The Energon Pub

Some kinds of plastics are extremely resistant to paint no matter what you do. These are usually toughened waxy plastics/superhard plastics like polyoxymethylene that make up parts of a figure that could easily be stressed if made from the usual pvc or abs. The limbs of the Transformers Siege Battle Masters are made of this stuff and you need to color them, so what do you do? It's RIT DyeMore for synthetics to the rescue! Mix half the bottle of dye with a cup or so of water, boil the liquid on med to high heat just so you get a gentle rolling boil and drop your parts in. I like to suspend mine in a strainer so I can 'lift and look' to check the color. In under a minute the pieces will start to be dyed with a color that won't rub off! The longer you soak them the deeper the color. I tried this using Siege Aimless and Earthwise Soundbarrier with excellent results.


I modded Soundbarrier so you can remove his ramp from his back and pop it back on. The RIT DyeMore works best on light colored plastic and will easily change one color to another such as Aimless' light blue body to a deep red. I've created different color-match Battle Masters now that you can pair up with Transformers like Hound, Grapple, the Predacons, and more! Also I created Spinister's Targematers Fracas and Shrute using the DyeMore Pink, violet and Graphite dyes. They were then primered with Bulldog Adhesion promoter, painted using Testors Fantasy Armor set lacquers (metalizers), and sealed with Mr Hobby premium spray sealer. Seeing as how these two are impossible to find outside of the $200+ set, why not make your own?


For more pics head to their pages here: Dyeformers Fracas and Shrute

1. What paint were you trying to use on the Battlemaster limbs? I ask because I was able to repaint Firedrive's limbs and gunbarrels without major issue.
2a. Fracas isn't Spinister's Targetmaster partner, he's Scourge's.
2b. Both your custom and the stupid set got Fracas' colors wrong, in different ways:

2c. Fracas also isn't a Firebolt recolor... But that's more an issue with the SIEGE gun Battlemasters in general - they made two molds (which copied the wrong gun modes of the Legends figures) and then gave up really trying.

Regardless, this is some very well done painting and dyeing work, very nice job. Dyeing is an underrated method, and certainly has its advantages.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:1. What paint were you trying to use on the Battlemaster limbs? I ask because I was able to repaint Firedrive's limbs and gunbarrels without major issue.
2a. Fracas isn't Spinister's Targetmaster partner, he's Scourge's.
2b. Both your custom and the stupid set got Fracas' colors wrong, in different ways:

2c. Fracas also isn't a Firebolt recolor... But that's more an issue with the SIEGE gun Battlemasters in general - they made two molds (which copied the wrong gun modes of the Legends figures) and then gave up really trying.

Regardless, this is some very well done painting and dyeing work, very nice job. Dyeing is an underrated method, and certainly has its advantages.

I wasn't able to get paint to stick to the limbs until I used some adhesion promoter primer. Testors lacquer metalizer, Tamiya, and Testors Aztek Airbrush are my go-tos for Transformers.

Good eye on Fracas! That's supposed to be Singe (and Hotlink but they went with Shrute), but I had forgotten they split up Spinister's TMs in the Phantom Strike set.

Hairsplitter, not Hotlink
Probably a case of trademark lapse.

My go-to paints are Craft Smart, Apple Barrel, and DecoArt acrylic. And they've all worked just fine, including on Battlemaster limbs.