nothing that makes me want to do it over, but next time I'll go 3 coats of black and 4 coats of white.

The white is very reflective and was much cooler to the touch than my unpainted aluminum in the sun yesterday.

I wanted black on the inside to reduce reflections inside the cockpit. This works ok, but the black is a bit more glossy than I wanted. Next time I'll use 400 grit sandpaper (or bigger) so the black will be less glossy.

"Next time" is if this holds up for a while I'm going to do the top of the canopy and take off the Kruger shade. I'll probably do this next oil change if its working out.
 
Looks great

With the black being on the exterior, isn't the interior surafce of the window going to be reflective regardless of how "gloss" or "flat" the paint is?
 
Steve Brown said:
I wanted black on the inside to reduce reflections inside the cockpit. This works ok, but the black is a bit more glossy than I wanted. Next time I'll use 400 grit sandpaper (or bigger) so the black will be less glossy.

"Next time" is if this holds up for a while I'm going to do the top of the canopy and take off the Kruger shade. I'll probably do this next oil change if its working out.
Click to expand...


It's a little late now, but another method is to paint the inside of the canopy rather than the outside. The plexi will give you the gloss, even if you use "flat" paint. In fact, you can brush rather than spraying, and the outside gloss will still be perfect. It should be much more durable long term.

I wonder what brushed zolatone over brushed white on the inside would look like?
 
The sanding is for flattening

Guys,

The sanding externally is to flatten the internal finish. Just the opposite of "so shinny I can see myself"

By sanding the window rough, it causes all the little surfaces to point different directions, scattering the light.

600 grit was too fine. I may go as big as 200 when I do the canopy.

I might some plxiglass to test various grits.
 
Paint the top of the canopy?

Steve,

Did you end up painting the top of the canopy also, as you mentioned in your post? If you did, do you have pictures?

Regards,

Tonny.
 
I was considering something similar to this on my canopy. I was concerned that the plexi would not tolerate the Imron (polyurethane) paint since it has solvents in it. Any thoughts about the interaction between the two?
 
As most of you who have seen my -6 know, I painted the top of my canopy in 1993. It still looks great.
After much research and trial & error, I found that poly-urethane (Jet-Glo in my case) sprayed directly onto the plexi works best. I tried many primers, but never found one that worked.
 
Spotty Shade?

Anyone know how to make the spotty car windshield shade that they put between the fold down sun shades and around the edge of the glass to hide the glue line? That would be neat on the back window and overhead to provide some shade but still be see through. A bit like some Enterprise Rental Shuttle windows at airports - and Black Marias or Paddy Wagons for that matter - looks solid from the outside but still see through from the inside.

Jim Sharkey
 
Those are usually on the outside, and are known as "vehicle wraps". In general it's vinyl -- I'd be wary about outside application at the speed our planes fly at.
 
I've thought of trying vinyl wrap on a portion of the RV-7 tip up canopy when I get to that point. I'm assuming there is a local dealer that can help design, produce and maybe install it. I had some exterior vinyl decals on the RV-8 have they looked/performed great.
 
Back window shade

I too wanted some sunshade, but one I could spot traffic thru!!!!
...I'm not sure the IS such a thing. some auto window tint that is about 20% tint ( passes 80% of the light) is about as dark as I want to go.
THe perforated window film I'm sure would work, easier to apply on the outside, for sure. but be forewarned, you can only see thru it when your eye is near it. Even though it is perhaps 50% holes, you will not be able to really identify objects when looking across the cabin, or thru the canopy top at an angle!
 
Mel

Would you please email pictures of your painted canopy to me? I am getting close to painting and would like to see how you did it. Thanks. Jim.
 
Sure Jim. Give me your e-mail address. I can't seem to add an attachment through this medium.
 
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