VHT Vinyl Dye to Re-color LEGO

[Henchmen4Hire]

Aside from a few useful posts on Brickset, there's no recent topic or tutorial about VHT Vinyl Dye for LEGO on the entire internet, so I'm going to start it here to give everyone peace of mind. I'm waiting for the can to be delivered, so while it gets here I'll start the tutorial with some general info.

• According to random internet folk, your best bet for getting vinyl dye is online. I can back this up after calling and visiting several stores and either not finding it or having the people working there not knowing what the megabluck I'm talking about. People in Los Angeles do suck though, so maybe they were just lazy and didn't feel like talking to me. I got it for $15 total from Summit Racing.
  
• There are a few posts on Brickset in this topic where georgebjones uses VHT Vinyl Dye Gloss Black to recolor a large cylinder piece. He posted a picture but it's tiny (I can't make it larger anyway). I'm going to post large glorious pictures.
  
• There is a popular LEGO/Dye tutorial here but they use a different brand that is no longer produced. Still, it's a useful read so you understand how the spray dye works on LEGO.
  
• Ignore every review on Amazon about anything ever (except the joke ones, those are good times), especially about vinyl dye. You will learn nothing other than people don't know the difference between paint and dye and no one follows instructions.
  
• Dying your LEGO parts is a permanent way to recolor them. It's also a way to save a ton of money by recoloring your current LEGO pieces instead of having to buy new ones. Dying things black always works, if you want to make other colors it's best to start with white bricks. Dying a blue brick red will give you a purplish color. Please refer to your 2nd grade elementary school lessons about colors for more information on color mixing.
  

I ordered some VHT Vinyl Dye Spray - Gloss Black to finish up some Blacktron figures, I'll be recoloring armor bits of various colors as well as many other random piece. How is this going to save me money? I need battle droid torsos in black but those are expensive, averaging $1.00 each. I can buy tan battle droid torsos instead for 20 cents a piece and just recolor them, for an 80 cents savings per torso. Also, there are robot legs and armor that aren't made in black, so there's dye to the rescue.

That's it for now!

[woody64]

Would be very interested to see some VHT Vinyl Dye results here. The Lego/Dye tutorial is already an older one and I haven't seen some suficiant good results from another source anywhere.

[Henchmen4Hire]

The can arrived yesterday, some first thoughts:

I'm already annoyed because the instructions for applying this spray read a lot like normal spray paint. For example, it says to mask off areas you don't want painted, which is weird because I assume dye would spider into the masked off areas through the plastic itself anyway. Also, it calls the product paint in the instructions a few times despite it clearly being labeled dye on the front. This is off-putting, but more random internet searching shows many people saying some dye is called paint even though it's really dye. Feh.

I'm now waiting for the weather to cooperate (between 60-95 degrees F, humidity less than 60%) so I can spray a few test pieces.

Edited May 8, 2013 by Henchmen4Hire

[Henchmen4Hire]

Alrighty, overall I'm about 95% satisfied with the results.

Here are big clear images of the test parts after about an hour of drying/curing. All photos are unedited except for this one, all I did was remove the blue reflection from the helmets, the paint job's appearance is unaffected.

Unaltered color pictures in the spoiler:

The most important question that needs to be answered is if this product is a paint or a dye. The answer is a frustrating I don't know and I kinda doubt it! Using this product felt like using any other spray paint I've ever used. Do light coats so you don't get runs/sags, clean the surface well before spraying, etc, standard procedure. I washed the pieces with soap and then gave them a quick wash with alcohol and let them dry thoroughly. They then went straight to the little platform I made there out of Megabloks and a big dark bley LEGO plate.

Now on to the vinyl dye!

There are mixed messages on the can:

• The can is clearly labeled VINYL DYE.
  
• This product doesn't say it has acetone specifically (which helps dye penetrate into the plastic), but it does say it contains what I've seen on other spray paint cans, which is toulene and ketones.
  
• There is a tip on the can that says you should mask off areas you don't want painted. That works to block paint, but dye doesn't care if there's tape there or not, it should theoretically spider into the areas under the tape anyway as it penetrates and absorbs into the surface.
  
• The can says this product penetrates the surface, and that it won't chip or peel off, both properties exclusive to dye. Paint will chip off no matter what because it rests on top of plastic, dye is impossible to chip off because it mixes with the plastic itself.
  
• Reviews all over for this product range from "OMG this is the greatest dye ever, the color never rubs off!" to "This stuff sucks, it's definitely paint and flaked off within a week." Once again I'll remind you that everyone on the internet is either stupid or lying lol.
  

Anyway, today the Moon aligned with the outer rings of Saturn and a comet passed at juuuust the right distance from Pluto to allow good weather for spraying this stuff, so I went ahead with the project despite the nagging feeling that I should just return this to the store ASAP and get some money back.

I sprayed a few lights coats on the gear and let them dry for 10 minutes, as per the instructions. Sprayed another light coat, waited 10 minutes. Sprayed a final coat and let everything dry for an hour so I could handle it safely for photographing. Here's what I noticed as the coats progressed:

• After the first light coats, the biggest thing I noticed is that the product was NOT absorbing into the plastic, it looked like it was simply drying on the surface like normal paint. There was also the typical mottled texture of spray paint. I've read that some companies sell paint and call it dye, also that some companies have changed their dye product to paint without changing the name or labeling of the product. Maybe this is one of those cases.
  
• After the second coat, the texture went away and a smooth glossy surface began to form, which is also something that happens with normal spray paint. This stuff acts like paint.
  
• After the final coat, the surfaces looked very good. I was slightly more optimistic at this point, but had to wait for it to fully dry to see if there would be a texture on the surface.
  

Once dry, the pieces looked very, very good. Some areas of the sprayed pieces looked just like a normal black brick while some areas had a very, very faint texture, as if they were airbrushed. So, do these sprayed pieces look as good as normal bricks?

Here's a picture of a sprayed black cylinder and a normal black cylinder (along with the sprayed helmet of course).

Here are some more of my Blacktron troops. The Commando's armor was painted by hand (flat black, not gloss), the power miners helmets are sprayed, as well as the vest, all other pieces are unaltered.

Can you tell the difference between sprayed and normal bricks in these pictures? Probably not. There is no loss of detail after spraying, no apparent difference when viewing them on your shelf, not even from a foot away. You can only sort of maybe tell if you hold the piece a few inches away from your eyeball, or move the figure around to see the faint mottled texture, if present. The results can be a mixed bag, the big dark bley plate I used in the pictures up there ended up with a very smooth finish, but it's not a mirror finish, not even with polishing.

Bottom line, they absolutely can look like real bricks, but I can also achieve the same effect if I paint them by hand or use an airbrush. The question is now how durable this VHT product is. If it's just another stinking can of paint that isn't durable, then to hell with paying $15 a can for this crap. I'd rather get a little pot of Testors Gloss Black acrylic paint for $4, paint by hand and get an even smoother finish. I should probably point out that I'm good at painting by hand and can get a smooth finish, I understand that spray paint and airbrushes may be a more convenient option for new painters. I recommend you set up a bunch of pieces like I did here and use an airbrush to paint many of them quickly, then go back and paint any spots you missed by hand.

I'm going to wait a day before I try to scratch off this VHT product from one of the bricks, just so it drys/hardens/cures completely to give it a fighting chance. I fully expect it to chip or peel off, proving it isn't dye. Another test to prove if this is dye or paint is to simply connect a brick to a sprayed stud. If the connection feel too tight or gummy, then it's obviously paint because dye shouldn't build up on the surface. Maybe this product is a combination of dye and paint, who knows, everyone I've talked to sure doesn't lol.

Now having used the product, I can't return it, but that's okay because I'm pretty happy with the paint job. Even if it turns out that this is paint and not dye, I can still use it to recolor lots of parts at once (I don't have an airbrush anymore), then touch them up by hand.

Edited May 9, 2013 by Henchmen4Hire

[Henchmen4Hire]

A follow-up:

Some of the pieces look even better today than yesterday, they don't look so painted anymore. Others look about the same.

Wow, this stuff is durable, can't scratch it off with my fingernail. I repeatedly connected and unconnected a piece, at least 30 times, to several of the sprayed studs on the plate and the black color took no damage! The fit is a little tighter than normal too, so you'd think the color would be scraping off, but it's holding on for dear life.

I used a spongy emery board (essentially a very fine sandpaper) to see how durable the color is, and I'm surprised. I sanded a little on one of the sprayed grey cylinders, even after the sandpaper started biting into the surface the color was still there, so the paint does seem to have penetrated at least a little bit into the surface, as dye would. That said, when I scraped with my dull fingernail along the edge of a brick, the color did come off after some force. I may just have to clean parts more thoroughly next time before spraying because the studs are definitely exposed to even more force when connecting but they were fine.

I will admit this stuff is far more durable than regular spray paint, it's even stronger than spray paint I've used specifically made for plastics (like Krylon Fusion) and I don't see this ever chipping off just with everyday handling. In other words, it's great for MOCs you're only going to display or getting black parts that aren't made in black. If you toss a sprayed brick into your bucket of parts though, I'm pretty sure eventually the paint will get scratched because of all the sharp brick edges.

[Henchmen4Hire]

Another update:

This stuff is finicky, you really do have to wait for the moon to align with Neptune's core to spray it to get good results haha. I sprayed a new batch of pieces with mixed results, even though I used the same spraying technique as before. Some looked just as good while some had a texture noticeable enough that it bugs me. Hopefully it goes away a little after a day like before, if not I'll just lightly sand it away and go over it by hand.

I suggest you scrub really hard when you're washing the pieces, I kinda half-assed it and that may be part of the problem here.

Another tip, once it's safe to do so, buff the sprayed piece with a microfiber cloth to get it to shine like a normal black brick. Sometimes it even helps smooth the surface a little more if you press hard enough, just be careful.

[Henchmen4Hire]

Final update because no one cares aside from me and Woody:

The second batch of helmets look a lot better now after another day of drying/curing, they're about as good as the first batch. Based on this, it seems like there's a decent amount of room for error when spraying. Follow all directions on the can and spray in light coats and you should end up with a nice looking piece.

Would I recommend this VHT Vinyl Dye for recoloring LEGO pieces?

The answer is a resounding "meh".

If you've got mad paint spraying skills and you can get this product for cheap, go for it. The result isn't a perfect brick but it's very close, the stuff simply doesn't absorb into the plastic like dye should, but the bond is strong enough that it may be worth using this for the durability.

It might help if you lightly sand the LEGO piece with very fine sandpaper before spraying, this may help the plastic absorb the dye, if that's what this is, better.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Henchmen4Hire

[Str0ngbad]

Thank you for giving such a detailed account of your experience with this. I for one have been keeping an eye on it as dying parts is something I have been wanting to try.

[rebelego]

Thanks for sharing. It sounds just like the vinyl dyes I have tried. Though, the VHT quality sounds good. The ones I have tried is the gray and black from Biltema and a rather expensive one with much better quality from SEM mixed by a local dealer. Though, trying to get good color matching for other than black is difficult or expensive. The local SEM dealer could mix colors until I got a perfect match, but I would have to pay full price for each can of test blend, and they expected at least four attempts to get a good match.

[bogey175]

This was very insightful! Thanks for posting! Since it acts more like paint, does that make clean masking possible - or have you experimented with that?

[Henchmen4Hire]

Hi Bogey, sorry for the late reply, I haven't been here for a while.

I haven't tested masking, but I'm going to try it soon on a NERF gun. I'll let you know what happens.

[DarkKnight7]

Thanks for providing a more recent attempt using today's "dye" products. I too bought a VHT green dye to try to create Joker hair from blond and brown Dasten hair, but like you mentioned, I was a little afraid of all the "conditions" necessary for good results. I just moved out of a really cold climate and into a more humid climate, so still awaiting "perfect conditions." I'd love to show my results too when I get some, and see how it compares to your black color results. My biggest concern is also whether it adheres or seeps into the plastic itself and doesn't chip. We'll see, I guess, right?

Thanks thought for your insight here! INteresting.

[Henchmen4Hire]

Looking forward to your results!

I'd like to add a more positive note about this VHT Vinyl Dye stuff:

I tried painting a NERF gun with it today, and it did a flawless job! The gun looks as if it were molded in black, every little scratch and detail is intact.

Here's the thing though, I lightly sanded the gun before spraying it. Sanding removes the plastic's slick surface, allowing the dye to penetrate, which means if you want your LEGO pieces to have great results you're going to have to sand them. Use a fine sandpaper, something that will remove the slick surface but not cause noticeable scratches.

Another thing, the surface will be duller than a LEGO brick, more like a Megablok's sheen. You might consider using the gloss version of the dye and see it that matches LEGO better. Otherwise you could just buff the piece until it's shiny.

[tedbeard]

I appreciate the info. I bought a spray can from the US a couple of years ago (could not find it here in my part of Canada) and have been afraid to try it out. Probably expired now but at least I know more of what to expect.

Edited September 19, 2013 by tedbeard

[Henchmen4Hire]

Yep, might as well try it out!

Also, about masking the VHT, it worked okay, though it penetrated regular paper masking tape enough that it stained a little underneath. I think if you use electrical tape or something non-porous you won't have a problem.

[bogey175]

I'll have to try that! Thanks so much!

Edited September 19, 2013 by bogey175

[ProvenceTristram]

So, I am going to go ahead and bump this thread to ask a few questions:

1) Anyone done this recently? Or not recently? How are the bricks holding up?

2) Any advice on technique? How far to hold the can from the piece you're working on?

[Henchmen4Hire]

On 11/2/2016 at 7:37 PM, ProvenceTristram said:

So, I am going to go ahead and bump this thread to ask a few questions:

1) Anyone done this recently? Or not recently? How are the bricks holding up?

2) Any advice on technique? How far to hold the can from the piece you're working on?

Aahhhhhh sorry for the late reply!

All the pieces shown here still look the same, I'm happy with it. Since this post I've moved on to using VHT on action figures and it works wonders there as well, especially in joints where there's a lot of friction. This stuff doesn't come off with proper prep work (thorough washing with dish soap/alcohol to remove grease, light sanding if possible), but if you don't prep it can be rubbed off with enough force.

Since this stuff is thinner than normal paint, you just need a lighter hand when spraying it to avoid runs. Do a quick spray and let it dry (a few minutes), do that a few times until you're happy and leave it alone to cure completely.

Edited June 28, 2018 by Henchmen4Hire

[Robianco]

I've used a vinyl dye spray from Halfords here in the UK (Car and bike repair and spares place). Light coats and careful masking where needed have given really nice results. I think I even did some dual moulding type boots before they were released and they came out well.

[meepinater]

useful! it sounds like sealant is not involved, or is that wrong?

Personally, i use acrylic paints so that i can manually do the painting and add details if i want, then i spray it with sealer. 

[Henchmen4Hire]

On 6/29/2018 at 9:06 AM, meepinater said:

useful! it sounds like sealant is not involved, or is that wrong?

Personally, i use acrylic paints so that i can manually do the painting and add details if i want, then i spray it with sealer. 

No sealer needed, if you scratch something hard enough to damage the paint/dye, sealer won't have protected it anyway.

[meepinater]

On 10/14/2018 at 7:40 PM, Henchmen4Hire said:

No sealer needed, if you scratch something hard enough to damage the paint/dye, sealer won't have protected it anyway.

Good point. 

I always seal my paints or dyes, though, just for an extra layer of protection. 

[Henchmen4Hire]

A slick layer of sealer definitely makes painted things easier to wipe clean, so even just for that benefit it's worth using.