Tinting windows .... (yes, I've used the search button...)

Best choice:  Tamiya X-19 Smoke, a neutral transparent gray acrylic.

Next best:  Future mixed with watercolor pigment.  Use the stuff in the tube, usually found in the artists oil paint section of the art store, and be sure its "watercolor" pigment, not oil, latex or acrylic.  For "smoke", use Lamp Black (neutral, slightly greenish blue tint), Ivory Black (yellowish tint) or Paynes Gray (blue tint). 

Phil

Thanks for those suggestions guys. I'll have to look for the watercolor tint next time I'm at my LHS. I don't think that I'll go w/ window tint as I would only be using maybe a square inch of it.

Again thanks for the suggestions, please keep the ideas coming ...

... however, remember in original post, I can't get the clear tint paint in my area ... unless I order it online. But, since I only need to paint two small windows, I don't really want to wait on it.

agentg wrote:

If you have a craft store like Michaels, Hobby Lobby etc. I believe Valspar makes a spray bomb of what you need. It's a BIG can but hey, ya gotta do watcha gotta do.

Hmm ... never heard of that. Will have to check that out. Thanks agentg.

They actually do make a black food coloring. I would use that as a last resort or just an experiment though...not sure how well that would work.

I second the use of real window tint film. It's easy to use on large, relatively flat pieces like model car 'glass'. It looks pretty goood and one roll will last forever, too.

Hmm.... I'm glad for all the discussion this has brought up. It seems that there are definatly more ways to do this than I thought, but with a lot of mediums that I have no experience working with. With that, I think that I'm going to go for the Future mixed with black food coloring .... never mixed the stuff, but use Future all the time.

If I wasn't in the middle of a build (or two) I'd give all these methods a try and do a write-up for it just so the forums have something to so readers in the Future ... pun intended.

Thanks again guys, for all your help.

Silverback wrote:

Best choice:  Tamiya X-19 Smoke, a neutral transparent gray acrylic. Next best:  Future mixed with watercolor pigment.  Use the stuff in the tube, usually found in the artists oil paint section of the art store, and be sure its "watercolor" pigment, not oil, latex or acrylic.  For "smoke", use Lamp Black (neutral, slightly greenish blue tint), Ivory Black (yellowish tint) or Paynes Gray (blue tint).  Phil

Phil, did you test just ink? I have used with Future, works fine and the result is like Tamiya Smoke. You can use green, red...etc  

Phil, did you test just ink?

I have had the best luck with Swan (brand) "India Ink".  My 1962 bottle dried up a while back, and the product seems to have gone missing from stockist shelves.  Glass stains and acetate inks simply devour clear plastic, while oil paints, latex and acrylic pigments do not play well with Future (at least not for me).  I tried McCormick (brand) food colors in Future, but the color never set, which lead to the experiments with water color pigments.

Grumbacher Academy Artists' Watercolor (brand) with Future works just fine.  I've used Payne's Gray, Sepia, Royal Purple and Pthalo Green to make acceptable tints.  I'm toying with the idea of using a water colors in a Future base to do a stained glass window for a diorama (just for grins, you unnerstand).

Tamiya (or Gunze Sanyo) transparent paints are the way to go, but sometimes they are not available, or they just do not have the color you want.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Definately some good help here. I hope that someone else in the future can use this thread as well.

I ended up mixing a little bit of Model Master's Interior Black w/ Future. Spraying it lightly w/ an airbrush gave me the look that I wanted. Its not perfect as if I were to use one of the tint paints/ sprays, but it gave me what I was looking for w/o having to jump through hoops just to get ahold of the "correct" stuff.

Thanks again all.

jrherald420 wrote:

has any body used VHT Nightshades before??? its made for smoking headlighs and tail lights on real cars. I have a can of it somewhere, i just might try it sometime.

That is a great Idea, I have 2 half used cans sitting here. Guess they are going down to the bench!

HawkeyeHobbies wrote:

Simple...food coloring and Future, sprayed on in light coats until you have the desired level of tint. If you screw up you can easily remove it. Just a drop of food coloring to a cup of Future.

i understand what you are saying but VHT's Nightshades is a sprayable tint thats hard to screw up, plus if you already have a can of it why go out and buy future and food coloring????

jrherald420 wrote:

HawkeyeHobbies wrote: Simple...food coloring and Future, sprayed on in light coats until you have the desired level of tint. If you screw up you can easily remove it. Just a drop of food coloring to a cup of Future.   i understand what you are saying but VHT's Nightshades is a sprayable tint thats hard to screw up, plus if you already have a can of it why go out and buy future and food coloring????

In my case it was the opposite .... I didn't have VHT's Nightshades, but I did have FC and Future .... ahhh .... too-che'.... HAHA!!!

BTW .... I'm assuming that you can get that VHT stuff from any automotive place!?!

Most Autozones, O'Rileys  and Advanced Auto Parts eitheer have it in stock or can order it. I bought mine from Summit Racing when i order parts for my Firebird. It was like 15.00 a can.

tamiya smoke, spray it through your airbrush

 i used it on this windscreen the more coats you put the darker it gets.