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jongrill

Dying hard plastic bodies with fabric dye

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Has anyone dyed their hard plastic bodies using fabric dye like RIT instead of painting them? I have a Brat and Hornet body that I can experiment on but wanted to see if anyone has done this before first! 

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Fabric dyes normally require the object to be dyed to be placed in boiling in water - hard plastic may well deform badly and in any case the dye - if the plastic takes it - may not be even all over if the plastic is not of uniform thickness. No idea what chemicals are in these fabric dyes - may react badly with the plastic.

Have seen fabric dye marker pens which might be worth looking into.

What is wrong with good old fashioned paint ? 

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8 hours ago, fractalife said:

1st time I heard boiled to dye for hard plastic, what kind of look you want to achieve?

Just looking to experiment! I’m wondering if the dyed body would stand up better than paint when being driven.

4 hours ago, Tamiyabigstuff said:

Fabric dyes normally require the object to be dyed to be placed in boiling in water - hard plastic may well deform badly and in any case the dye - if the plastic takes it - may not be even all over if the plastic is not of uniform thickness. No idea what chemicals are in these fabric dyes - may react badly with the plastic.

Have seen fabric dye marker pens which might be worth looking into.

What is wrong with good old fashioned paint ? 

I’ve dyed parts and wheels before and they have held up. I have not seen the pens but I will look into them! Nothing wrong with paint at all. I’m just thinking outside the box! 

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58 minutes ago, jongrill said:

Just looking to experiment! I’m wondering if the dyed body would stand up better than paint when being driven.

I’ve dyed parts and wheels before and they have held up. I have not seen the pens but I will look into them! Nothing wrong with paint at all. I’m just thinking outside the box! 

I'm not 100% sure on this but wheels, etc... are generally made from ABS or polycarbonate type plastic but hard bodies are generally made from polystyrene type plastic - so take care !

Take a look at Posca brand pens - not cheap but very good quality, a lot of my wife's friends who are into crafts use them and they apparently work on plastic & glass too.

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You can't really dye ABS.  It'd be like a tomato sauce stain--uneven and weird.  

But nylon could be dyed.  These nylon wheels (80's reproduction, I think) were milky-white transparent.  I cooked them a bit too long, and the yellow fabric dye turned out darker than I intended. Especially when compared to the original ABS wheels.  At least, the color won't chip away on impact.  

zzAOW22.jpg

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3 hours ago, Juggular said:

You can't really dye ABS.  It'd be like a tomato sauce stain--uneven and weird.  

But nylon could be dyed.  These nylon wheels (80's reproduction, I think) were milky-white transparent.  I cooked them a bit too long, and the yellow fabric dye turned out darker than I intended. Especially when compared to the original ABS wheels.  At least, the color won't chip away on impact.  

zzAOW22.jpg

Good to know. So is it possible to dye Grasshopper or Hornet wheels? 

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1 hour ago, jongrill said:

Good to know. So is it possible to dye Grasshopper or Hornet wheels? 

Unfortunately not, because they are ABS...

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14 hours ago, Juggular said:

Unfortunately not, because they are ABS...

I figured....darn. 

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