So I ran into this problem while using Acetone to Shrink A Head....

[Plastic Vulcan]

As the title says, I was shrinking a head and it went fine overall except for this one minor thing. The only problem was that the head had brown paint for hair. It came off during the shrinking process. That's fine, I knew that it would and I want to paint the hair another color anyway.

THE PROBLEM IS that the brown paint mixed with the Acetone, creating a type of skin dye on the head, giving the skin a bronze, suntanned look. I can live with it if I have to even if it means the head no longer matches the new body any more but I was wondering if anyone knew a method to restore the head to the original paler tone? Would applying benzoyl peroxide or bleach restore it to the original coloring? Is there something else?

[CrimsonGhost]

I once tried shrinking a zombie Mego head and had reused acetone that I had shrunk something red in and the acetone had a watered down kool-aid look to it. I didn't care since I intended to mold and cast the zombie Mego head, but I was surprised to find that the residual red dye had stained the vinyl and cured the zombie problem. The head is now a nice flesh color and has yet to fade and I did this over 10 years ago.

Sorry, I don't have any suggestions, just another cautionary tale.

[EMCE Hammer]

You could try redipping it in a clean jar of fresh acetone in the hopes that the color from the paint leaches back out, but I'm not optimistic

[sprytel]

You could try redipping it in a clean jar of fresh acetone in the hopes that the color from the paint leaches back out, but I'm not optimistic

This was my thought too.

[Plastic Vulcan]

I've already tried dipping it in fresh acetone. It didn't seem to have any effect on it. Thank you anyways guys.

[rche]

I would be interested to know if a peroxide cream treatment would help out. It might do something to draw the dye out if the color is just in the top layer of the material.

[Plastic Vulcan]

rche, I was thinking the same thing. I think I'll buy some Benzoyl Peroxide and give it a shot. Do you think bleach would damage the vinyl?

[rche]

I would stick with the peroxide. I have used that on many stains with great results and no damage.

[Plastic Vulcan]

It worked. Thank you.

[rche]

awesome! Did you happen to take any before - after pics?

[EMCE Hammer]

Great to know!

[Plastic Vulcan]

awesome! Did you happen to take any before - after pics?

No, sorry. I'm still kind of new to this. My wife and daughter think I'm crazy trying to build my own action figures. So I never think about taking pics in case anyone would want to see.

[B-Lister]

Peroxide on vinyl is amazing.

It doesn't seem to have the harsh effect it takes on ABS. I pulled an ink stain out of a vintage Kenner Stay Puft Marshmllow man, and you'd never even know it was there.

Amazing trick, known to doll collectors for decades.

[RobbieWilkes]

Hello all! Thought I'd piggyback off of this discussion, rather than starting another.

Currently working on a Bionic Woman / Jaime Sommers custom, and my talented daughter handled the painting of the head, as she's done on several other of my customs and even touch-ups on zombified heads. Unfortunately, this time it came out just a tad too dark... hair, skin, etc. I want to just lighten it up a little bit, but I'm not sure what would work best.

I saw mention of benzoyl peroxide for removing paint, but I'm wondering if it could also be used to lighten up paint as well? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks!