YOU'RE YELLOW! VF-25F turning all sorts of colors

[Budo]

I went to Tokyo in early May and of course visited the Mandarake store in Akihabara, and they had a severely yellowed VF-25F for just 3000 yen. I wish I was more adventurous with these techniques, could have been a perfect cheap guinea pig for whitening.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Here's a before/after pic. Now my TV CF is white again. Hope it stays this way!!!

[Lolicon]

8 minutes ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

Here's a before/after pic. Now my TV CF is white again. Hope it stays this way!!!

WOW!!! That's incredible! It's like a brand new valk!

Was this using hydrogen peroxide or the technique with the UV light?

[Ignacio Ocamica]

56 minutes ago, Lolicon said:

WOW!!! That's incredible! It's like a brand new valk!

Was this using hydrogen peroxide or the technique with the UV light?

Yes, it's as white as when I first got it!

I used the hydrogen peroxide technique.  

[CHAVAKAISER]

Hace 1 hora, Ignacio Ocamica dijo:

Aquí hay una foto de antes / después. Ahora mi TV CF es blanca otra vez. ¡¡¡Espero que siga asi !!!

unfortunately the yellow will come back, but you can do the treatment as many times as you want

[EmilianoAlfaro]

Hace 1 hora, Ignacio Ocamica dijo:

Sí, ¡es tan blanco como cuando lo obtuve por primera vez!

Utiliza la técnica del peróxido de hidrógeno.  

Como estas Ignacio, podrias decirme cual fue el proceso exacto? Lo desarmaste? aplicaste igual en partes pintadas o de color? voy a realizarlo en un vf-1a 1/60 de kaki. Saludos!

Edited October 30, 2019 by EmilianoAlfaro

[Ignacio Ocamica]

55 minutes ago, EmilianoAlfaro said:

Como estas Ignacio, podrias decirme cual fue el proceso exacto? Lo desarmaste? aplicaste igual en partes pintadas o de color? voy a realizarlo en un vf-1a 1/60 de kaki. Saludos!

Check your PM!!

[Pedro2k6]

10 hours ago, EmilianoAlfaro said:

Como estas Ignacio, podrias decirme cual fue el proceso exacto? Lo desarmaste? aplicaste igual en partes pintadas o de color? voy a realizarlo en un vf-1a 1/60 de kaki. Saludos!

tengo la misma consulta Ignacio...ademas que producto compraste?...una marca conocida en Sudsmerica?

[Lolicon]

12 hours ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

Yes, it's as white as when I first got it!

I used the hydrogen peroxide technique.  

Nice. So no damage at all to any of the paint or tampo printing? It just whitens the yellowed plastic?

[Ignacio Ocamica]

1 hour ago, Lolicon said:

Nice. So no damage at all to any of the paint or tampo printing? It just whitens the yellowed plastic?

No rampo/paint damage at all! I partially disassembled the valk, and applied the gel only to the yellowed parts.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

2 hours ago, Pedro2k6 said:

tengo la misma consulta Ignacio...ademas que producto compraste?...una marca conocida en Sudsmerica?

I just bought an inexpensive 40 Volume hair bleaching creme/gel.

(Compré un gel para aclarar el pelo de 40 volúmenes, de los más baratos)

[Mazinger]

14 minutes ago, Ignacio Ocamica said:

I just bought an inexpensive 40 Volume hair bleaching creme/gel.

(Compré un gel para aclarar el pelo de 40 volúmenes, de los más baratos)

Bien hecho, muy buen resultado.  Ojala dure el tratamiento.

Well done, a very good result. I hope the treatment lasts.

[Pedro2k6]

Nice...Thank you Ignacio.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

1 hour ago, Pedro2k6 said:

Nice...Thank you Ignacio.

You're welcome!!

Now it's Rei and Stick turn (their thigh armor):

[Mog]

So, apparently white and grey aren’t the only plastics that can “yellow”:

Granted, I’m the idiot that left it up in the attic for the past seven years enduring all sorts of SoCal temperature variations.  But the 1/48 was left in her original box, which doesn’t have a flip cover and doesn’t allow any sort of light through.

Surprisingly the white parts haven’t really yellowed much if any, and I already repainted the yellowed/“tealed” parts back to Macross blue.

Comparison of repainted arm to tealed-out arm:

One half showing the damage, and one half repainted:

 

[Sanity is Optional]

In this case, it's probably outgassing from the plastic (including the clamshell) in a sealed space, plus the temperature spikes that did it.

[Mog]

Yah, kinda figured that’s what happened.

Just surprised it impacted the blue plastic but had no impact on any of the white plastic.

Or if it actually did impact the white plastic, it yellowed all the white pieces consistently.

In any case, I’m glad it was only the blue that was affected.  Made it a quick fix-up:

[nightmareB4macross]

2 hours ago, Mog said:

Yah, kinda figured that’s what happened.

Just surprised it impacted the blue plastic but had no impact on any of the white plastic.

Or if it actually did impact the white plastic, it yellowed all the white pieces consistently.

In any case, I’m glad it was only the blue that was affected.  Made it a quick fix-up:

Wow, that looks great! Which color did you use and brand.

Even if they are a bit yellow, these old 1/48s do look great overall.

[David Hingtgen]

Yeah, blue plastic yellows (greens!) quite a bit, it's among the worst colors after white.  I don't think I've ever seen red turn orange, though. 

[Mog]

Regarding your question @nightmareB4macross, it’s Citadel Base Caledor Sky.

It’s the same blue I used to touch up and brush paint parts of my custom SDF-1.

Staring at the TV Max, the Citadel paint is just a smidge darker than the blue on the legs.  But it’s passable.

[Lolicon]

18 hours ago, Mog said:

Yah, kinda figured that’s what happened.

Just surprised it impacted the blue plastic but had no impact on any of the white plastic.

Or if it actually did impact the white plastic, it yellowed all the white pieces consistently.

In any case, I’m glad it was only the blue that was affected.  Made it a quick fix-up:

Did Yamato make a 1/48 Max or is that a custom job? Either way it looks great!

[Mog]

Thanks.

The TV Max and TV Kakizaki were some of the last 1/48’s produced by Yamato.

They were packaged as Macross Chronicles, but they did NOT come with TV hands (a fellow MW’er helped me to acquire those).

Edit:  Actually, it was @Ignacio Ocamica who gave me the TV hands all those years ago.  Glad I’m able to put them to good use again!

Edited May 21, 2020 by Mog

[nightmareB4macross]

5 hours ago, Mog said:

Thanks.

The TV Max and TV Kakizaki were some of the last 1/48’s produced by Yamato.

They were packaged as Macross Chronicles, but they did NOT come with TV hands (a fellow MW’er helped me to acquire those).

Edit:  Actually, it was @Ignacio Ocamica who gave me the TV hands all those years ago.  Glad I’m able to put them to good use again!

The TV-1A Max did not come with the figure as they were supposed to from the original release. What you would have to do is contact the retailer to send you the hands that were meant to accompany the figure since those came in later from Yamato. The 4 hands would arrive in a small white box with a clear clamshell inside holding the parts in place.

Kakyzaky on the other hand did come with hands inside the box.

Max is relatively easy to come across nowadays but Kakyzaky is like a herpetic flare up in that you just you just never know when he’ll pop up.

[Mog]

Well, I picked up Max second-hand, so not sure if the original owner ever got the TV hands from the retailer (or just didn’t include them as part of the auction).

[Ignacio Ocamica]

On 5/21/2020 at 12:57 PM, Mog said:

Thanks.

The TV Max and TV Kakizaki were some of the last 1/48’s produced by Yamato.

They were packaged as Macross Chronicles, but they did NOT come with TV hands (a fellow MW’er helped me to acquire those).

Edit:  Actually, it was @Ignacio Ocamica who gave me the TV hands all those years ago.  Glad I’m able to put them to good use again!

You remembered!! Hehehe. I sent you the TV hands from the 1/48 VF-1A CF (it's an hybrid because it comes with DYRL head but also TV clown hands).

My CF 1A is wearing GBP with the big mechanical hands.

[BlueMax]

I have tried the Sunlight only method, it aomewhat  works, but much slower than peroxide, and some stubborn yellowed  parts refuse to return to the original whiteness 

Right side VF-171 was not subjected to the sun treatment. Total exposure time was about 5 hours.

 

Edited June 20, 2020 by BlueMax

[BlueMax]

These have never been exposed to direct sunlight, only ambient and fluorescent light when displayed.

After the release of the V2 Yamato’s, they were retired from display and stored in almost airtight plastic bags and in darkness flor at least a decade. 
 

These are the results.

The VF-1J was display and stored with the GBP-1S. You can see the difference in (dis)color. The VF-1A actually has very substantial yellowing, only mitigated by the fact that the bass plastic is already brown 

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by BlueMax

[Hiryu]

I posted here a little over a year ago about my successful attempt at de-yellowing my vf-25 dx. I basted it using salon care 40 cream in sunlight, enclosed in a transparent bin. Worked brilliantly. Since then, the valk was placed on a shelf nowhere near direct sunlight. However, I am sad to report that after a year the yellowing has returned just as bad as it originally was. Areas that were not yellowing before have now started darkening as well. This is a real bummer. Wish there was a permanent solution.  

[Lolicon]

That sucks. I wonder if after doing the whitening treatment if you should seal the valk in a layer of clear coat? Just thinking if cutting off exposure to the air would prevent re-yellowing if it's some kind of oxidation process. 

[DewPoint]

If you didn't already stumble upon this article on your own research, I found this as an interesting read:  A Look into the Yellowing and Deyellowing of ABS Plastics

[Toonz]

On 10/31/2019 at 9:16 PM, Ignacio Ocamica said:

I just bought an inexpensive 40 Volume hair bleaching creme/gel.

(Compré un gel para aclarar el pelo de 40 volúmenes, de los más baratos)

How to go about using this? what are the steps?

[Kenny G]

I just cut the seal on this, openeing it for the first time. Yeowza! 

 

[sqidd]

5 minutes ago, Kenny G said:

I just cut the seal on this, openeing it for the first time. Yeowza! 

 

Wow, that's a bummer.

I think the foam is the issue.

[big F]

This is the main reason I stopped buying valk toys.

 

need to check my 1/60 VF1J in GBP armour as its been in a north facing room in a cabinet with tinted glass at my folks house. Been there for at least 10 years, and I have only checked it a few times. My folks don't open the cabinet and like the figures in there.

[Kicker773]

I have one valk that’s turned yellow in storage what steps is everyone using for ru hydrogen peroxide? Can’t seem to find it on the previous posts or is it Spanish?