FC FAQ

Dying Lycra

Lycra is a synthetic material and doesn't absorb dyes very well. However, I have found ways to dye lycra in a limited way. First off, you must realize that dying color is pretty similar to mixing paint. If you have yellow material and you apply a blue dye, the resulting color will be green. If you add more blue dye it'll get darker until the blue dye is saturated. Just like mixing paint, you'll never be able to get a true blue from yellow and blue .... you'll get something in the color spectrum between green and blue. Remember it's a lot easier to dye light color .... that's why I have tons of white lycra. You can't dye fabrics that are already black or navy blue .... unless you want to dye it black .

As for the procedure, I use a dye call Rit. It's available at Wal-Mart for about $2.50 per bottle. The bottle works a lot better than the powder form ... trust me on this. Add about 200ml of water to cup and boil it in the microwave. Add 2-4 ml of dye to the water and stir for a few sec. Add you fabric to the dye and stir to make sure the dye cover the fabric evenly. Leave the fabric there for 30 minutes and rinse it out with running hot water. After the initial rinse soak it in cold water for another 5-10 minutes and dry. Please note: to achieve certain colors, you might have to repeat the dye procedure 2-3 times.

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Shrinking Rubber

Okay, my headers are starting to sound a little weird . One of the biggest complaints about FC is that certain accessories are too loose fitting/ baggy. Captain America's gloves and Daredevil's boots are prefect examples of this. You can solve this problem by shrinking them.

Dunk your boots or gloves in a cup of acetone for 1 hour (make sure you have adequate ventilation and protection when using solvents such as acetone). Make sure the part(s) are completely immerse in the acetone solution. The acetone will denature the bonds causing the rubber to actually expand .... don't worry about this. The acetone might also remove or fade certain colors. After an hour, carefully remove the swollen rubber part and drain off any excess acetone. The rubber will be somewhat flimsy at this point so you must be careful when handling. Air-dry the rubber part in a dust free area for 2 days. Notice that as the rubber dries, it'll start to shrink. Again certain forms of rubber will shrink more than others, but can anywhere from 10-25% reduction using this method. Also note that the shrunk rubber will be less elastic than their original counterpart. Finally remember that FC have rather large feet by action figure standards. If you look at Joes and Barbies, they tiny feet. This is done so that when shoes are fitted over the feet, it'll proportional to the rest of the body. With FC, you might need to trim down the toes and pinky to get an adequate fit.