Re-spraying two-tone with vinyl dye rather than plain old spray paint

L1ct0r

L1ct0r

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So, I've got a second hand Umarex UMP45. The upper body is two-tone blue and I want it black. The problem is that it's not a black upper that has been sprayed blue, its made of blue polymer, meaning a normal spray job would reveal the blue again as it wears with use. I have previously heard of people using vinyl dye to customise NERF blasters because it actually seeps into the outer layers of the plastic and physically changes the colour of the material, meaning it doesn't wear off like a normal paint job.  After a bit of research, it looks like its not hard to get hold of and it's not difficult to apply in a home workshop setting. It doesn't seem prohibitively expensive, as a single can would do several guns - but it's also not cheap enough that I want to waste it if it doesn't actually work with the sort of polymer that airsoft shells are made from.

Does anyone have any experience with using vinyl dyes on airsoft polymer surfaces? Do you have any tips or tricks? Is there anything to watch out for?

Before anyone replies to say that spraying a two-tone black is illegal - it isn't, providing you have a valid defence (I have this from a serving police officer who airsofts). Being a regular airsoft skirmisher is a valid defence under current UK law.

Cheers in advance for any info people can share on this topic. Assuming I go ahead with it, I shall write up the experiment for the benefit of anyone who wants to try it for themselves.

 
I used RIT dye to change some AK Mags and furniture from Black to Plum. It worked really well and I ended up with a Mid life Plum AK74.

You could do the same using Black and it might take more than 1 application to get it completely back but worth a shot. It's a bit messy (hot water with the dye and leave to soak for 20 mins if I remeber correctly).

 
There was someone on here a month or two back who dyed a couple of FNX slides.

Believe it was pretty straightforward but some care was needed not to have the plastic slide touch the bottom of the pan or whatever container you're heating it in.

 
Cool info gents. I didn't know there was a boil-in-the-bag style solution. The stuff I'm talking about is a spray. You apply it just like normal spray paint, but you have to build it up with several very fine coats with curing time in between.

https://www.vinyldye.co.uk/TRG-Vinyl-Dye-Spray-Paint/TRG-Vinyl-Dye-Spray-Paint-Large/Black-Vinyl-Dye-Plastic-Paint-By-TRG

I'll have to look into the heat in a pan stuff as well - although I don't think I have a big enough pan to get a whole UMP45 upper into.

 
Interesting stuff. I shall take it under advisement and report back. I'm just about to go camping for a week, so I plan to experiment with re-colouring the upper when I get back. I think I'll try the spray stuff first because it suits my setup better. But if that doesn't work I'll definitely look at trying the bath approach

 
L1ct0r said:
Interesting stuff. I shall take it under advisement and report back. I'm just about to go camping for a week, so I plan to experiment with re-colouring the upper when I get back. I think I'll try the spray stuff first because it suits my setup better. But if that doesn't work I'll definitely look at trying the bath approach
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Rit Dye or Rit Dyemore only works on softer plastics.

For example, the FNX post quote above has a hard plastic slide that doesn’t take the dye.

I’ve successfully dyed the FNX lower, a GHK G5 (Full gun) various TM G17’s (lowers only), a TM MP5 (full gun) and various mag shells

 
So, it's been a while but I'm done with holidays and the kids are back in school and I've finally had a chance to play. I ordered this stuff

https://www.vinyldye.co.uk/All-Vinyl-Dye-Color-Sprays/TRG-Vinyl-Dye-Spray-Paint/Black-Vinyl-Dye-Plastic-Paint-By-TRG

and a can of the Matt finish clear varnish

https://www.vinyldye.co.uk/Matt-Clear-Spray-Varnish

The gun is an Umarex Sportline UMP 45 and the upper is made from a blue polymer, rather than just a black one that has been sprayed. I stripped the gun and took all parts off the upper so it was just a bare polymer shell, then gave it a light sanding all over with a 400 grit wet and dry paper. After sanding I rinsed it off with warm water and an old tooth brush and then gave it a final wipe over with isopropyl alcohol (99%).

I applied the black dye in several very light coats (maybe 5 or 6). building it up with 10-20 minutes drying time between coats. Once full coverage was achieved I left it for 2 days. The finish at this point was excellent, with no pooling in markings, and the original texture of the polymer surface was preserved. the colour was an excellent solid black, but the finish was noticeably gloss.

After a couple of days to make sure it was well cured, I applied the matt finish today. Two light coats with about 10 minutes between. After letting it dry the finish was a very good match for the black polymer of the lower and the black folding stock. I would say on very close inspection you can notice a very slight difference between the original black parts and the re-sprayed upper but overall the results are excellent. I believe that it may just be a case of adding a final application of the matt finish, but I've got a good result as is, so I'm not going to risk going to far.

The only minor issue I found was that I accidentally sprayed too heavily in one isolated area and the finish dried cloudy in that one area. Once it was no longer tacky to touch, I put  little olive oil on a paper towel and buffed the cloudy area and it want back to black. Further buffing with an oil free towel removed the shine from the oil, but the cloudy effect did not return. I think this trick would not save the finish if you applied too heavily all over , but in limited areas that are just a bit to heavily coated it seems to work well to save the overall finish.

I'll put some photos up when the varnish coat has also had a day or two to harden and I've re-assembled the gun.

 
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Interesting stuff. Very curious how it preserves the original texture/details. Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

Whilst at it I went looking for a similar product that can actually supply the actual RAL 8000 colour and this product seems to be the only one available:

https://www.kolorbond.co.uk/vinylkote-paint-leather-vinyl/
https://www.kolorbond.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vinylkote-Brochure.pdf

Which is only sold below, but you can only get two cans of 400 ml sprays minimum so it gets a bit expensive (just over £50 delivered for the minimum 2 cans):

https://www.rawlinspaints.com/home/multi-surface-paints/5760-kolorbond-vinylkote.html

The brochure says it is applied similarly, light mist coats, several coats 10-15 minutes apart to penetrate, 20 hours full cure.

Anyone willing to test this stuff?

 
I'm guessing here, but it might be that the original finish is preserved as dye is absorbed into the plastic rather than just sitting on top like paint would 

 
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Pseudotectonic said:
Interesting stuff. Very curious how it preserves the original texture/details. Looking forward to seeing some pictures.

 
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Here is a shot of it now that I've finished the respray. When I got it the upper body was made of that two tone blue plastic, rather than being a black one with a retailer spray job. Mag and lower reciever are the original black finish from the factory. I'm very happy with the match. I also opened up the mag and sprayed the fake rounds to look more realistic. The M4 stock is on a 3D printed adaptor and it still folds flat against the body when stowed.

The lower rail section under the forend was missing and the bolt holes were partially stripped so I sourced a new bit of rail section and some more bolts. It's now permanently attached, as the  best way of attaching the new section was to JB weld the bolts into the rail section and then more JB weld to fix the bolts into the holes. It looks proper and it's plenty strong enough to be used for attachments. Over all I'm happy with the way it's turned out. Pre-covid and the shipping crisis, I would like to have picked up a metal outer barrel for it and fitted a suppressor and a longer inner barrel, but those are like rocking-horse poo these days so it will have to go without. 

It's nicely shimmed and lubed internally. Chronos about 330fps on 0.2g BBs

I would say vinyl dye and a matt lacquer top coat is a success. 

View attachment 98476

 
Another successfull spray job. Forend, carry handle and stock were all the same blue polymer as the UMP. Once again, the black was built up with several light coats, with about 20 minutes drying time between. Once the coverage looked right I left it for 24 hours and then gave it a couple of coats of matt laquer.  Once I'd sprayed the laquer there were a couple of spots that went cloudy, but letting It all dry for another 24 hours and then buffing it out with a drop of olive oil on a kitchen towel got rid of it entirely.

View attachment 98894

 
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