Yellowing white plastic advice

[1/1 LowViz Lurker]

I was wondering if anyone here has tried this yellowing plastic advice and know what kind of result you can get with older vintage toys that are going to yellow?

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

In the past I have always dreaded that one day all my white DYRL valkyries will eventually change colour, and I remember hearing about a 'solution to yellowing' a while ago on a gameboard and then forgot all about it.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, yellowing is a problem on old school vintage toys when the toy is exposed to too much UV light and turns the toys into brownish and yellowish tone (similar to the cannon fodder hehe) after a long time. People in the past have dreaded that one day those collectors items will eventually change colour and drive down the value of their fave vintage macross toys thanks to the effects of nature so they try to keep them in boxes to hide them.

Anyway I remembered the other day and I want to ask here if anyone has tried the above solution for any of their macross toys and what result did you get for it? (Because apart from my banpresto I don't have the yellowing problem... yet) Sorry if this has been discussed before but I haven't got time to search every single thread from the past 1 year.

Can some of you who haven't tried it yet and intend to do so, provide pics if you do eventually use this method and post them here?

Thanks for your help. I might want to try an experiment in the future for when it happens to me. I dont like to repair or pull appart things to paint over them. The most easy and laziest way is my favourite method.

[SpaceCowboy]

Beat you to it!

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=28428&st=35&p=722529&hl=whitening&fromsearch=1entry722529

http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=25773&st=0&p=581976&hl=whitening&fromsearch=1entry581976

In short - to get white back you either add or remove layers. Add by painting, or remove by stripping away the top layer of plastic (which is what these chemicals do). Problem is that once you do this, it looks like they just re-yellow faster. :\

[GU-11]

***There IS a third method involving hydrogen peroxide and UV light. I don't remember the details, but you basically place the plastic parts inside a clear glass container and pour hydrogen peroxide enough to fill a third of the container(?), and then place it under some strong sunlight. When the peroxide starts to bubble, it should start to work.

Supposedly, it changes the chemical properties of the plastic itself. I have no idea if this will have any adverse effects on the plastic in the long run.

I remember this being discussed before in MW. You might want to dig up some old threads for a more detailed look into this method.***

EDIT: Oops, didn't pay attention to the link to see what it was all about. Heheh, that's what happens when you try to surf the net while eating cornflakes at the same time.

As for preemptive protection, you could buy a can of Krylon UV resistant clear coat. It comes in gloss and matte.

Edited August 12, 2010 by GU-11

[big F]

Peroxide will bleach out the discoloured parts but it soon comes back. Did some work on it here last year. Plenty of pictures. Too. I was going to try coatings like krylon and future but so far I have been too busy with RL.

Edited August 12, 2010 by big F

[Funkenstein]

Wouldn't spraying with clear top coat protect against yellowing?

[arrow]

is there a beginner way to weather the yellow parts on plastic?

[big F]

Wouldn't spraying with clear top coat protect against yellowing?

This is the theory, it is a combination of U.V and Oxygen reacting with the plastic. This was something I was going to explore in http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=28428&hl I just never got around to it due to my life getting all busy and suddenly having nowhere to paint etc. But we were all hopeing that a nice coat of future or clear Krylon would keep out the nasty Oxygen