How does one use it to paint?

To my understanding its not so much painting as just dying the figure. I would assume you use it just like it says on the box.

I wouln't think it would adhere to plastic. I guess I got some experimenting to do.

Heat up the dye, plop in the vinyl and that's about it... easy as 3.14

You have to use HOT water and it takes time to soak in. I used, what I think was a heavy solution and soaked it until I got the color/s I wanted. I also took horseshoes advice and took off the head to get the dye inside and out.

You can check out the one I did here:
http://www.skullbrain.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3518

yep, take the pieces apart, make sure there aren't air pockets, let soak in hot hot dye... shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

Would this stuff work on hard plastic - ie: Henshin/Obitsu bodies?

I don't know about plastic... never tried, but if it's as porous as vinyl, then it should work - in theory.

Ahhhh, theories.....I LOVE theories.
Plastic should be porous like vinyl. Might give it a shot when I get some Obitsu bodies. See what happens. Got to find some dye over here though. Never seen this RIT stuff about.

i don't think plastic works...i tried to dye glow bb's a while back and all the dye did was get them wet. 0% absorption!

Henshin plastic would be different to those BB balls, but still it might react the same. I think there is a neo-henshin always on YJA that has been dyed purple. I might give it a shot and see what happens. One day.

I know that Rit dye doesn't really do anything to irisawa v color...

It doesn't soak where it's been painted with V Colour?

Well, if you completely submerge a piece of vinyl, the color will soak in from the inside, but the dye will not effect the pigments in the paint. So if I paint something silver and dip it in green dye, the silver paint won't turn greenish.

I don't know much about V colour, but you could get some interesting results maybe if you could spray colour, dye then remove the spray somehow. Or would dye soak through the vinyl under the paint?

I haven't experimented with paint remover on dyed vinyl... I'm not sure if the paint remover would also effect the dyed areas. Since the thinner/remover kinda melts the vinyl a bit, it might strip off the dye.

The red took a little on the BB's I did, but nothing on the yellow.

Hmmmm, I think someone needs to step up and do the mad scientist routine on this shit. Work some experiments, and go insane from the fumes.

OKAY -
call me the toy customizing fool. I have destroyed a toy or two in my day.
I did the MAD SCIENTIST thing in spades.
I have also experimented with VINYL SHRINKING, but that is yet another experiment...

Anyway, Over the years I have thrown EVERYTHING into the RIT DYE cooking pot of doom.
After years of doing this, I am still EXTREMELY cautious of placing my finished dyejob vinyl & pvc toy anywhere near my valuable toys.
(If you wish to test this theory, pack your BEST vinyls along with your DYED vinyls and sit them in a box in the attic - IN THE SUMMER for a few weeks)

It's just like a NEW PAIR of black Jeans, ,
dye can LEACH OUT of the porous vinyl like a magic marker through osmosis.

On some of the EXTREMELY dyed items I just have to run my hands over them to get a bit of dye.
30 days after I did it, It was 100% perfect.
10 years after the fact is another story.
Heat can also accelerate this problem.

Perhaps coating them in silicone, until the excess DYE has been tapped?
I dunno I go through the same thing with cloth died with RIT.
Washing & rewashing It can be a nightmare if you don't get enough of the dye out.
Otherwise a Lotta toys end up with Black legs & Hands (or worse, dye marks on their faces!)

As far as $20 going down the drain, you can try Obitsu Dying, but hard plastic obitsu bodies could prove a problem.
I don't think all the "parts" will dye at the same rate. Many parts will WARP if you separate them and put them in boiling dye.
I did ATTEMPT to dye an action man body and had a lot of problems.
It started by dye adhering to only portions of the body, depending on plastic type.
Some parts accepted the dye to a certain degree, however the longer it was left in, the chest started caving in from the heat.
Over the years I have tried experiments in lessening the dye ratio and shortening the "dyeing period",
Dye is not the absolute best solution.
Over time, the color may become less than perfect.
But in the end, nothing beats milky thin paint and a good old airbrish.
I always preferred to dye ONLY the inside anyway, as people PROBABLY won't be opening up the toy and touching it from the inside out.


Instead of "Color Remover" (which smells TERRIBLE!)
To REMOVE color, Benzoil Perozide crèam and a desk LAMP can be used, but this is VERY VERY tedious.
I last used it when I got a Head from Isaac that needed to have ink removed.
This works, but can take from a few hours to a few days.
Increasing the wattage of the light and strength of the crèam may help to remove the color, but it is a crapshoot.
I tried upping the ante and turned a vintage DR Evil head WHITE by accident. I think a lot had to do with the fact that toy was over 20 years old when I did the experiment.
I used very powerful peroxide (on the INSIDE and OUTSIDE of the head) and a high powered FLOOD LAMP.
Don't try that at home kids…

Also remember that Dyes can be toxic so be very careful...

GUY is a wealth of knowledge and a great doode!!!Listen to what he has to say..Thats experience talking..Hey guy how ya been by the way??!!!

Now that was a fuckin awsome post !!

There are many, many, many, other ways to remove paint off of vinyls.
Each of these products will result in allmost instantaneous removal of all paint.
Easy Off oven cleaner
Pinesol (undiluted)
Ammonia (undiluted)
Lacquer Thinner
Carburetor cleaner
Gastrol engine cleaner
There's a whole bunch more but you get the idea....

Glad everyone is getting something outta my misfortunes.
I have boxes and boxes of experiments gone wriong.
Sorry I haven't been around much of late - Johnny!

Please note -
the Peroxide method I mentioned "SHOULD NOT" be used as a method to remove PAINT. It just won't do that.

Remember that commercial for ROLAIDS where they put a stick of chalk in a glass of DYE? (Perhaps it has been a few years since that one aired)

At any rate, the peroxide method is used to remove a thin layer of DYE & Discoloration which has seeped underneath the paint and into the vinyl itself.
If left on for lenthy periods, peroxide can occasionally cause the paint to fade.

Example:
I purchased a PETER PARKER mego that the seller had turned into a BURT RENOLDS doll when he was a kid. He thought it was funny.
While the aforementioned chemicals will remove paint, they may not penetrate beneath the surface to attack the layer of stain.
Peroxide & light seem to work like "SUN-IN"*
(*hair product - ask your girlfriend about it)
and remove the internal dye which has soaked in.

While I got off the remnants of Peter Parker's marker moustashe, I unfortunately faded the pupils to some degree.
While it is unmistakable as a VINTAGE figure, the eyes look a little ODD.

Another example was the BRUCE WAYNE head (purchased from the same seller with said Moustashe fetish)

The dye was removed without any problems. The Peroxide drew out the marker and all was good, right?

Well not quite...
MINUTE traces of Peroxide cream had soaked in and remained within the outer layer of the head. Remember this thin VINYL is like a SPONGE.

Well I put a cherry mint Mego BATMAN cowl on this clean head and the peroxide from the head continued to work it's magic - removing the color around the nose and face of the vinyl cowl.
MONEY DOWN THE DRAIN on really rare and pricy stuff!

All I'm saying is that you gotta be careful with this stuff...
It is like playing with BLEACH in designer clothing!

Next time try Efferdent.

Hey Guy can we get some piis of the "experimnet gone horribly wrong" box ??

I'm very interested in seeing some of the results form the experiments.