Mcfadden Dyes

[Devon Headen]

I already have 3 colors of McFadden's liquid dyes, and I need some more colors for an upcoming project. I'm pretty sure since I've already got a base of colors with the McFadden, I should just stick with it. I've only gotten one problem with it. In the catalog I ordered it from it says, "assorted water soluble concentrated dyes," but on the bottles it says it's nitrocellulose based. My question is, what should I be thinning this stuff with? So far I've just been using lacquer thinner for wiping off excess, but does anyone know whether I can use water? I guess it doesn't really make much of a difference, just curious as to what the base actually is of this stuff.

[unclej]

take just a drop and mix it with water and see if it actually does mix. also, when you get it on your hands see if water will get it off.

[Devon Headen]

I guess that means it's nitro based. It took a couple've days to come off when I intelligently practiced on scrap without any gloves on. I always assumed it was lacquer based until reading that little blurb in Grizzly. Looks like they put the wrong thing in their catalog.

[Devon Headen]

Duh, forgot to post my main question. Are the stewmac metallic dyes really superior to all other dyes? If so, why?

[Mattia]

Duh, forgot to post my main question. Are the stewmac metallic dyes really superior to all other dyes? If so, why?

←

Not per se. StewMac sells repackaged TransTint dyes, which you can also get at various other outlets. They're metal-acid complex dyes, which means they're more fade resistant than 'regular' powdered anilines, and they've got the advantage that they'll dissolve in water or alcohol/lacquer thinner, so they're more versatile that way than, say, the LMII metal acid dyes.