I am in the planning/prepping stages of modifying a figure, and I have some questions that I couldn't find already answered! I have kitbashed a couple of model cars, but nothing with moving parts like a Transformer so this should be a fun learning experience.

I plan to dye the figure from blue to black, using RIT general-purpose (Not "Dye More" intended for synthetics), since I already have some on hand. I have heard mixed reports about its effectiveness on TF plastics. If the all-purpose dye does not take to the plastic well, can I just try again with the synthetics formula, or would the first failed dye somehow inhibit it?

I am also planning to attach a few styrene pieces. My question is, should I dye before or after I attach the pieces? I'm worried that the dye bath might weaken or dissolve the glue between parts, but also that glue might not stick well to already-dyed pieces even with surface prep.

When I dye, should I plan to remove as many pins as possible, or leave them in place? I'm not so concerned about the dye getting into every nook and cranny, as I am about the pins potentially either rusting from the watery dye bath, or else deforming from removal.

Speaking of pin removal, I do not have a soldering iron to remove capped pins with. Would using a nail heated up via candle flame, then applied to the head of the pin, achieve the same effect of softening the plastic to allow for removal? (I do already have a strong magnet, luckily)

I haven't decided how to handle one particular design feature, but I am leaning towards building a hinge joint. Would CA glue be the best choice for adhering the halves of the joint even if they're under the stress of moving, or would an epoxy be stronger?

There are circular mold marks on the inside of the clear plastic windows of my figure. Is there a good way to get those marks out without making the plastic hazy/scratched up, or should I just learn to live with them?

I think those are all the questions I have right now, but I'm sure I'll come up with some more as this project progresses. Thanks in advance for any advice you guys have!

 

Well I started messing around, and answered some of my questions on my own. c:

A nail heated by flame might, eventually, work for removing capped pins.... but a cheap soldering iron is only $10 and isn't a bad thing to have on hand anyway. Apparently though, the magnets I have are not strong enough like I'd hoped so I had to use some more physical removal methods.

"Mixed results" for the all-purpose dye sure is accurate. I bought a cheap Starscream to test with/practice on, and two types of his plastic stayed unaffected by the dye while a third type turned blue instead of the intended black. Jean blue, specifically, so it looks like he's partially made out of denim now. I'd figured I would dye him black and make him Skywarp, but I guess he wanted to become Thundercracker, lol!


(Misdyed pieces are the ones on top, and much more blue in person)

I'm going to get some dye intended for plastics this weekend, and try again. Hopefully the failed dye doesn't mess anything up, but I don't think it should.

 

Posting another update because maybe someone will avoid the mistake I made. I re-dyed the pieces with RIT DyeMore, the stuff intended for synthetics & plastics, and I used a crock pot to keep the temperature up. After about an hour on the "low" setting, the pieces that had turned blue from the first "all purpose" dye, were a nice inky black. Yay. But the other pieces were still not dying at all. RIT says the temperature of the dye bath should be as close to 200*F as possible, so I decided to turn up the heat on my pot to "high" and hope for the best.

On the plus side, all the pieces took the dye and are now a deep, even black! On the down side, the heat was indeed high enough to warp the plastic. After fishing them out of the dye I attempted to re-soften the plastic up to bend back into shape, but the central piece that everything clips to was unsalvageable. Of course.



Lesson learned, and better I learn it with a cheap figure than a more expensive one!

And I answered another of my questions from the first post- I left one of the pins in place in this figure, and the metal of it did not seem to react well to the dyeing process. It didn't rust, but it discolored and looks like it might be on its way to corroding. So I will plan to take them all out when I work on my main project.