How well does light Rit Dye colors work on dark plastic? Will it take several attempts to completely change? Can it be completely changed? Should I dye white first? I have a dark green part that I want to dye tan. The tan needs to be light, but I fear the green plastic will leave the tan darker than I want.

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You can't dye lighter than the plastic already is. If you need to dye a light color, you're going to need to find a lighter colored piece to work with (whites work best, obviously, light tans can work, light grays...you get the idea). Rit dye is best used as a base-coat. You'll still want to paint over it, as the dye does fade over time.

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Fade over how much time? I dyed a figure black 2-3 years ago and he hasn't begun to fade yet.
Theres got to be some type of chemical that can be applied to the figure that will burn the color and lighten it up.

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Also keep in mind that darker dyes "bleed" through lighter paint aps. I've had this happen many times, and curse myself every time I forget.

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It really depends on how long you dyed them for, type of plastic, environment, and, I'm fairly convinced, luck. I have a Slice custom I RIT dyed over two years ago that still looks fine, but I have a 25th Serpentor I dyed earlier this year that is already starting to fade a bit.

And no, unfortunately, there's not a chemical that will strip the coloring out of plastic. Not bleach, not paint thinner, definitely not acetone, not the RIT dye fabric dye remover. The problem is that dye works a lot different than paint. It absorbs into the plastic to change the color, it doesn't just coat the plastic with color. So if the plastic starts out dark, adding color to it will only make it darker. It's basically the same idea as why you can't change a yellowed Storm Shadow/Clone Trooper/Storm Trooper back to white (no matter what some people say).

What parts are you working with, specifically? Is there a possibility that they are figure parts that were rereleased in lighter colors? If you're trying to dye joints, would it be possible to swap out parts of the joints (like the center disk in shoulder joints or the swivel in elbows) for similar parts in lighter colors (really easy to do if you're working with new sculpt, possible to do with ARAH, more difficult with 25th or the later injection-molded new sculpt parts)? If you're absolutely stuck using the green parts, dyeing to light tan probably isn't going to work at all, so I'd recommend just making sure you use good paints (I strongly recommend Model Masters or Tamiya) and sand any areas that will be prone to rubbing before hand.

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What I wanted to do is replace most painting with dying, so I would not have to paint the joints. The only I would use would be for the details (which can easily be protected). But in order to do this I would need to be able to dye light onto dark. My only other option is to cast all the parts and cast them in white (or the color I need if I have it) and then dye the white parts. The problem with that is the work it takes to take apart arms, and then find the right pins to put them together. I work only with ARAH parts btw.

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Gee that sounds like someone else on the board who didn't want to paint and was going to rit dye EVERYTHING. Aocean anyone.

Painting is a lot easier than dyeing I would think, cause when you dye the figs you can get warpage, plus the fumes from the dye stink to high heavens. And like the others have said there is NO WAY to dye a dark color into a lighter color. Another thing would be to get that 3-d printer but that isn't out yet for anyone but the rich.
If you look at my self custom figure (on the link down at the bottom of my post here), that was a pair of light green Duke legs (new sculpt) dyed with black to make them black. Rit Dye works great at darkening things but unless you know a scientist I'm afraid your out of luck.

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Ouch, that's harsh....

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I wasn't meaning anything bad by it honest. Its just the way I read it was that you'd rather dye the stuff than paint it. He learned to dye something and then it was dye this dye that and no painting EVAR. But you didn't miss too much.
The 3-d printer thing was in the hundred thousands I believe. You'd have to check with J_Man on that though as he's been watching them very closely. Can't find the proper thread but there was also viewtopic.php?f=15&t=3665 mentioned earlier in this thread.

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if you want to avoid dye complete and change colors that won't fade use spray paint. spray paint is permanent and won't chip. well it well, but only between the joints.

I don't want to avoid dye, I want to make dye work more efficiently.

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Has anyone tried dyeing parts casted using 'smooth-on liquid plastic'? I know the plastic can be dyed while being casted, with special dyes (that I do have), but being able to dye the parts after casting them white would also be very helpful.

Its been a long time since I used RIT dye and when I used to use it I would just guess but...What is the best water to dye ratio to use?

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I've never used Smooth-on, but I've dyed parts cast with Alumilite and it works great. Actually, I've found it better to use RIT dye after the parts are cast than to use the special resin dyes (for some reason I always get tons of air bubbles with those).

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I guess I'll just try dyeing some smooth-on spare parts that I never did anything with. But what is the water:dye ratio supposed to be?

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