Rainbow Tinted Canopy

[MacrossMan]

I vaguely remember there being some discussion about the rainbow tint on the v2 1/60's. Some liked it, while others didn't. I didn't quite get it myself, but I did like the look. I was watching a show on aircraft carriers earlier today and noticed the same tint on real fighter jets and thought I would share the picture and give props to Yamato for paying attention to this type of detail.

Mods, if this should be moved, discussed elsewhere, or otherwise please handle appropriately.

[arrow]

thanks for sharing. I never realized that it was a noticeable gold hue for the whole canopy.

[Alain]

Im ok with the tinted canopies, but I noticed one of my VF-1 has minor hairline cracks in the canopy. dont know if this is natural. I have seen a pic of a much worst defect on a tinted canopy here.

[Robelwell202]

If memory serves correctly, pllanes have had a gold-tinted canopy for some time, starting with the A-6 Intruder's cousin, the EA-6B Prowler. The gold in the canopy was to protect the cockpit's electronics from the enormous amount of power from the Prowler's Electronic Warfare packages.

For me, the most noticable canopy to have gold inlay is the F-16's. Viewed the right way, you can barely see the pilot inside, what with the gold-inlay being so dense.

[Ghost Train]

The rainbow effect is produced by the refraction of light as it passes from 1 medium (air) to another (the glass). In the science of optics, this is known as Dispersion, and accounts for things like rainbows and how prisms can split white light into its components.

The old forum word for this was "Ultraviolent," which is obviously a bastardization of Ultraviolet. The effect seen on the VF-1 v2's and on any actual cockpit has however nothing to do with UV radiation and is centered around the 400-700nm portion of the spectra. For reference, UV has wavelengths of 100 to 400nm.... but Ultraviolent does have a nice ring to it .

[Chronocidal]

I still love the old fashioned ultraviolence.

For as many problems as it caused for Yamato though, I don't think it was really worth the extra effort, even if it is realistic.

[David Hingtgen]

I think the problem was that Yamato over-did it. On real planes, it is not SUPER obvious from EVERY angle. Most of the time the canopies look about "99% clear, 1% tint". Only when the light hits it just right, do you get the rainbow effect, and it's usually subtle. But Yamato did it so there's a rainbow effect almost all the time, and a very strong one.

The gold effect and rainbow effect are separate, but often run together. I.E. you rarely see a rainbow with an F-16, but they are very often golden. The F-18 is the opposite--rarely gold, fairly common rainbow. EA-6B is the most golden of all, it USUALLY looks gold, and can look darn near solid orange at time...

[CF18]

For me, the most noticable canopy to have gold inlay is the F-16's. Viewed the right way, you can barely see the pilot inside, what with the gold-inlay being so dense.

Some guessed that the gold tint help reduce radar signature, reflect most radar energy away instead of bouncing back from the irregular surface inside the cockpit. It is also noticeable on the F-22A: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lockheed_Martin_F-22A_Raptor_JSOH.jpg

[regult]

Although it looks nice, the problem with the Yamato tint is cracking. I have this "spiderweb" of cracks all over my VF-1S and I didn't even touch the toy so often. If you want to get rid of the tint, alcohol can clean the layer completely, you need a cotton swab.

[Macross_Fanboy]

I think the problem was that Yamato over-did it. On real planes, it is not SUPER obvious from EVERY angle. Most of the time the canopies look about "99% clear, 1% tint". Only when the light hits it just right, do you get the rainbow effect, and it's usually subtle. But Yamato did it so there's a rainbow effect almost all the time, and a very strong one.

The gold effect and rainbow effect are separate, but often run together. I.E. you rarely see a rainbow with an F-16, but they are very often golden. The F-18 is the opposite--rarely gold, fairly common rainbow. EA-6B is the most golden of all, it USUALLY looks gold, and can look darn near solid orange at time...

SUPER obvious on F-22s and EA-6Bs. On F-18s you can quite tell really, I haven't seen it at all(rainbow or gold), even with the new block 30s we got. Anyways, I noticed my M&M 1Js have the most tinting out of everything. I like it.

[Vi-RS]

You actually see these effect on commercial air planes too.

[mickyg]

And so it begs the question (and I've looked into this with no clear direction yet): How does one apply any sort of tint to a canopy on a model (or toy) and have it look like anything approaching reality?

I'm tempted to try various shades of yellow and gold mixed with a clear coat but the problem with metallics is the size of the "metal" in the paint. I'm just not convinced there's any readily available paint that can be applied to the canopy and look "real" enough to do the trick. What do you people that build military aircraft use?

[Ghost Train]

To simulate the effect you can use Aurora Film. It is not transparent though. There is probably a right combination of dyes / paints that can get you the Yamato effect... sounds like a good chemistry/science project .

[regult]

To be honest, I have seen a subtle rainbow effect on at least one of my models, it's a 1/72 easy model Eurofighter Typhoon. I will share pictures when I can. It came out of the box and I don't think it is intentional, just a natural property of the clear plastic used.

[David Hingtgen]

I've never seen it done realistically on a model. Even the most award-winning model with the most subtle and skillful tint---still looks like transparent paint over clear plastic--because that's what it is. You can shade it, you can tint it gold---but you won't get "the look" of the real thing.

[Agent-GHQ]

I totally agree with this attention to details man. It gives the V2 definition!! Its ashame the 1/48 does not have this.

[EXO]

if they only stayed on...

[Big Irv]

I actually like the tint on my 1/60 V2. I'll definitely give Yamato props for attention to detail.

[EXO]

I wonder if it would stay on if you dip the canopy in some Future?

But then wouldn't the pilot fall into the floor wax?

[Macross_Fanboy]

I wanna see tail hooks on VF-1s since they did launch off of carriers. That's one of the things I like about the VF-0.

[regult]

I swear I didn't touch up the pictures (or the model), it came like this right out of the box. I may have seen this in some other models in my collection, but they're all boxed now.

To me it looks almost exactly the same as the real F-18 at the start of this thread.

[bowman]

Looks pretty cool almost like the Hornet

[Uxi]

I've never seen it done realistically on a model. Even the most award-winning model with the most subtle and skillful tint---still looks like transparent paint over clear plastic--because that's what it is. You can shade it, you can tint it gold---but you won't get "the look" of the real thing.

Noone has tried to do real glass?

[regult]

Noone has tried to do real glass?

I am quite sure the oil reflection or rainbow effect is due to the layers of polymer and not the glass itself...that's why you do get that effect with plastic only like in the model I photographed.

[David Hingtgen]

Plus the fact that modern fighter jets don't have real glass for the canopies--it's plastic, thus the rainbow effect. Plus, glass can't do THIS:

[Macross_Fanboy]

Awesome vid. The jets in my squadron survive lightning strikes to the canopy thanks to the materials. In the end you get delaminated canopies. Seen quite a few, funny thing is it's the cursed aircraft and the CO was in it almost all the time.

[Shaorin]

Although it looks nice, the problem with the Yamato tint is cracking. I have this "spiderweb" of cracks all over my VF-1S and I didn't even touch the toy so often. If you want to get rid of the tint, alcohol can clean the layer completely, you need a cotton swab.

funny; i've had my 1/60v.2 for over a year now, and haven't seen even a trace of this "cracking" issue.

perhaps it's just a bad run of canopies?