Looking at what the dark winter nights can be filled up with.
Time to resurrect a project I looked at a year or so back.
A conversion of my Phantom 3 Advanced, over to a Mavic “ look a like” The Phanvic, as it was called.
Well, will gimme something to play around with.
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That shell could be hydro-dipped before assembly. Could look very cool!
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Just what I was thinking Dave.
There’s a Guy locally who does it.
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Yeah, have to say I “drooled” when I saw his !.
Looking at it, I need some advice to the best way of doing this, the hydrographics that is !.
Calling @PingSpike ,
Is it better to have all the Components done, prior to Assembly?.
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It can’t be done afterwards without dipping all the electronics in the water. 
Each component needs to be done separately. Check his post on it : My hydro dipped DJI Inspire
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You can do it yourself Chris, I have always fancied giving it a go but not done so yet.
Yes - you can do it yourself. I know of a couple of people that have done … and sworn they’d never try again and would have it done professionally another time.
Actually - they both swore quite a lot, their partners have informed me.
To do it well you need a lot of practice. And the stuff ain’t cheap so practice can be costly.
Also, if you’re a perfectionist, getting it on without a tear/ripple/wobble is NOT easy, and re-preparing the same items is a far bigger pain than it was to prepare them initially … and more expense for the primers … and with small items, and ones with a lot or shape/relief to them, re-preparing is really fiddly.
Like you, I’ve always fancied trying, and (after Rich had done his Inspire) one of my friends let me have a try with a piece he’d done all the preparation for. It was a dead simple piece. The result was a mess … and I’m normally good at such manual/tricky tasks.
I’ve heard the water temp and quality is the crucial part.
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It’s the way you lower a complicated shape into the dip, and move it through the film to ensure total, even, and ripple-free, cover that’s the really tricky bit.
It will easily crease and/or tear. You can end up with it moving so that the whole piece isn’t covered (unless you have a huge tank … who does?) … and in any of those cases it’s a clean down, strip the film off the object, dry it in ever nook/cranny, re-prime … and start again.
If it’s creasing or tearing then it hasn’t been left long enough or not enough activator applied.
There is a place not far away from me that does training but it ain’t cheap.
https://www.aquagraphix.co.uk/about-us/hydrographics-training-courses/
If you’ve tried doing it you’d know that it’s having to get a two dimensional film, with limited elasticity, to stretch around, and adhere at every point to, a complex three dimensional object that’s the issue.
That’s why you have to do it slowly and rely on the water tension to help as you push it through the film.
If you let it dissolve and put the correct amount of applicator on then it will form around the part.
If you notice once the part is through the film they will disturb the water to get the unused film out of the way so it doesn’t stick on the part when you lift it out.
Obviously with anything practice is the key to get it all to come together.
As he says in the video above, the film will stretch once it’s right, this is why the pros put tape on the edges to stop the pattern separating.
How many times have you tried doing this?
None, I know someone that has been on the course.
How many times have you done it?
You also need to know what colour base-coat to use as this can alter the look of the film/pattern.
I spent a whole afternoon trying it … on simple items with very mixed results … none of which would entice me to doing it on something I wanted to look good.
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