Dying plastic? (1 Viewer)

[BlakeWR85]

Has anyone ever tried to dye plastic, sorta in the same manner as you would Easter eggs lol. I have plastic figures that I want in a different color, I don't want to spray paint them, as they may chip when played with, so I was thinking of a more durable solution....

 

[Norman508a]

I haven't tried it myself, but I cant see why I wouldn't work.

Try some clothing dye, I know our local discount shop sells it for around $5.00 and it comes in multiple colours.

Matt

 

[OzDigger]

I haven't tried it either but I doubt dye would adhere well to the softer Polyethylene figures or the harder and more brittle Polystyrene figures. It may be ok if you never handled the figures again, worth a try I guess.

 

[theBaron]

Re: Dyeing plastic?

I don't think it would work, if you mean dyeing in the normal sense of the word. Dyeing is impregnating a material with a color medium, as in dyeing raw wool or cotton cloth, or staining a piece of wood, or dyeing eggs for Easter. The color is soaked into the material (in the case of the egg, the shell is porous and soaks up the liquid containing the color). Plastic can be dyed, ie, colored, during the process to mix the material, prior to injecting it into a mold. Colors are added to the plastic, which is heated and mixed till the color is consistent throughout the material. But I know of no plastic used for any figures or models, that can be dyed, once it has been molded and cured.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Wolfgang_UK]

I am convinced that plastic can not be dyed as suggested. Perhaps a prior soaking of the plastic figures in either vinegar or caustic soda might aid this process a little but I can't see that the final result would really please you.
The only way I can imagine in order to obtain differently coloured figures is a compleat resin recast of the figures you want. Try using dyed resin. Almost any hue is possible and there is a wide range of different resins available.

See attached pic to further illustrate my suggestion. But be aware that you might need some funds for resin, dye and silicone rubber to do so ....{sm4}

 

[Ivanhoe]

Has anyone ever tried to dye plastic, sorta in the same manner as you would Easter eggs lol. I have plastic figures that I want in a different color, I don't want to spray paint them, as they may chip when played with, so I was thinking of a more durable solution....

Based upon the effect Marx plastic figures suffered while in their landfill, I attempted it once on a TSSD figure without success.
If you find a good solution, please post.

 

[BlakeWR85]

Thanks guys! I'll see what I can come up with.

 

[BlakeWR85]

I'm gonna be trying "rit dye more" on some spare pieces, I'll post the results later

 

[BlakeWR85]

Found a solution! Rit dyemore with boiling hot water. Here's a photo of the scrap piece of Perry plastic that I tested next to the original gray perry sprue. One thing I'll need to fix is to not let the plastic touch the bottom, the scrap piece got a little deformed from the heat from touching the bottom of the pan.

 

[OzDigger]

That's a good result considering that dye is intended for synthetics such as Polyester, Nylon and similar plastics.

Your Blue dyed sample looks like Polystyrene, the harder more brittle material used in most plastic kits, is that correct?

As you say, you would have to take care with the amount of heat applied as plastics soften easily especially Polyethylene products such as 'soft' toy solders.

 

[BlakeWR85]

That's a good result considering that dye is intended for synthetics such as Polyester, Nylon and similar plastics.

Your Blue dyed sample looks like Polystyrene, the harder more brittle material used in most plastic kits, is that correct?

As you say, you would have to take care with the amount of heat applied as plastics soften easily especially Polyethylene products such as 'soft' toy solders.

Yeah, it is harder plastic. I didn't think it was gonna work, I had the dye just simmering, not until I turned the heat up did it work.

 

[theBaron]

That turned out pretty well. The plastic must be porous enough, at a microscopic level, to absorb the dye.

I'd be curious now to test now by slicing through the sprue, to see how far in the dye penetrated the material.

Prost!
Brad

 

[BlakeWR85]

That turned out pretty well. The plastic must be porous enough, at a microscopic level, to absorb the dye.

I'd be curious now to test now by slicing through the sprue, to see how far in the dye penetrated the material.

Prost!
Brad

I actually broke the sprue last night just to see, it basically stays at the surface, so I'll probably have to do all my trimming first before I dye them, otherwise cutting with my exacto knife may cause the gray to show through.....

 

[theBaron]

Well, do you mean it coats the surface, like paint would, or it only penetrated a tiny bit into the material? If it's the former, then it's what I expected, you can't dye plastic, only coat it.

Prost!
Brad

 

[thebritfarmer]

Seems like an awful lot of work. There are great paints out there now for plastic which are very durable.

 

[BlakeWR85]

Well, do you mean it coats the surface, like paint would, or it only penetrated a tiny bit into the material? If it's the former, then it's what I expected, you can't dye plastic, only coat it.

Prost!
Brad

Hmmm.....can't really discern which it is. I cannot scrap it off with my fingernail, but it scraps off with a blade, but then again so does some plastic....whether it penetrated just a tiny bit, or if it coated it, I still got the results I was looking for: colored plastic that won't chip. ^&grin

Seems like an awful lot of work. There are great paints out there now for plastic which are very durable.

Really wasn't all that much work, the bottle only costs me $3ish from hobby lobby, just boiled water, dunked the plastic and waited...

What kind of paint do you find is most durable, that won't chip with rough handling?

 

[thebritfarmer]

I have had good results with Krylon paint for all types of projects. I think it also depends on the plastic too for durability.