What can I use to frost or distort plastic windows allowing light to penetrate like the ones in a bathroom at a cheap motel?
Testors Dullcote works well. You can buy it in bottles or spray cans.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Testors-Spray-Paint-Dullcote-Clear-3-oz/22056097
You can use it for a variety of applications where you want to take the gloss off of a model, or seal in weathering powders (note that it will reduce the effect of the weathering so that you will need to apply the weathering powders a bit heavier to start with).
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Either Testor's Dullcoat as suggested by HOn30critter, or Vallejo's water effects.
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I think one of these would work very well.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
If your window "glass" is plastic, another option is to distress what will become the inside face of the glass using fairly fine sandpaper. No mess or smell, and a small piece of sandpaper will do a lot of windows. I've used both the Dulcote and sandpaper methods, the latter mostly for passenger car washrooms. I usually cut the windows from a partial sheet of pre-sanded clear styrene, as the bigger piece is easier to sand than the individual windows...
Wayne
doctorwayneanother option is to distress what will become the inside face of the glass using fairly fine sandpaper.
Wayne:
You do realize that your inexpensive and effective solutions are not helping the economy much, don't you. Some poor child may have to go without their Fruit Loops cereal because daddy's pay cheque was short! (Probably a good thing for the kid though - builds character and saves teeth too!)
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Cheers!!
hon30critter...You do realize that your inexpensive and effective solutions are not helping the economy much, don't you....
Actually, I'm trying to help my own economy, as I'm selling sandpaper!
Well, perhaps trying to sell sandpaper might be more accurate. I have an ad on Kijiji for various types of sandpaper (most of it not suited to creating frosted glass), but am getting very little response - it seems most folks don't do much of their own home improvement work...probably the same guys who don't build kits.
I came into a large quantity of sandpaper some years ago, as part of a house purchase. The wet/dry stuff went to an automotive supply place (literally, a pick-up truck box-full), and I sold a lot of the rest (mostly cloth-backed) to guys at work. Maybe I should use what's left to wallpaper my workshop.
i'll agree with wayne sanding is best if you want the frosted look , but if you want semi frosted look i took a sheet of clear and filled airbrush with laqure thinner and misted it resulting what looks like crinkle glass(thats what i call it) , then on one sheet i laid a hunk of dark brown tule (bridel veil) on sheet and sprayed with thinner while still soft lain a hunk of glass on it and pressed tule into sheet to make chicken wire glass.
o by the way wayne the corser stuff can be used for non slip patches