Tanning up those Matty's: a tutorial

[David Lee]

Ok so I love my Hybrid Matty/Cast-a-Way figures, but like most I don't like the skin tone difference. So I did some work tonight to fix it. Here is what I did:

Tools of the trade



I use an old soup warmer I took the regulator off (it goes from off to boil in about 20 seconds). I used Rit Dye: TAN.



I added two spoons of dye to the hot water and Salt.



I submerged the heads on a skewer... 30 seconds for Doc Mego-esque results (see Supes) *10-15 seconds on the hands (wipe and check)




And one minute for Cast-a-Way/Vintage Mego coloring (see Lex)



here is a before and after...



Finally here is my gang all back from the Carribean



The keys: Get the water very hot! Dunk and compare to the body at hand, wipe off and rinse between dunkings to get a good idea of where you are.

This is an intermediate level custom job... be careful and remember less is more! NOTE: the flash makes the bodies look lighter they are much closer in tone in person...

Have fun!

-Dave

[BlackKnight]

The Dye doesn't Dye the eye's at all ? ... Interesting.

[megoscott]

Oh, that is most excellent. Great job, David!

[David Lee]

The Dye doesn't Dye the eye's at all ? ... Interesting.

Yea the vinyl actually absorbs the dye, the paint does not... So you can dye most vinyl heads (I am sure there are exceptions) without effecting the paint job at all...

-Dave

[BlackKnight]

That's Pretty Damn Cool Dave. I never dyed a head before, Just most of the fabric I use, cool stuff.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

Awesome what an improvement. And I just this minute got done swapping Mattel forearms onto a CAT body to match the head. D'oh.

[David Lee]

That's Pretty Damn Cool Dave. I never dyed a head before, Just most of the fabric I use, cool stuff.

Yea I have been dying stuff, much to Jennifer my wife's dismay , for years...

I love these figures so much and with just a little extra work I feel like they are seemless to my vintage MEGOS!

-Dave

[David Lee]

Awesome what an improvement. And I just this minute got done swapping Mattel forearms onto a CAT body to match the head. D'oh.

nahhh... however you like it is the best I just love tinkering with mine!

-Dave

[BlackKnight]

Yea I have been dying stuff, much to Jennifer my wife's dismay , for years...

My Old Lady gets Pi$$ed off at me too ..., but I do it on the Stove.

So, thats when Selective Hearing Kicks in.

Very Nice ..., I really like the Darkness of Superman Now, and He really looks , I dunno man , Like a ton Better to me with the Tan !

[Ivaniski]

Tanning up those Matty's: a tutorial

Prof: D.LEE Class: Dye 101

Syllabus: Dye heads to your liking.

Excellent Job Dave!...Heads look to par with various body colors.

[Agent of SHIELD]

I like the way those heads turned out.

Are the Superman and Lex bodies made of different kinds of plastic? From the way the light reflects off of them, one looks smoother than then other.

[HardyGirl]

They look good! Very Mego-Like.

[The Bat]

Wow Dave...that is so FREAKIN' COOL!! well done!

[D!n0-M@n]

Thanks for that Dave! They do look frickin' AWESOME! I can never learn enough when it comes to the hobby and that was very cool to see and know about.

[toystalker]

supes looks great, lex could be a little lighter for me but still good

looks like they had better holiday weather than me