Dye Job [Customs]

Well that pot is never getting used again...

To say I've had trouble getting the kind of results the incredible customizers on LaLD routinely produce would be an understatement. Everything from drilling apart the rivets, removing tampos, stripping the paint, applying primer, applying paint, adding details, and pretty much everything that can be messed up...well, I can pretty much guarantee it has been. Still, I keep trying. Why? Because I'm really jealous.

I decided to try a different method this time after learning that diecasts could be dyed like Easter Eggs. I've never dyed Easter Eggs, but kids do it, right? Besides, it is not like I don't have tons of Hot Wheels that I have little to no attachment to.

We start with '13 Ford Mustang GT

Quite possibly the ugliest diecast I have, it was prime fodder for experimentation. Amazingly, the first step (drilling the rivets) went flawlessly.

I also grabbed a Supra Falken that came missing any glass. (An error I honestly didn't notice until I'd taken it out of the packaging.) After a messy dis-assembly where the drill bit refused to go in the right spot, I decided to strip the paint with paint stripper instead of the usual overnight acetone bath. This actually worked surprisingly well.

Here it is post a few minutes and some extremely light scrubbing with a nylon brush:

Nice, and unlike the soak-in-acetone method it didn't require nearly as much elbow grease or brutally scratching the diecast for hours with a stainless steel brush. By the way I believe I learned of this technique from Mycarneverruns87 who wrote about/recommended it. EDIT: Find his awesome How-To here

Note: I did not remove the paint from the Mustang.

At JoAnn I purchased a bottle of purple Rit dye. I found the instructions online but, in retrospect, I may have just skimmed them as I missed a few key steps.

My process went something like this:

Heat up water in most expensive pot in the kitchen

Add Vinegar and salt

Dump half the bottle in the pot

Add cars

Attempt to stir with a chopstick (I didn't want to ruin a spoon!)

One of the first issues I noticed was that although the instructions had said something about needing to stir if you saw deposits begin to form on the diecasts, I couldn't see through the dark purple water! I couldn't even tell where the cars were in the dye, much less note when deposits were forming.

30 minutes or so later, I took the Mustang out.

Maybe 60 minutes after starting I pulled out the Supra.

It did not look good.

My guess is that the dye needed something to adhere to, but let's face it, a lot of mistakes were made.

But here is the Mustang!

Before:

After:

Yeah, I realize the wheels are not looking too good and the back of the car is not sitting flush. However, in terms of the dyed body, I think it is a substantial improvement.

Would I try this again? I might (I do now have my own dedicated pot for it, at least). The results were decent, but I'd want more practice before trying it on a car I actually liked.

In the meantime, back to practicing drilling out rivets...