Huey cabin roof windows - how to paint them green?

Testors Transparent Candy Emerald Green spray works great on them.  Spray them while still on the sprue then add them to the model.  Works great every time.

Thanks.

Is there an alternative to Testors?  

I'm in the UK and they don't  seem to be available in the UK.  And Ebay doesn't seem to have that particular one, and shipping from the US to the UK (most only ship to the US) seems to be relatively expensive (>$16) on the Testors paints that are on Ebay.

I'm thinking something like Humbrol or Revell or perhaps even Tamiya, although I don't recall seeing transparent paints by those brands.

Upon further searching I have found that Tamiya do a gloss clear green pot of acrylic paint (called MiniX25 or something), I've found one on Ebay for £1.60 + £2 shipping so I've ordered that.  Not sure of the shade of green, looks a bit dark but I will give it a go on some spare clear sprue and if it's any good I'll perhaps see if I can't use my dremel to gently remove the existing paint on the cabin roof windows I've already painted.

Tamiya also appear to do a translucent green spray for use on polycarbonate RC body shells, which as far as I can work would be similar to that Testors one, but as it's about £5+postage I'm not going to try that out as it's a bit expensive considering what I'll use it for.

Thanks for the tip though Gino, much appreciated, I thought it had to be something like a ready mixed spray or tin of clear green, that most people use to achieve that green window effect.

Last time I read an instruction booklet to find out what paints I need though. Lol.

Hello!

I usually use Tamiya Clear Green fot that. To get an even finish, it's good to thin it with water a little bit. Then it can be done with a paintbrush. Hope it helps, have a nice day

Paweł

Thanks, yes that helps.

Now I realise I need advice on removing the paint (Revell clear gloss+sea green acrylic paint).  If I do what I was thinking and use a grinding stone on my dremel it may remove the paint but it'll leave the window scratched, won't it?

Any tips on removing the paint from the window (I've just read somewhere else that toothpaste might be the answer?!)?

Note to self - test on spare sprue first...

Now this one is easy - you can use either brake fluid (my favourite) or a drain or oven cleaner -something with sodium hydroxide in it. This stuff will make the paint peel away. Always try on a sprue first, though! Good luck with your project, have a nice day

Paweł

Methyl hydrate (wood alcohol) works great for removing paint.

Hmm, OK, thanks.  I'll have to see if I can find something.  I don't have brake fluid (don't have a car for a start), nor do I have methyl hydrate.  I'm kind of hoping I don't have to go out and buy something (this helicopter project is costing me more than I'd like as it is).

I did buy some Fairy Power Spray a while back as it was rumoured to remove paint from Airsoft pistols, might give that a shot as it did kind of work as I recall.

Thanks again though guys, the help is much appreciated.

If is acrylic paint, Windex or any other cleaner with ammonia in it will strip it off.  Brake fluid and oven cleaner work best on enamel paints.  I don't know anything about the wood alcohol (I've actually never heard of it before).

I have had excellent results with the Tamiya Clear Green airbrushed, for just that purpose, US helicopter overhead windows. If you do several light coats, you can get the vibrant level of green you're looking for. As far as removing the old paint, if you were here stateside I would recommend using Testors/Polly Scale Easy Lift Off (ELO). But I do not know if that product is available in the UK.

 Hi & welcome to another Brit!

Be cautious with  Fairy Power Spray, Mr Muscle, Brake Fluid, etc, as these will badly mark transparent parts.

It will Shift Acrylic & most enamels though. 

You don't say if you were using Acrylic or Enamel?

If Acrylic, then get some Windolene (Windex in the US), IF you can find it!

Otherwise try some Tesco's own Brand Value cleaner, Key ingredient is the Ammonia surfectant, whatever that is. 

All is not lost if you used Enamels, but cleanup of the transparencies will be harder.

To repaint, Tamiya Clear Green, preferably sprayed, will do a nice job, If you want it darker, several thin coats. 

The Tamiya Clears can be further thinned with Future, or you can add food colouring to future (or Tamiya Clear),  

To get 5%, drip 19 drops of Future/Tamiya into an old film canister, then add one drop of food colouring to taste 

 good luck

Edit: You might be able to contact Revell to get a replacement clear sprue.

Hi. here is what I did on the top section of my 1/48 Wasp's cabin glazing to give it the blue tint.

I simply mixed a little blue (but green will do the same effect) food coloring into some Future (Pledge) ans airbrushed a few light coats to the inside of the canopy. Light coats helps to prevent pooling.

Theuns

Not sure that will work, the kit I've painted the cabin roof windows on is a ESCI UH-1D.  I'll see if the same parts from the Revell UH-1B/C kit I've got fit, if they do then yes I'll drop Revell a line as they were kind enough to supply the old Monogram UH-1C decals for free.

@Theuns - unfortunately I don't have an airbrush, and I've never used one.  So it's either spray can (which is expensive just for doing a couple of small pieces) or brush.

Thanks for the tip though, that canopy on the Wasp looks great.

I've used Easter egg coloring (food dye) to tint Future as Theuns suggests and, though I've not tried it, I think you would be able to brush it on - don't know about getting uniform color though.  I have dipped clear parts and If they're not on the model, dipping in green dyed Future will work and give a uniform color. I have brushed plain Future many times without problems - it has nice self-leveling properties

I think Tamiya carries clear green as well. Try that...

As I understand a mate of mine has done tinting with colored future and a flat soft brush, he accelerated the curing by using a heardrier to "boost" the future. In this way he got no pooling.

I think the trick with brushing future onto canopy or as a gloss decal coat on the model is to use a large flat and soft brush, I woul say atleast 1/2" (12mm) wide.

I have done it on a model and it works out well. I tint the inside of the canopy so that I can safely handle the outside without rubbing the color off. Seems very obvious I know LOL!

Try the brush idea, I think it will work well on your relatively flat windows. If you don;t like it just put it into more future to remove it.

Theuns

If you have to hand brush, I suggest painting only the inner surface in the clear green. You may want to dip the part in Future after the paint has had time to dry and cure.  I hand brushed this Huey's top windows inner surfaces 25 or so some odd years ago when I built it...

these ones on my Kiowa were airbrushed and then dipped

People keep mentioning Future.  Please could someone tell me exactly what that is (or give me a link to some) as I'm not finding it via google.

I'm assuming it's some kind of clear gloss varnish?

Nice hog and Kiowa stikpusher.

Actually I just found it, it's Pledge furniture polish.  Think I'll give that a miss, not worth £12 for just a few windows.

www.amazon.co.uk/.../B000ARPH4C

One wonders when it will become economical for manufacturers to just use a clear green plastic for the greenhouse windows on Hueys, Kiowas and Loaches.   For what it's worth, the Testors Transparent Emerald Green has proven to be the best option for me.  I have tried numerous other products, but none are as good IMHO.

  Ray

Raven Morpheus

Actually I just found it, it's Pledge furniture polish.  Think I'll give that a miss, not worth £12 for just a few windows.

www.amazon.co.uk/.../B000ARPH4C

Thank you Raven.

That bottle has many more uses than tinting a few windows... if you build lots of aircraft and use it on every one of them for canopies, attaching small clear parts, overall gloss coat for decaling, etc, it will last you MANY years...  

Well After a couple more Hueys, and a Bell 47 I don't really plan on painting any further models of this sort, not for a very long while at least.

And I didn't clock the shipping price on Amazon - £14.97.  Taking the total cost to near £30 (that's nearly $45).

I just can't justify that sort of cost for a few windows.

Also looking around I'm not sure that same stuff is available elsewhere in the UK - there's only that seller on Amazon by the look of it.  Which would explain the shipping costs, as it's shipped from the US (the sellers address is NY).

Although having said that I've just come across this on Amazon - www.amazon.co.uk/.../ref=sr_1_1

Same stuff?  A post on the page linked to below seems to indicate Klear is the UK name for Future?

www.wyrd-games.net/showthread.php

Klear is indeed the same stuff as Future from your neck of the woods.

 Ray  

Aha!  I'll go with that then, a little over £5 is much more agreeable than nearly £30.

I'll have to brush it on though. Not sure how that would go on the whole model, think I'll leave it to just use on small parts like the windows.  I really should invest in an airbrush I guess, but again it comes down to cost vs usage...

Couple of quick questions regarding what stikpusher has said -

Overall gloss coat for decaling - I wasn't planning on putting anything over the top of my paint job on the UH-1D, which is Humbrol Matt OD (#155), or any other Hueys as they'll all be matt OD, I was simply going to put the decals straight on the top of it and then paint around the edges so you can't see the clear edge.  That's the way I always used to do it when I assembled Airfix kits as a kid.  Is that incorrect, to me it seems odd to put a gloss layer over what is supposed to be a matt paint job?

Attaching small clear parts - don't quite understand that, my usual thought process when I see clear parts is to fix them on with polystyrene cement (very carefully of course), would I in fact, for example, be better off securing such pieces as the cabin roof windows with Future, and if so how exactly does that work?

You can tell it's been years since I did anything but paint Games Workshop miniatures (and probably not as well as I'd like to think looking around at what others do), as I don't know diddly about painting this sort of model kit...

Klear/Future/Pledge/Pledge with Future shine....

All the same stuff

Well some potential good news.

I read on a blog somewhere (helokit.com I think) that Italeri took over the production of ESCI kits from 2000 (most here probably already knew this).

So I dropped Italeri a line with a view to obtaining a spare windows sprue for the ESCI UH-1D that I have.

Anyhoo Italeri emailed me back this AM with an instructions sheet for kit #1247 asking me to identify the parts, turns out that kit (if it's still available) looks just like the ESCI kit rotorwash sent me.

So I might get some spare windows after all.  Still waiting for them to get back to me with a quote on the parts for the M60 door guns which I gave them the part numbers for the other day though...

I contacted Revell of Germany regarding spare windows for the Huey Hog, just in case I mess them up when I come to do them, and apparently they are no longer available.  I also contacted Revell of America regarding the same parts but in the US version (which is the USMC version without the red tail), so hopefully they'll have them, they had the decals lying around and were able to send me some.  I suspect it won't be the case though, easier to print some decals than run off 1 sprue...

Oh and the Tamiya clear green I ordered arrived today. Yay.

Not so good, I just looked up Italeri's kit #1247 and it's a 1/72 kit.  I think they overlooked in my email where I specifically stated 1/48.  Hmm.  Oh well, have to see how this goes...