ninen

guys,need your help..
how can you paint the wheels of the rc without the color chipping-off or fading?? will the usual spray paint works?? e.g. aerosol lacquer etc..
or will dying the wheels be more effective?? in this case what kind of dye is preferred?

tnx.

corvettecrazy

i believe that dying is more effective than painting because wheels flex alot and there is a very high chance it will still peel. also dye doesn't chip off like paint

ninen

corvettecrazy: tnx, but what kind of dye to use?? can you name some brands??

TurnNBurn

ninen,

Rit dye is a common brand that is used for dyeing. They have a bunch of different colors available:

<Rit Dye Color Chart>

You should be able to find some any just about any supermarket or drug/discount store.

You should know ahead of time that to my knowledge, only Nylon-based wheels can be dyed. I don't think that any of the ABS-type plastic TC wheels that are commonly available are suitable for dyeing. The only wheels that I know for sure are dyeable are RPM's wheels, and Pro-Line's White Off-road wheels.

If you are not sure of the material that your wheels are made of, I would suggest that you contact the manufacturer to find out.

Also, if you've never dyed parts before, don't be afraid to ask!

KoK_KoK

turnNburn: tnx for the info, im about to dye my tamiya f201 rims..i dont know what they're made of..can somebody help???

(by the way, this is ninen..im using my bro's nick, hehe)

zachzachz

Hey I know about rit dye. You can die anything with it, let me explain. I yoyo and I do my own dye jobs on plastic yoyo halves with rit dye. Basically you need a the color of the dye you want and nail polish remover (acetone base). It might take a little experimenting to get the color just right, but I think it'd be worth it because you can mask whatever you dye too.

Make your mask if you want to with elmers glue, and let it dry completely, this is important.

When your mask is dry take a clean metal can (the nail polish remover will eat through plastic, this is why you can dye it). Fill the can with nail polish remover until it covers what you are dying completley, but dont go overboard.

Then without wasting a lot of time put your dye in. The more, the darker it will be, vice versa.

It's better to do a series of short dunks (30 seconds or so) then one long one. Plus this way you can get the color you want.

Let the dye soak in for about a minute then dry. To remove the mask run it under warm to hot water and peel of the glue.


This works for yoyo halves, and the plastic isn't that much different but I would experiment first because you can melt the plastic completely or deform it.

TurnNBurn

Sounds good zach, but I'm not sure that the plastics typically used for R/C wheels can stand up to the acetone, even for short periods of time. It's been a while since I've had a yo-yo, but I can remember that the plastic used for them is much harder than the typical R/C wheel.

I can see where a yo-yo shell would hold up to the acetone, but I really couldn't see an R/C wheel doing that. Heck, I've seen lexan literally start to "melt" on contact with Acetone (rookie mistake many years ago). The plastics used on these wheels are also relatively soft compared to the yo-yo shell... Then again, I guess all it would take is for someone to experiment. Any takers?

gubawatts

I've never dyed any wheels.... but I routinely use Acetone, (primary ingredient in nail polish remover), to remove tires and residual CA from 1/10th off-road wheels, (Proline, Losi). I've soaked them in the stuff for days without damage... (to the wheel that is).

zachzachz

I'm not sure, but I guess you could check somewhere (internet maybe) to see different kinds of plastics and how durable they are. Some guys who also dye yoyos have completly melted them in the acetone for only 15 seconds, then with other yoyo company's you have to soak them for a good minute before the dye sets in.

If you're willing to spend a little to a lot of money, go buy a bunch of different wheels from different company's and try them all in acetone for about 10 second dunks and see how they hold up.

But if you mask right and get good at it the outcome is unbelieveable, I'll try and find a picture of a yoyo dyed using rit and acetone.

peace,
ZAch

TurnNBurn

Gubawatts: Yeah, the Off-Road wheels are made with a nylon base, which makes them more resilient to Acetone, or Lacquer thinner for that matter. The same goes for 1/10th-1/12th on-road pan car wheels. For some reason, Pro-Line and other companies (Yokomo, etc.) have settled on plastic for molding these wheels... I have no idea why. Wheels made from Nylon (especially the "fiber-filled" compounds) should be stiffer than these plastic ones that are curently available.

The one other exception to this could be Losi. I haven't seen Losi's TC wheels, so I don't know if they've followed with everyone else, or if they make theirs out of Nylon.

Zach: Sounds good! I'd like to see that.

zachzachz

I'm not sure how man pics I can attach at once so I'll just do one for now, this is a superspinfactor made by yoyojam. The original color (I'm pretty sure) is black, then it was dyed green using an elmers glue mask. Hope this works......

zachzachz

For you team losi fans....

This is a DaBomb made by team losi, they also make a cherry bomb yoyo. Both of them are pretty good yoyos.

corvettecrazy

those are pretty damn awsome...I like the 2nd one especially