[WIP] Transparent yellow turmeric dyed Lego windshield

[Trekkie99]

Been wanting to try this for awhile. Not bad. :-D 

 

 

Real windshield on the left, dyed one on the right.

Basically I boiled a cup of water, added a teaspoon of turmeric, and dropped the windshield in and stirred it every now and then. I did this a couple of times, each time taking the windshield out and reheating the turmeric water until it was boiling again, and repeated the process. Afterwards I let it cool and then rinsed it off under some cold water.

When you look at it with your own eyes next to a real trans-yellow windshield, the color is pretty close, but I could see adding another half (maybe whole) teaspoon of turmeric to the mixture. Right now it's a little bit on the green side. Adding more turmeric would definitely be an improvement.

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by LegoMonorailFan

[kieran]

Colour is close to original for sure

Edited November 12, 2018 by kieran

[Space Police XVIII]

Well, wow.   Looks great.  I have got to try this.

[Trekkie99]

24 minutes ago, Space Police XVIII said:

Well, wow.   Looks great.  I have got to try this.

Basically I boiled a cup of water, added a teaspoon of turmeric, and dropped the windshield in and stirred it every now and then. I did this a couple of times, each time taking the windshield out and reheating the turmeric water until it was boiling again, and repeated the process. Afterwards I let it cool and then rinsed it off under some cold water.

When you look at it with your own eyes next to a real trans-yellow windshield, the color is pretty close, but I could see adding another half (maybe whole) teaspoon of turmeric to the mixture. Right now it's a little bit on the green side. Adding more turmeric would definitely be an improvement.

[Digger of Bricks]

When I saw this in my Flickr feed this morning, my first knee-jerk thought was that you came across an upcoming or unproduced windshield recolor. 

[Trekkie99]

Just now, Digger of Bricks said:

When I saw this in my Flickr feed this morning, my first knee-jerk thought was that you came across an upcoming or unproduced windshield recolor. 

LOL, I was just thinking something similar. What if someone thought it was an official Lego part, and they'd be wondering why they couldn't find it on bricklink. 

[Space Police XVIII]

1 hour ago, LegoMonorailFan said:

(how to heresy)

Thanks for the instructions.  well, off to bricklink, again

[Trekkie99]

1 hour ago, Space Police XVIII said:

Thanks for the instructions.  well, off to bricklink, again

And the grocery store. 

[Trekkie99]

So I just dyed another windshield but this time with two teaspoons of turmeric. Pretty dang close. However there's still a hint of neon green in there. I'm starting to think that assuming you can't turn the windshield orange, you might as well just use like four teaspoons or something. 

[Lyichir]

I'm curious—any lingering fragrance after dying the parts with a spice like turmeric?

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Great idea and impressive result!

[Trekkie99]

5 hours ago, Lyichir said:

I'm curious—any lingering fragrance after dying the parts with a spice like turmeric

*Smells*

Nope.  Fortunately there is no smell whatsoever on the windshields. 

 

4 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Great idea and impressive result!

Thanks! 

I just tried again but this time with three teaspoons of turmeric. And honestly I think the results are spot on! Again, I don't know if you can overdo it, but I prefer to play it safe for now. 

I'd take some pictures now, but where I am it's night. Taking pictures using artificial light for me is such a pain!  So I should have some pictures available by tomorrow.

[Trekkie99]

Here we go! Three teaspoons of turmeric. I'm sure one could add more, but three teaspoons is the minimum amount I'd recommend.

 

 

 

 

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Wow trans neon green!

[Space Police XVIII]

alright, my results, with original lego parts for comparison.

Some parts take this better than others.  the big flat pancakey thing is a bit on the pale side, but still within Lego's own trans-yellow variation.   The 6-wide windshield on top came out perfect, but for some reason shows up the worst in photos.  

Edited November 14, 2018 by Space Police XVIII
I like editing. Don't judge me.

[Professor Thaum]

So, we want to see MOC's now that you have customized all those parts

[rodiziorobs]

Wow. I'm not really a classic spacer but I find this fascinating! Well done, the result looks completely original.

Now, if tripling the recipe would only produce an Ice Planet orange, that would be something I'd do myself (I'm certain it wouldn't, though )

[Orange Leader]

I love all the heresy that is going on in this thread. Years ago I experimented with hobby paint for windows and clear acrylic. Most of the time I got big drips of tears of uneven parts were coated.

12 hours ago, Space Police XVIII said:

alright, my results, with original lego parts for comparison.

Some parts take this better than others.  the big flat pancakey thing is a bit on the pale side, but still within Lego's own trans-yellow variation.   The 6-wide windshield on top came out perfect, but for some reason shows up the worst in photos.  

The transparant pancake is one of my recent favourite windscreen in combination with the 2x6 windscreen. The more colours available, the more merry I will be. Would love to see those two in a MOC combined in trans. yellow .

[Bob]

Quite a good idea, and potentially useful for people that aren't full purists that don't want to get gouged online when rebuilding old Classic Space sets. You should try this piece next:

And see what the results are. Would be very curious. The trans-clear ones are extremely cheap. I got dozens of them off of a PaB wall about a decade ago. 

[Space Police XVIII]

On 11/14/2018 at 2:33 PM, Professor Thaum said:

So, we want to see MOC's now that you have customized all those parts

Just for you, SPACE MAILBOX

who says you can't rush perfection

9 hours ago, Bob said:

try this piece next

Sure.  I'm waiting on a bricklink order but when I process that, I'll toss in one of these bricks and post the results.

[Professor Thaum]

What a nice little MOC

Funny mailbox, so space :1999

The space scooter is wonderful - I like those tiny MOC's with very few parts and maximum rendering !

 

special mention for this old moon base plate.

[Trekkie99]

On 11/15/2018 at 10:17 AM, Bob said:

Quite a good idea, and potentially useful for people that aren't full purists that don't want to get gouged online when rebuilding old Classic Space sets. You should try this piece next:

And see what the results are. Would be very curious. The trans-clear ones are extremely cheap. I got dozens of them off of a PaB wall about a decade ago. 

I'll give it a try! Maybe I'll put the dyed one and a real one next to each other and see if people can guess which is which.

[Peppermint_M]

UNCLEAN. SHUN THEM. 

All joking aside, I am loving those results, I'll have to take a look at my parts and see if I have a surplus of anything that dying yellow would improve. 

 

[Johnny1360]

Great results indeed, looks like the real thing. I do wonder how permanent it is and how it would look on solid colors. 

[Space Police XVIII]

Not quite perfect but I'm happy with these results, I'm gonna make a space bus.

Here's my current recipe, with plenty of room for improvement:

• mix 2cups water and ~6tsp turmeric
• bring to boil, stir well
• reduce heat until it's just barely simmering
• toss pieces in, stir to remove air bubbles
• simmer for 5-7 minutes, checking color now and then
• keep stirring so pieces won't just sit on the bottom and melt
• this will also scratch the pieces so they match the rest of your collection
• remove from heat
• rinse thoroughly
• serve with light gray and blue, alternatively yellow and black

Though I screwed it up this time, it should be possible to convert trans light blue to trans light green using just a quick wash - maybe less than one minute.