Is this doable/viable on Transformers? Would a beginner mess it up? Is it complicated

I ask as I was sold a duff second hand Classics Megatron a while back, with really faded orange parts. I was thinking about covering that over, and vaguely remembered that some Transfans may have had success dyeing plastic. The reason I ask about dyeing specifically is that I avoid hand-painting Transformers as I don't have the coordination for it, and the results wouldn't look as good.

Well, what color are you looking to dye it?

Black or dark grey. That kind of thing.

Well, black is the easiest to do, since it's the darkest. I dyed all the blue-ish parts on my Dark Scoponok black and it came it great. Look up some dying guides to get a good grasp on how to do it. I'm sure the way I do it is very ghetto, so I wouldn't really share my method unless you wanted to hear several different takes on how to do it.

You can't really dye a color like orange, no matter how faded, to dark grey.

Yeah, it'll come out brown or something.

How the hell could he have gotten orange anyway?

If your only painting the scopes cap and the pistol cap just leave the scope in some dish washer fluid for a while. Then tape up the parts you don't wan't paint to go on. After that it souldn't be too hard to paint it. For the other part dismantle the shoulder and paint only the visble part black. Let it soak in dishwasher fluid first of course. It should come out smoothly if all your trying to do is cover a whole piece in black paint. It's not like your doing serious paint detailing. Theres not much need for cordination when practically soaking a part in dark paint.

If your worried about getting grimey fingers on the gun cap just tape the underneath part onto newspaper and paint the top part in black. Then let it dry.

Oh, then black or thereabouts is more what I'm aiming for...


I'm talking about the orange parts on Classics Megatron. Unfortunately, it's (sun?) faded.


It's more that painting would lead to visible brush strokes etc, which I want to avoid. I've seen so many bad kitbashes in my time that has been hand-painted with enamel and looked awful, so assumed that dyeing the plastic would look a better appearance.

Go with black, it's the easiest to work to and to work from, even if shooting for gray.

It is however possible to dye straight to dark gray, if done properly. The grey *might* be tinted orange, but highly doubt it. I've dyed yellow to blue, red to gray...so I can see orange to dark gray.

I found some great tutorials/videos on youtube for easy dying. These should help...

1st half
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKy-OGGtU1o

2nd half
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPfidyeeS1M

I tried to make an Activators Sky warp over the week end by dying a Thundercracker black. I had read that the paint will not change, it did. He came out all black except for the silver parts, the came out gold. Also he got warped from the heat, or I left him in too long, about 15 min, and now his shoulder pads don't fit right his arms pop off if I move them at the elbow and one leg wont go back on at the knee.

I'm not saying don't do it just try some practice runs with some junk toys first so you can get the hang of it. I might try again one day, when I can aford some junk toys.

It's a VERY difficult process to avoid warping.

I learned the hard way also. There are alternate ways to dye, such as using cooler water, and leaving it in longer.

I've been painting toys for a few years and have never had that problem. You can apply acrylic pretty freely and it will dry nicely later on.

Just practice on a broken toy or knockoff if you feel unsure. Either way your not painting a heavely detailed piece. Your just painting two circular tubes. Paint a bottle cap from a water bottle first if you want to practice.

I suggest you use an acrylic like Tamiya instead of an enamel. It won't damage the plastic and scratches off easier.

Enamels won't damage plastic, and they typically hold better to plastic, if unprimed. Every one of my customs has been done with enamels.

Thanks for all the advice, guys. In a couple of weeks when I've got more time I'll track down some attic-dwelling junk TFs and have a few practice goes.

...did you actually leave it sitting in the dye for 15 minutes?

No I would pull the strainer out every so often to check on the parts. Is 15 minutes too long? What is a good amount to time to leave the parts in?

When I dye, I leave the parts in for about 10 seconds, with about 10 seconds of cooling, then repeat. It's a strenuous process, but doing it in this method ensures no warping.

Ah, I thought he left it in for 15 minutes. No, I do the same thing. I sink them in the pot and lift them up every couple seconds until I get the color I want. I haven't gotten any warping yet and I've done about 3 dye jobs.

OK In for 10 sec the out for 10 how long total time?

Until the plastic is the desired color you're aiming for. I usually do a quick rinse with cold water every 30 minutes or so. It's a painful long process - but the best method I've done.

I had another look at doing this but it seems I can't figure out how to disassemble Megatron, particularly in order to access the shoulder part that becomes the gun muzzle, without being unable to fix it all together afterwards. Whoops.

Guess I'll go for the painting option.

Yeah, I painted mine after reading this thread for some reason I got sick of the orange. I did it with a flat black acrylic. I didn't even disassemble it.

I forgot that the shoulder cap dosen't come off easy. It's held toghether with a pin and you'd need to know how to pull out pins to take it apart. I figured I'll just paint very carefully with a brush I got it pretty okay and it came out nice.

The cap on the gun is a little harder because you don't wan't to get paint on the clear plastic or the rest of the gun. But you can cut a circular piece of paper if you feel uncomfortable. Put it in there and block the paint from going on the clear plastic. Still be careful.

You can also tape the circumference of the barrel to stop paint from going on the rest of the fusion cannon.

As for acylics I only used Tamiya flat black because I find I can scratch off mistakes more easier. I'm starting to agree enamels are better. I just had a lot of bad luck with them because the thinner would eat away at plastic and it smelled really bad. I suppose if I do use them I'm going to primer stuff first and usually apply colors in thinner coats over a longer duration of time.

I'm glad I got a mask I wanted to wait until I got a good one to go back to using testors enamel. I actually gotta paint some knockoffs and I feel more used to painting by hand than spraying on Kyron fusion which I'm new at and just trying out. For Megatron of course unless you disassemble the parts well it's probably better to just get a flat black enamel if you wan't a paint that dosen't come off. Just that you might wan't to take more time between coats since it will take longer to dry.