What's brackin' y'all. I decided to take the plunge and dye my Siege Ratchet's torso/waist and hands a couple weeks ago, and being the fool that I am used too much dye because I overestimated just how little "a little dye" really meant, so instead of a lovely cherry red the parts came out looking more red wine coloured. I managed to lighten the parts a little after submerging them in 97% rubbing alcohol for a few days but it's not exactly a massive difference aside from a few tiny parts that are almost white. So, before I resort to just painting those parts I thought I'd ask if anyone up in here has any experience or suggestions that might help my predicament. Obviously returning the plastic to its original colour is super unlikely, but is there any other way to further lighten the colour to the point that I could take another swing at it? Would the method used to whiten yellowed plastic do anything to dyed plastic? Any kind of plastic-safe bleach? I've seen that Rit make a whitener & brightener solution but does anyone know if this is be safe to use on plastic and crucially, would it actually work on it?
It’s possible with diluted acetone, an alcohol rinse, and hot water but probably dangerous for you and the plastic. I’d honestly say for the trouble involved that your best bets are to mix a small amount of white Tamiya with clear coat or buy another figure. Any chance you could post pics? Honestly, your “too dark” might be just right for somebody else who’d buy it off you for enough to buy another figure and try again.
It's a bit lighter in person, but yeah, this is what it looks like now, it's more purple than red really. Reminds me of Computron actually. I wish I could just go out and get a replacement but seeing as Ratchet hasn't been released in the UK outside of ID Toys importing some (I just barely managed to snag this one) replacing him would likely be pretty costly which is why I want to try and remedy this if I can, otherwise as I say I guess I'll just have to whip out the red paint.
Wow. Did you use any dye activator like vinegar or salt? Honestly, I’d be interested in a tutorial because, color aside, that’s very even and I’ve thought about dyeing one green as Funpub Oilslick if more turn up cheap.
I know it wasn't your intention, but that wine red looks really cool. At this point, I'd consider matching the native red to the dye.
Any of it rubbing off? Every instance of dye used on Transformers I always hear of it rubbing off. Maybe with the newer gummier plastics that isn't an issue.
As an aside, I don’t think that’s actually too dark by very much. I think it’s more that the stock red has a berry tone to it and you’d need to blend in orange or yellow to match. The problem is that a second dye bath will darken it. But maybe if you’re careful with an all yellow bath, you can ease the tone closer.
Yeah, as annoyed as I was about screwing up I did think at least the finish turned out really well. I went off a post in Radicons so all I added to it was a little dish soap. So the dye I used was Rit Cherry Red. I decided to try the double boiler method because I didn't want to risk warping the parts and ruining a saucepan. First up a I boiled some water in a saucepan, then to make up my dye mix I poured hot water into a can which I then added "a little" (too much) dye and a little dish soap to. I then suspended the can in the pot of water and turned the heat down a little. I dipped the parts in the can for a few seconds just to see what the mixture would look like, this is the point at which I should've remade the dye mix because I thought it looked more purple than red, but being the fool that I am decided it was probably just because it was wet and proceeded anyway. I left the parts in the can in the not-quite-boiling water for around 15-20 minutes, then cut the heat, pulled them out and realised I really should have started again with a weaker dye mixture, but I was in too deep so all I could do was let it sit for another 15-20 minutes while I cursed myself for being a failure. After that I thoroughly rinsed the parts off and left them to dry. Funny you should say that, I very nearly went with blue for Ratchet's hands because those issues of MTMTE are some of my favourite. Maybe it would've made the red wine stick out less to me... None so far, I was very wary of that so I scrub-a-dub-dubbed the hell out of them, plus the alcohol bath probably drew out any that would've rubbed off. That's what I worried about even if I had managed to more drastically lighten it, I guess I'm stuck with this for now then.
