Deep Cover update

Awhile back I mentioned that was working on a custom of a
Japanese Transformers exclusive Deepcover.
So I thought I'd share some of the progress.

Here are the pieces I cobbled together from the Sideswipe that I ended up warping when I attempted to dye him black and the currently available Red Alert. As you can see I still had an undyed roof from Sideswipe.



















After applying 91% Isopropyl Alchohol to the red paint areas It came off REALLY easily.
After awhile I got to this point.

Next update: black paint applied.

You can't win them all...

So last night I attempted to dye my spare Sunswipe (Sideswipe w/Sunstreaker head) black so that I'm one step closer to making Deep Cover and the experiment failed. And what an epic fail it was!

Granted I did manage to dye all the parts I wanted black but it came at a heavy price.
Apparently MOST of the parts shrunk in the dye solution. I don't know if it's because I left the parts in for too long, had a too much acetone in the mix (1 cup of acetone w/ 3 cups of dye and water) or something else. Even worse is that the hood of the car got warped, so even if it didn't shrink it could even line up evenly with the rest of the parts. Perhaps my friend @ COTU World could help me out? Either way I now have spare parts that'll probably go towards Tigertrack.

Here's a example of the warping of the hood. I'd show more but the hood alone shows everything.