I was wonding if anyone has tried to dye 25th Anniversary Joes parts yet? Mainly wondering about the web-gear and other yellow parts on the Cobra Legions Trooper and Air Trooper. I haven't used dye in a long time. I think it was back in the late 80s when I dyed some R/C car parts. Anyway I was thinking of going black on those yellow parts. Can anyone give me some pointer? Also would the soft rubbery parts take the dye? Thanks for any help.
momaw nadon

_________________

As with most plastics the softer plastic will take the dye faster and darker while the harder plastics slower and lighter. It seems as though the plastics on the arms are also two diffrent soft types and will probably take diffrently also. You may end up with a tri tone figure.

_________________

I think BadAsh tried it, he got a two toned figure out of it. I believe he tried to dye a figure black or green, and one part took the color well, and another(the arms?) didn't but came out cool looking.

_________________

I wasn't looking to dye the whole figure, but I think you answered my question. Whole figure dye jobs never seem to work out, as I have seen with others customs.

Anyway, so you are saying the softer plastic (like the web-gear from Cobra Legions set Trooper) would take the dye faster and darker? If so, then that would work out perfect for me. I was able to pick up many of these sets, but the Troopers yellow highlights (web-gear, knee pads, and knife straps) stick out too much with my other troopers. I can paint the straps on the leg, but the web-gear, knee pads, and hooks for the knife would not work out so well painted. I might just try it out and see what I get. Thanks for your help.

momaw nadon

_________________

You'd have great results dying that yellow gear black.

_________________

Double post, sorry.

_________________

There are some differences and problems I need to work out before I do more of this, but it's my first try . Some differences I noticed are kneepads are shinier than the originals (Trooper on left). Also there was some shrinking to the web-gear and helmet. I didn't like the yellow around the helmet, but the shrinking makes the helmet work better now IMO, as it fits tighter. I was able to fix the shrinking of the web-gear by stretching it on a jig I made. The clips that hold the knife didn't take the dye as well as I would have hoped. I also dropped in a Stinger Driver rifle (silver one) to see what I could do with it; so far it only turned a bright gunmetal blue color. Anyway, now for the picture.

My dye job results:


I think for the first try it turned out really well. If anyone can think of a way I can stop the shrinking problem, I'm all ears. Last few things I need to do are paint the mask, neck, and knife straps black to 25 and my Cobra army will be uniform. I might keep 1 or 2 with the red for a Squad Leader to break up things a bit. Still have much work to do with the Troopers though, but once done I'll need to start on the 25 Air Troopers . Hope you enjoy.
momaw nadon

_________________

Got the picture to work. Now for the update. Here is the Trooper's knife straps:

The straps darken up on the second try, but didn't get as dark as I would have liked. I also painted the straps black. Could sharpen up the paint some, but overall it didn't turn out to bad.

And the Stinger Driver rifle:

The rifle looks better in person. There is a metallic look to it and I think the flash brighten it up some, because it looks darker than the picture. I tryed again to darken it up when I did the knife clips, but it wouldn't get any more than that. Would have like it darker, but it does look better than the sliver IMO. Hope you enjoy.
momaw nadon

_________________

How hot is the dye?

I don't have much experience dying figures, but the 25th Storm Shadow i dyed black came out great. Except his upper torso didn't take the dye much, so that got spraypainted. Then the whole figure got a black paintjob for consistency.

Anyway, the shrinking might be because the dye/water is too hot. I've read other places (transformers kitbash boards?) that people have had warping issues if it's too hot, which might make sense for softer plastic shrinking.

So maybe cold water and more time?

I've also read about putting some acetate, the stuff in nail polish remover and paint thinner, to soften the plastic and make it take the dye better. I don't know about it, but it might help with the colder temperature to make the dye take to plastic.

Don't know if that helps, but good luck.

Thanks for the tips. The shrinking was not that much, but is noticeable. I'm seeing if I can stretch it out with a jig I made. I think I left the web-gear in the water to long, as I normally don't leave parts in boiled water for longer than 30 seconds. I didn't think nothing of it, do to it said to simmer, but the water can still get up there in temp at a simmer. I was going to try a shorter amount of time and just repeat often to get what I want. I'm got to check on the other parts I have soaking in cold dye when I get home tonight. I'll post some new pictures too if anything has changed. I'll try some of your tips too. Thanks again for the help.
momaw nadon

_________________

http://wiki.joecustoms.com/wiki/Dyeing

_________________

Thanks for that link. I would ahve never thought of the strainer. I used fishing to get my parts out. That would make my job easier.
momaw nadon

_________________

Got some better pictures up. From the picture above you can see the work I did to the Trooper on the left. he has the stretched web-gear (looks better than before), dye helmet to remove the yellow from around it, dye knife clips, dye kneepads (from Air Trooper), and painted knife straps.

The web-gear may be small a little still, but looks better than before I stretched it out. Also you can see the shininess of the kneepads, but it doesn't stick out to bad. And the knife clips turned more of a flat black to a dark grey, but it wouldn't go any more. Will work for me though and once I have these mixed in with all my other troopers you will not even notice the difference. I'm going to start on my Air Trooper now and with what I found out with this one, it should go by really quick. Thanks for looking.
momaw nadon

_________________