Anyone else's 1/60 VF-1 YELLOWING PLASTIC?

[RosarioLuv]

Was looking at the remains of my macross junk. My Hikaru 1/60 VF-1A (which has been in dark storage since I bought it long long time ago) has severe yellowing now on certain parts of it.

Oddly, on the head, only the right half of the head is yellowed (evenly), while the left half looks bone stock white. Other various pieces here and there are yellow, while the other pieces remain white. Almost as if two different plastics were used.

Didn't think yammie plastic would yellow this "early" (I think it's been 7 years now, though. Wow, time goes so fast.)

[eugimon]

huh, can you tell us more about the conditions they were kept? avg humidity, temperature, that sort of thing? Oooh, and pictures please.

[jenius]

the 1/60 line, i find, is very prone to yellowing. It's really obvious on the landing gear doors on the legs... it's not at all uncommon to see yellowing there. It's not light or heat though, i've known some well stored ones that came out yellow, it seems that Yamato just had the occasional problem with the plastic which causes some to break down pretty quickly. You can also tell it's not being caused by outside conditions because of how uneven it happens, as redemption has mentioned.

[hirohawa]

My Hikaru 1A yellowed as well.

[Ryoma]

Mine too....above all the left part. Wing and leg especially.No head. In the last year the conditions are stable though.

[RosarioLuv]

huh, can you tell us more about the conditions they were kept? avg humidity, temperature, that sort of thing? Oooh, and pictures please.

Well, when I first bought the 1A at the early part of this decade, I displayed it for about 2 years in battroid mode atop my piano. Average room temperature (not hot at all, nor cold). Average indoor humidity. No where near a sunlit window. After 2 years the valk went into a plastic storage bin that was closed. I was rummaging through stuff looking for phatslappy's missle pod when I came across my old valk in the bin. That's when I noticed the yellowing.

[eugimon]

the 1/60 line, i find, is very prone to yellowing. It's really obvious on the landing gear doors on the legs... it's not at all uncommon to see yellowing there. It's not light or heat though, i've known some well stored ones that came out yellow, it seems that Yamato just had the occasional problem with the plastic which causes some to break down pretty quickly. You can also tell it's not being caused by outside conditions because of how uneven it happens, as redemption has mentioned.

yeah, I didn't mean to suggest that the yellowing was due to redemption's mishandling, I was just curious.

[Nexx2]

Mine 1/60e hikaru type too, but for the moment, it's the only one...

[do not disturb]

i haven't checked in a few months but last time i did checked, my 1/60's were still nice and white, all of them.

[jenius]

Holy crap man, I hope you had some wood to knock on whilst typing that DND! That's almost like saying "I've never had a problem with a yamato first edition" as you put in an order for a VF-0S

[do not disturb]

haha, i don't need wood when i've got science(and my anal ways) on my side!

i've done all i can possibly do to prevent any yellowing from occuring.

right now its just a waiting game to see if its really working but so far so good.

[Uxi]

My Max 1A and Hikaru 1J are fine... my Roy 1S is buried under GBP armor and I'm not taking it all off to check...

[Kyp Durron]

Wow, that's really disturbing to hear. Hopefully the Super Ostrich I got from Ebay won't have that problem due to the fact that it isn't white.

I hope the 1/48's don't have this problem though...

-Kyp

[Ignacio Ocamica]

The only parts that yellowed on my Hikaru VF-1A are the srew covers and hands, the rest is white as can be. All the other VF's have no sign of yellowing. I started October 2001 with the 1/60 series, so far so good

Hikaru's VF-1A is the only white VF, the rest are greyish white.

[Necron_99]

Nope, Hikaru & Co. are still white!

[Hiriyu]

One of my two VF-1A Hikarus shows yellowing, just as Jenius has described (landing gear doors, screw covers, hands). Of course, with my luck, it is the "MIB" one with no stickers applied, while the stickered "display" unit shows no yellowing. Both were bought second-hand here on the board. Haven't noticed any yellowing on any of the other 1/60s (have about 20 of 'em).

[big F]

My Max 1A and Hikaru 1J are fine... my Roy 1S is buried under GBP armor and I'm not taking it all off to check...

Mee too. Its bad enough that if you stare at them too long they fall over (damm loose joints) without taking em out of the cabinet and actually touching them.

I have one of the screw covers from a HIkaru which has been sat on a south facing window ledge for arround a year now and is still minty fresh. Im gonna leav it there to see what happens.

Edited September 8, 2007 by big F

[justvinnie]

You can't prevent yellowing. The reason the VF-1A Hikaru yellows more easily is because it lacks pigmentation at all whereas all other 1/60 VF-1's have some form of pigmentation in the plastic to mask the yellowing. Exposure to air is enough to yellow but even if you vacuum sealed it, entropy would still eventually take over. Physics... until we learn to bend the rules of physics, we'll have to make do.

vinnie

[jenius]

I have a few 1/60s and the only one showing yellowing is my TRU CF, it has a couple landing gear doors that just ain't right. Fortunately, I don't do DYRL Paint schemes so that helps limit my losses.

[NSJ23]

My Hikaru 1A yellowed as well.

I had one loose and on MISB in storage and they both yellowed about 4 years ago.

Edited September 9, 2007 by NSJ23

[Swoosh]

Landing gears and hands on my VF-1A Hikaru are yellowed, Roy is still doing fine....

[mechaninac]

After going through this thread I went to check on my 1/60 VF-1s... and I'll be damned, my Hikaru VF-1A has yellowed gear bays doors (nose and legs), and slightly yellowed upper arms, but the rest of the plastic parts are still pristine white; this Valkyrie has never been exposed to sunlight, direct or otherwise, and has been cooling its jets (Get it? Jets?... ... umm... cough... never mind... ) inside a drawer for the better part of four years. As mentioned before, the formulation combined with the whiteness of the plastic makes it very prone to yellowing due to chemical interaction with the atmosphere regardless of UV exposure; the odd thing is that most parts haven't yellowed at all.

I also checked on the condition of my other 1/60 VF-1s and they all seem to be faring much better (VF-1A Max may have the slightest hint of color shifting on a couple of parts, but if it is there it is near imperceptible, or just my eyes noticing a variation against the painted die cast that isn't really there). It appears that everything after the first 1/60 should not suffer its extent of non-photochemically induced yellowing due their grayer tones, and hopefully better grade of ABS.

Edited September 9, 2007 by mechaninac

[jenius]

I also checked on the condition of my other 1/60 VF-1s and they all seem to be faring much better (VF-1A Max may have the slightest hint of color shifting on a couple of parts, but if it is there it is near imperceptible, or just my eyes noticing a variation against the painted die cast that isn't really there). It appears that everything after the first 1/60 should not suffer its extent of non-photochemically induced yellowing due their grayer tones, and hopefully better grade of ABS.

You would think... but I've seen numerous examples of the yellowing on the CFs (mostly TRU) gear bay doors yellowing, my own included. Other than that though, everything has seemed fine.

[big F]

Kinda says to me that some batches werre better than others.

[do not disturb]

i got around to checking some of my boxed 1/60s and like many others, my 1A hikaru is yellowing but all the other ones seem fine, hopefully they'll stay that way.

[scand]

My hikaru and TRU CF have yellowing on the thead and wheel well covers. I'm guessing it has to do with the material they were made from. None of my other 1/60's show any signs of yellowing.

[Godzilla]

My Hikaru is yallowing on the gear doors, right wing, screw covers, and head. Been like that for 4 yrs now...

[DyNo]

I looked over my Hikaru 1/60, and I see no yellowing on it or on any of my 1/60's which have been in my display case for the last 4 years.

[RosarioLuv]

well at least I know it wasn't just me. For a minute there I thought I was being a bad daddy to my little valk babies.

I wonder now, though, if the 1/48's will ever yellow. Obviously different grade plastic, but still I wonder. (hope not!)

[bluemax151]

This thread made me check my Hikaru 1/60 VF-1A and sure enough all the plastic bits are faded It's spent most it's life stored on my bookshelf IN the armor parts and I guess it's going to stay that way.

[Remember Love]

Any ideas on how to make the 'yellowings' go away?

[jenius]

It's impossible to correct yellowing, it's the deterioation of the plastic itself. The best you can do is paint over it, sand off the layer that has yellowed (in instances where you're sure the cause of the yellowing was environmental), or figure out some other way to remove/cover the affected area. Obviously, in the case of toys, all of these methods would pretty much ruin the toy... unless you're going for a full custom repaint.

[Remember Love]

Thanks... At least, my stealth won't have this problem. haha~

[myk]

This thread made me check my Hikaru 1/60 VF-1A and sure enough all the plastic bits are faded

I had placed two of the missile clusters from my '60 Hikaru-A onto my '60 Roy-S. Oddly enough, those two clusters yellowed while the original clusters from Roy's S stayed white. Both toys and their accessories had equal amounts of exposure to the elements...

[bluemax151]

I had placed two of the missile clusters from my '60 Hikaru-A onto my '60 Roy-S. Oddly enough, those two clusters yellowed while the original clusters from Roy's S stayed white. Both toys and their accessories had equal amounts of exposure to the elements...

Yeah, I haven't seen any yellowing on my 1/60 Roy yet either. I might go scrutinize it some more just to cover all my bases though. I'm considering a total custom repaint of my Hikaru to cover it up but that seems like a lot of work.

Edited September 27, 2007 by bluemax151