When I asked for red tint, the salesman asked what I wanted it for. After a little discussion, he recommended this spray on stuff, instead of film:
http://www.vhtpaint.com/specialty/vht-nite-shades-red So, it's basically a gloss clear coat with red color added to it. The advantages are that it won't trap in air bubbles like film and the leftovers aren't nearly 20 feet of useless red film. Instead, I'll be left with a can of tinted clear coat that I can spray on anything, including the kids' models and such.
The main downside is that like any spray paint, it can run if you overspray. The degree of tint is fairly light, which might be a downside if it isn't enough to hide my face. Multiple coats should darken it. He said the "smoke" stuff was basically intended for painting light covers on vehicles, but because of the way it was designed and it's intended use it should also work well for the purposes of our visors. It is intended to make things like taillights and such look dark until the light comes on. The smoke is just dark enough to hide a red lens until it lights up, but isn't so dark as to dim the light below legal limits. So, in theory it should be just enough to mask the face inside the bucket without making it too dark to see out. He told me that the smoke came out first, and then the red came out to restore faded light covers.
I picked up one can each of the smoke tint and red. I'm getting enough Lexan to do some experimenting, but my initial thinking is to go the opposite way they use this stuff on vehicle light covers. My first try will be smoke to the inside with the red outside. If that doesn't work out the way I see it in my head, I can adjust it from there.
Side note
This shop also installs tinting, and he offered me some scrap pieces of mirror tint film for free! I declined because this is for an ROTJ helmet that doesn't allow mirror lenses. However, the lesson learned is to always give your local retailers a try first, because no online store offers this kind of service. Anyway, I'll try to get some pictures of the process, but when it comes to building things I'm not the type to take time out and document my process. Final results pictures are a promise, though.
