The Energon Pub

by **tentagil** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 9:54 pm

Nice, where did you get the dye?

by **Boggs6ft7** » Thu Mar 29, 2007 11:14 pm

tentagil wrote:Nice, where did you get the dye?

You can get it from most autoparts stores, its used to recolor vinyl upholstry. The red I ordered because I couldn't find a place that had a red I liked.

Gotta be careful what you use it on, not all plastics react the same, but when it works, it works great. Another downside is that the colors are limited, lots of muted dull colors.

by **Ramrider** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:06 am

I'm liking the sound of that stuff. How resistant is it to chipping?

by **johndillinga2003** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 10:33 am

I guess im not the only one who found a non Optic painted Ramjet for a kitbash :lol:

And keep Thrust the way you have him it's dead on perfect :shock:

by **Boggs6ft7** » Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:23 am

Ramrider wrote:I'm liking the sound of that stuff. How resistant is it to chipping?

depends on the plastic you use it on. Denser plastics (stuff like ball joints) do not take this stuff well and you have to use more adhesion promoter with them. Basically, the dye is coloring plus acetone. The acetone melts the top of the plastic and the coloring sets in, the plastic cures, and its near permanent. The adhesion promoter is basically spray acetone that primes the surfaces to take the dye.

The downside is that the denser parts are parts that move, and I've had chipping on those parts before, they just wouldn't take the dye.

Also, they are vinyl dyes and vinyl coatings. The stuff you get at Pep Boys or Auto Zone are more than likely coatings. Its not that they are bad, I've had good luck out of them, but they act different from the dyes. But in the end, both work the same way.

Aside from the denser plastics, the other trouble I've had is consistant results, this may be from different plastic batches, or differencs in the dye batches, etc... I've only been using them for a while.

Two warnings though: 1. The plastic has to be completely bare, no paint. If there is paint, the dye won't take. 2. If you are using the true vinyl dyes, not coatings, for the love of God do it in a well ventilated area, they fumes are no joke.