There are two rules of disc golf dyeing that are important to consider before starting to dye a disc:
- Premium plastic works best
- Colours can only go darker
MVP R2 Neutron plastic passes the first test. It is a premium plastic. The second test however, it would appear to fail. R2 Neutron is a black core plastic, so dyeing it would be dumb. Or is it? I decided to try and dye it, to see what I could accomplish and the results are surprising!
The Rim
R2 Neutron’s rim is a white premium plastic blend. This means that it soaks up color like a sponge in water. A simple splash of an acetone-PCAD mix makes color stick. That means spin dyeing is totally on the table for some neat rim effects. If you want to customize your R2 Neutron discs with colour, or to make them look more like Axiom discs, this is a viable option. But don’t stop there!
The Flight Plate
The flight plate of R2 Neutron discs is black. As mentioned in the introduction, one of the rules of disc golf disc dyeing is that it is only possible to make colors darker. But the R2 Neutron is a greyish black, so it can tint to a different hue. It transforms from a smooth shiny black to a dark red, deep blue or Halloween orange. I used a standard hot dip dye method on a blank unstamped R2 Neutron disc to test how the disc absorbs color with a stencil blocking off part of the disc. The end results are a shadow of the stencil on a dark tinted flight plate. This looks pretty cool albeit it is a subtle effect.
What to Not Expect
Bright vivid colours on the flight plate are fairly unrealistic. Since the plastic starts dark, and only gets darker, most of the color I was able to get was more “tinted” the black rather than presented as a punchy color. The colors that work best are vibrant to start: neon purple, blue and pink, as well as standard red and green work the best. Lighter colours may not tint the black enough to be super visible.
Compare above to a dye of the same stencil on a Blank Axiom Proxy Soft Neutron. The black-on-pink is substantially more vivid. This disc started pink though, it wasn’t dyed that color.
What’s Possible to Dye with MVP R2 Neutron
The rim is easy to dye any color, however the flight plate only “tints” as it starts off pretty dark. It may not be suitable for dye glue beds or shaving cream as the vibrancy will be lost. Some of the patterns and swirls will be subtle visible like wisps in the plastic, but there will not be any bright neon colours. When dip dyeing, expect a longer dunk time to really let the plastic absorb that colour. I recommend using blank/unstamped discs for the best results as dark discs will always show a shadow of their previous stamp.
