RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

I hear ya, and if anyone asked if it would work I would not recommend it on plastic either- but he says it has worked for him in the past so this is about what has changed making it not work this time around

Coelacanth wrote:Maybe it's possible, but not following the normal directions for nylon. I saw this on YouTube, maybe it will be helpful:

[youtube]d272v6G28wQ[/youtube]

HI!... Thanks for the link. I'm going to try that method on some old parts 1st to see if it works for me.

Thanks :

Neal.

Maybe the parts have been exposed to another type of chemical or cleaner that has sealed the plastic in some way and is keeping it from taking the dye?

I just bought a box of black rit powdered dye at micheals and my parts turned out great, so I don't think the formula has changed at all.

Man he made a mess on the counter. Should of put down some cardboard or something before starting. LOL

HI!... I've been thinking about this and I'm just wondering if it's what I cleaned the parts with? The parts I was dying were very dirty. So I let them soak in Grease Lightning over night. I then scrubbed them with the same cleaner, then scrubbed them with DAWN dish soap. I wonder if the G/L somehow bonded with the plastic allowing the dye not to stick? Only thing I could come up with. All the other times I have dyed Tamiya plastic parts I just washed the parts with soap/water.

Must be the culprit.

HI!... O.k, I tried the method used in the vid posted. I did it exactly to the letter of what he did. This set-up DOES NOT work on ABS!!!!! I tried 4 different sets of Tamiya Bigwig parts and none of them took the black RIT dye what so ever. I even left them in the solution for over a hour. And nothing. There's got to be a way of dying these things. What I don't understand is that my aluminum chassis Bigwig project I dyed the same parts with the same dye and they all took it with no problems. Now I can't get them to accept the dye at all. This is really starting to piss me off!!!!

As far as I know, ABS cannot be dyed. Is it possible that they parts you dyed were a nylon blend, and the parts that aren't working a true ABS?

Also did u try to knock the gloss off them? Try it on an old part of course but on things like jakes arms you have to in order for the dye to penetrate.

As I said before, if you were asking IF it could be done I would say no! It's only since you have already done it that I am guessing as to why!

HI!... Unless Tamiya used different plastic for the same parts? The Bigwig has no re-re so all my parts are vintage originals. The rear blue axle hubs are unique to the Bigwig due to they are staggered compared to the Hotshot, Hotshot II, Supershot.

Are you still trying to dye those parts

JK

marlo wrote:Are you still trying to dye those parts

JK

HI!... Yes. I've done it before. Don't know why it won't do it now?

I'm going to glass bead the parts to see if that will help. I have a large glass beading cabinet with very fine glass bead in it. See if that will let the DYE bite in. If no I'll just paint them. Trying to avoid that rout though.

I do some glass bead blasting at work, even with low pressure, I would avoid blasting what your thinking on destroying. If were me I would soak the parts in acetone, then wash with soap, and water. Then try again with a fresh pot of dye. blasting will only give it a textured finish, that will be amplified with a black colour.

HI!... I glass been plastics all the time. There's a trick to it. I might go get some SEM automotive interior paint. It's kinda like a dye and actually bonds with the plastic. I've used it many times on my trucks interior parts.