Making frosted windows

Hi All,

I was in the process yesterday of removing some light scratches from the windows of an old Rivarossi observation car I'm bashing into something a bit more to my liking (one of those designs where the roof and windows are a one piece plastic molding). I would normally do this by giving the clear plastic a coat of clear gloss acrylic from Microscale, which is water based. I even masked off the area I had already frosted with 800 paper. I had a large area to do, so I pulled the can of Krylon clear gloss acrylic from the shelf and used that. Says on the can that its safe for plastic. Now Perspex is an acrylate plastic, so 2 minutes shake and then a coat of acrylate. Big mistake. Came back 10 minutes later, it had frosted the surface. Which is not surprising in hindsight, it contains acetone, toluene and a bunch of other aliphatic hydrocarbons as well as the acrylates. I should have known better.

Now this is the best frosted glass representation I've ever seen (or made, even inadvertently). It even has the same texture. The photo shows the effect with a Vanish beer mat underneath (local micro-brewery), which was to hand (and somewhat apt). If you ever try this, make sure what you don't want frosting is well masked. Takes a while for the residual solvent to degas as well, and it needs to be done outside.

Back to the drawing board with the bash though.

Nigel

 

I managed to get a reasonable frosted effect by printing a very pale grey onto OHP transparency. You can vary the effect by adjusting the shade of grey.

Hi Mike,

That works as well. The granular texture of the acetate and the uniformity of the fill is a bit of an issue. I've used the following (created in CorelDraw) at the highest print resolution as a DIY decal. Bit more texture.

Nigel

I've had moderate success using 1000 grit wet and dry to rub acrylic glazing, or plain old fashioned tracing paper stuck on with cockpit canopy type glue to give half frosted pub windows, with the advantage that a border around a pane can be cut out neatly with curved tops etc.

Doug

Hi Nigel,

Not that I have gone for the frosted window look but one of the Hints and Tips suggested using the white plastic from Milk Cartons, common here in Oz anyway which would give a texture similar to your Corel drawing.   I would be  putting it behind a clear glazing and given your idea,  I will apply it to a few cabooses I have!

Cheers

Trevor