Adding color to clear Mylar

[Mike Richardson]

@mikeschwartz wrote:

Rit makes a new dye to use on polyester material. It is called Rit Dye More. Hobby Lobby sells it. Polyester is like plastic . Since mylar is plastic, you should try this new material. One of the things Rit recommends when trying to dye plastic type material is raise the water temp. to 180 degrees F. and maintain it through the dye process. I would try a small sample and see what happens. Are you using tap water to mix the dye? Sometimes the city water supply’s have added chemicals to its water, these chemicals could have a adverse effect on the dye. You could test for this by getting some purified water from your local supermarket and make another test. There are two schools of thought on weather to apply tissue on top of the mylar to make the wing stronger and more rigid. The other method is to put the mylar over the tissue. Either method produces the same results. However if you apply the mylar over the tissue, it is 100% fuel proof, so you could use a little less dope on the tissue and would not need any additional fuel proofer saving some weight. You can soak mylar in 100% nitro for days , pull it out and let it dry with no ill effects to the mylar. The mylar has a shiny gloss look to it over the tissue. Tissue on top of the mylar will give you the more traditional look of tissue and you can then add tissue trim. Its whatever method and results you prefer.

Thanks for the info Mike. I recall seeing the Rit Dye More at Hobby Lobby but I stuck with what I used in past. And now thanks to Steve’s post it confirms my suspicions.
As for the Mylar over tissue I know several power flyers that do just that. But keep in mind that I fly F1B & G so I can’t afford that much weight. A coupe stab weighs in at 3 grams and a Wakefield just a hair over that.
Thermals

Mike

[Mike Richardson]

Looks like I won’t be cooking a 4th batch after all. I called Rit and they informed me that they changed the formula in 2011 so the chances of me finding some old stock is not very likely. They did say that you can still purchase the old stock in one and five pound quantities from their website. So much for being environmentally friendly.

Thermals

[Steve Jensen]

There’s lots of Rit Dye on Amazon and eBay. You might ask about their batch numbers. The last I bought was from a local fabric store, batch #10.

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