Dying Mego heads, is it possible?

[Lynn TXP 0369]

Do the Mego heads accept dye or is my only option painting them?

I've got a busted up Lizard dirt cheap that I will use for my replica EMCE Gorn and I want to color the head brown.

I'll dye the body brown and the head if it will accept dye.
I figure you customizers may know this one.
Thanks for any help,

Lynn

[JediJaida]

I got a Storm custom from one of the guys here, and he had dyed a DocMego head a nice shade of brown, and stuck it onto a CTVT body.

It didn't even disturb the paint job on the eyes, it was such a good job.

It shouldn't take a lot of dye to change the color of one head.

Is this a vintage Mego head?

I know that the female heads, which were of a softer vinyl might take dye easier, but I'm not altogether sure about the male heads. Depending upon the type you have, whethere Type 1 or 2, is where the whole thing rests.

Which one is it?

Type 1 or 2?

[Lynn TXP 0369]

Cool, that is good way to put some new life in a zombied FF female head.

My Lizard head came from the remnants of a T2 Lizard body, His legs were busted up and arms chewed a little, but his head and hands are fine.

I just pulled his head off and stuck it onto a loose EMCE Klingon, it looks pretty good, I just gotta go buy some dye.

Thats incouraging it may accept dye.
I'll have to get some on Thursday on our way to a NY day party.

Has anyone else tried dying a Mego head?
Lynn

[megocrazy]

Are you really gonna dye an original Lizard head? Dave Mc makes a repro resin copy of the original. I bet someone would trade you a resin copy for an original head if they need one. Just can't see destroying an original mego piece if it's in good condition.

[Lynn TXP 0369]

Yes, I'll dye this one, I don't really want a resin head.
It is nice shape, it just needs a little paint touch up on the toung and teeth, but over all, in nice shape.

Lynn

[Megotu]

I would recommend using shoe dye...Try it on the neckplug first though...

[Megotu]

Just to add...I inadvertentaly dyed an original Conan head to a dark brown using the SoStrong brown pigment from the SmoothOn resin catalog. MAN did that thing hold the color...No idea how well the brown from that would cover the green though.

[drakghoulie]

you might have a problem getting it to the right color. When I've done similar things it either made it a darker shade of the color it was in this case a "browish geeen" may be the result or if you use enough to hide the green you may get a darker brown than you wanted. I would start with a small ammount and keep boiling and dying maybe in stages to get the desired or close enough color. Once you try it you'll have abetter Idea next time. too bad you don't have extra stuff to try first. You said the legs were chew'd up try dying those first. any other green mego material heads or parts around?
try those first. I've dyed lots of stuff and each type of plastic takes it differently from light to dark and required varied ammounts of dye for different things to achieve the desired color.

[PNGwynne]

I've found vinyl pretty dyeable with household dye, but sometimes it only tints, and can also fade over time. Also, if you overdye (use too strong a solution), it can rub off on costumes/accessories. It seems as if the rubber (& fabrics, for that matter) can only absorb so much.

Jada, I'm surprised to hear that it didn't tint the paint deco. Cool!

[Megotu]

I would also recommend just getting a Gorn head. They are certainly not rare by any means.

[shellhead]

RITdye works great on vinyl heads but only if you are staying in the same tone range, for instance: a flesh colored head is for the most part an orange based pigment, so it will dye RED ,ORANGE, BROWN, PINK, and PURPLE if you want a darker purple, or pure BLACK.
Flesh heads cannot be dyed blue or green because the orange base in the plastic makes the color look look muddy and dark.
To make a green head turn brown, use red dye, and do short dips with a rinse in between dips, when the color looks close, you can do a final dip in brown dye.
In most cases the dye will not affect the paint unless the surface of the paint is scuffed up. I've dyed lots of flesh heads brown for use on brown bodies.

Hope this helps,

Chris

[PNGwynne]

Chris, that's an excellent point about color ranges and using red dye to achieve brown on a green head.