UV lighting your valks?

[wolfx]

Awhile back (like years ago) on the anime.models.misc (i think), crazy probe was talking about using UV light on MSIAs and the cool effect it gave.

I was thinking of installing some of those UV tubes on my display cabinet for fun....but has anyone tried using the lights on their valks on various toys? Did they make them look all glowy and cool?

[Godzilla]

Wouldnt that yellow your valk eventually?

[Angel's Fury]

Wouldnt that yellow your valk eventually?

Yeah?

[REMINATOR]

Wouldnt that yellow your valk eventually?

Yeah?

If it's a natural UV then yes. But he's talking about an artificial tube UV, I don't know if it will have the same effect or not. I have never seen or tried it. Personally, I would avoid anything next to UV.

[justvinnie]

UV is bad. UV radiation can break chemical bonds in organic compounds. Plastics are organic polymers and as such will degrade under UV lighting, natural or unnatural. What will happen is that your plastic will discolor, become bittle, and after long enough of an exposure will turn to dust.

vinnie

[justvinnie]

Oh and the fact that you shouldn't be looking at UV light is good reason enough to not have a UV light in your cabinet.

vinnie

[physioguy]

toys do yellow over time with light exposure, but even with uv light, if it's not prolonged the yellowing will be minimal and maybe not even noticeable.

Here's what i propose: I have smoked acrylic (like plexiglass) sheets covering my shleves, that snap on with cabinet magnets. This way very little light gets in. I next plan to install cabinet lighting that can b switched on, so unless you stare at your toys for hours a day, very little yellowing will ever occur.

I'll pass on the uv lights though

harry

[Blaine23]

I really, really want to put UV lights on my valks, but that has to wait until after I put a 22" subwoofer, drop-down video display, an X-box, and big spinning rims on it.

Pimp My Valk!

[Vostok 7]

I really, really want to put UV lights on my valks, but that has to wait until after I put a 22" subwoofer, drop-down video display, an X-box, and big spinning rims on it.

Pimp My Valk!

Oh no here comes X to the Z Ibit!!

Vostok 7

[wolfx]

EeEepp! Yellowing? Guess UV lighting is not an option then.

How about this "Black Light" I've heard about. Some people display their collection using "Black Light" and I don't know wth that is.

[Fatalist]

The same thing as a UV light.

[calvin]

hey all,

in todays world of plazma t.v.'s and tft computer monitors certain companys are now offering a spray that creates a lightfast(anti fade/yellow/uv )spray that is non-aggresive and non- fogging(on plastics,like what crazy glue does)I used this spray on some of my acrylic painted statues awhile back, none have faded or yellowed and I even sprayed a VF-1A when they came out and it's still very white, now my enviroment is almost all windows so my collections get atleast some sun(two+hours) directly everyday!

some might want to try this solution, the product I bought was uv-tech clear. been about a year or so but found it at a tech shop, good luck

[Neova]

Black Lights and flourescent paints looks way cool but will have some form of UV in it. I looked up UV-Tech a while ago and Calvin is the first guy to confirm using it. Awesome info.

[Angel's Fury]

So it does work Calvin & Neova?

[Neova]

I'm trying to find that UV-Tech locally here but its not available so haven't tried it yet. Hopefully Calvin can elaborate.

[calvin]

hey guys,

I origanally bought it thru a tech store thru the amazon web site(one of their recomended e-tailors,with the purchase garentee.....)I can't remember the name, but it will come back to me!

I keep credit reciepts for 3+ years so I'll get into the files soon and see if it is there? I did a product search at amazon, it didn't come up ! I'll try to get more info

[do not disturb]

i honestly don't think sunlight or any light has to do with it and let me explain why.

if any of you remember, i recently sold my MPC vf1J hunter veritech.

i literally pull it out of the box once, transformed it, noticed how crappy it was, put it back in the box. its never seen the light of day and i've never displayed it...EVER! it was the crappiest thing i bought, and a disgrace to have it next to a yammie so safely it stayed in my closet for however many months.

well i threw up the auction and didn't bother opening up again, anyone here who checked the auction knows i didn't even bother to take a pic of it. so finally the auction ended and i decided to give it a once over, you know, to make sure everything was in there, etc when i noticed one of the wings had yellowed! WTF!!!

the fact is that the MPC was never displayed, never seen the light of day(opened it at night time), packed exactly like it came from the factory, stored in my closet, sealed in the box, sealed in a plastic bag, and then put into a another box and it still yellowed?

now mind you, i got this before this past christmas so it wasn't like it was hot...it was BRICK here in NYC, and it still hasn't gotten warm enough nor has the humidity level really gone up.

so how do you guys explain that one?

[jasonkimberson]

hey all,

in todays world of plazma t.v.'s and tft computer monitors certain companys are now offering a spray that creates a lightfast(anti fade/yellow/uv )spray that is non-aggresive and non- fogging(on plastics,like what crazy glue does)I used this spray on some of my acrylic painted statues awhile back, none have faded or yellowed and I even sprayed a VF-1A when they came out and it's still very white, now my enviroment is almost all windows so my collections get atleast some sun(two+hours) directly everyday!

some might want to try this solution, the product I bought was uv-tech clear. been about a year or so but found it at a tech shop, good luck

can you tell you sprayed it? does it leave a film on your valk?

[jasonkimberson]

i honestly don't think sunlight or any light has to do with it and let me explain why.

if any of you remember, i recently sold my MPC vf1J hunter veritech.

i literally pull it out of the box once, transformed it, noticed how crappy it was, put it back in the box. its never seen the light of day and i've never displayed it...EVER! it was the crappiest thing i bought, and a disgrace to have it next to a yammie so safely it stayed in my closet for however many months.

well i threw up the auction and didn't bother opening up again, anyone here who checked the auction knows i didn't even bother to take a pic of it. so finally the auction ended and i decided to give it a once over, you know, to make sure everything was in there, etc when i noticed one of the wings had yellowed! WTF!!!

the fact is that the MPC was never displayed, never seen the light of day(opened it at night time), packed exactly like it came from the factory, stored in my closet, sealed in the box, sealed in a plastic bag, and then put into a another box and it still yellowed?

now mind you, i got this before this past christmas so it wasn't like it was hot...it was BRICK here in NYC, and it still hasn't gotten warm enough nor has the humidity level really gone up.

so how do you guys explain that one?

you got ripped off

[wolfx]

i honestly don't think sunlight or any light has to do with it and let me explain why.

if any of you remember, i recently sold my MPC vf1J hunter veritech.

i literally pull it out of the box once, transformed it, noticed how crappy it was, put it back in the box. its never seen the light of day and i've never displayed it...EVER! it was the crappiest thing i bought, and a disgrace to have it next to a yammie so safely it stayed in my closet for however many months.

well i threw up the auction and didn't bother opening up again, anyone here who checked the auction knows i didn't even bother to take a pic of it. so finally the auction ended and i decided to give it a once over, you know, to make sure everything was in there, etc when i noticed one of the wings had yellowed! WTF!!!

the fact is that the MPC was never displayed, never seen the light of day(opened it at night time), packed exactly like it came from the factory, stored in my closet, sealed in the box, sealed in a plastic bag, and then put into a another box and it still yellowed?

now mind you, i got this before this past christmas so it wasn't like it was hot...it was BRICK here in NYC, and it still hasn't gotten warm enough nor has the humidity level really gone up.

so how do you guys explain that one?

You have one dirty sock and soiled underwear too many in your closet. That's the only thing I can think of.

[justvinnie]

i honestly don't think sunlight or any light has to do with it and let me explain why.

if any of you remember, i recently sold my MPC vf1J hunter veritech.

i literally pull it out of the box once, transformed it, noticed how crappy it was, put it back in the box. its never seen the light of day and i've never displayed it...EVER! it was the crappiest thing i bought, and a disgrace to have it next to a yammie so safely it stayed in my closet for however many months.

well i threw up the auction and didn't bother opening up again, anyone here who checked the auction knows i didn't even bother to take a pic of it. so finally the auction ended and i decided to give it a once over, you know, to make sure everything was in there, etc when i noticed one of the wings had yellowed! WTF!!!

the fact is that the MPC was never displayed, never seen the light of day(opened it at night time), packed exactly like it came from the factory, stored in my closet, sealed in the box, sealed in a plastic bag, and then put into a another box and it still yellowed?

now mind you, i got this before this past christmas so it wasn't like it was hot...it was BRICK here in NYC, and it still hasn't gotten warm enough nor has the humidity level really gone up.

so how do you guys explain that one?

The answer is really simple. Have you inspected the plastic on the MPC? Compare it to the Yammie 1/60 and you will notice that it is of significantly lower quality, much softer than the Yammie. Not only that, it is more translucent than the yammie, which is basically opaque. Hence, the glowing head syndrome... The Rick 1J MPC is white. Without the presence of dyes and combined with the translucence and cheap plastic, the yellowing will show up much easier and earlier.

Anyways, in the end ALL plastics will oxidize by virtue of the air we breathe. Yellowing is inevitable. It can be slowed but not stopped. Ok, that's not true. You could keep it in a sealed chamber flooded with inert gas and it will probably not yellow, but if you have that kind of money and devotion to a toy, I think you need to get a life.

Air oxidation is usually not a big problem for quality plastics. UV is much more effective at breaking apart organic bonds. That's why we wear sunblock: so our DNA doesn't get damaged. Not only that, UV is capable of initiating free radical oxidations, a chain reaction, in compounds that have halogens. Since many plastics contain halogens, I would guess this could be a problem.

Just to clarify, I do organic chemistry as well as molecular biology for a living and while I do not work with plastics, the principles involved in any organic chemical reaction is pretty much universal.

[do not disturb]

thanks for your help guys...

ripped off? it wasn't like that when i got it....i'm 10000% sure. and it was stored in my toy closet, no dirty socks and underwear in there....only the ones i'm wearing are dirty and smelly.

[do not disturb]

i honestly don't think sunlight or any light has to do with it and let me explain why.

if any of you remember, i recently sold my MPC vf1J hunter veritech.

i literally pull it out of the box once, transformed it, noticed how crappy it was, put it back in the box.  its never seen the light of day and i've never displayed it...EVER!  it was the crappiest thing i bought, and a disgrace to have it next to a yammie so safely it stayed in my closet for however many months. 

well i threw up the auction and didn't bother opening up again, anyone here who checked the auction knows i didn't even bother to take a pic of it.  so finally the auction ended and i decided to give it a once over, you know, to make sure everything was in there, etc  when i noticed one of the wings had yellowed!  WTF!!! 

the fact is that the MPC was never displayed, never seen the light of day(opened it at night time), packed exactly like it came from the factory, stored in my closet, sealed in the box, sealed in a plastic bag, and then put into a another box and it still yellowed?

now mind you, i got this before this past christmas so it wasn't like it was hot...it was BRICK here in NYC, and it still hasn't gotten warm enough nor has the humidity level really gone up. 

so how do you guys explain that one? 

The answer is really simple. Have you inspected the plastic on the MPC? Compare it to the Yammie 1/60 and you will notice that it is of significantly lower quality, much softer than the Yammie. Not only that, it is more translucent than the yammie, which is basically opaque. Hence, the glowing head syndrome... The Rick 1J MPC is white. Without the presence of dyes and combined with the translucence and cheap plastic, the yellowing will show up much easier and earlier.

Anyways, in the end ALL plastics will oxidize by virtue of the air we breathe. Yellowing is inevitable. It can be slowed but not stopped. Ok, that's not true. You could keep it in a sealed chamber flooded with inert gas and it will probably not yellow, but if you have that kind of money and devotion to a toy, I think you need to get a life.

Air oxidation is usually not a big problem for quality plastics. UV is much more effective at breaking apart organic bonds. That's why we wear sunblock: so our DNA doesn't get damaged. Not only that, UV is capable of initiating free radical oxidations, a chain reaction, in compounds that have halogens. Since many plastics contain halogens, I would guess this could be a problem.

Just to clarify, I do organic chemistry as well as molecular biology for a living and while I do not work with plastics, the principles involved in any organic chemical reaction is pretty much universal.

you call that simple?

its still strange that i went to such great lengths to take care of it and keep it away for sunlight and otehr outside forces yet it still yellowed? i always thought it was sunlight that did this but now i have to find all new method(other than inert gases..do farts count? ) for storing my toys.

and yes, the plastic is WAY CHEAP!

[LurkerX]

this sucks.

before i red this post i though yellowing were exclusively bandai valk problem shows how much i know.

i have banana trees in my basement require extensive purple UV light to stay alive its on 24hr a day. my 1/48 valks are right next to it

i guess i finally have to give my bananna trees away.

mind you i haven't noticed any yellowing thus far however, its only been in that spot for the past 6 months or so

[Valkfan]

before i red this post i though yellowing were exclusively bandai valk problem shows how much i know.

Actually, I think that the main reason yellowing seems to be an exclusive and extreme problem for the Bandai/Takatoku valks is because they are the only one's that have stood the test of time. About 20 years of exposure will tell all. Come to think of it, I have yet to hear anyone complain that they notice yellowing on their Bandai reissues. I have heard some complain about yellowing on their Yamato 1/60 arms. From personal observation I would say that the Yamato plastic seems to be inferior in quality to the Bandai's. I am interested to see which of the two would look worse if they were kept in the same environment for 20 years. This of course wouldn't included them being stored in a dark sealed box or chamber filled with inert gas.

Edited April 29, 2004 by Valkfan

[Angel's Fury]

this sucks.

before i red this post i though yellowing were exclusively bandai valk problem shows how much i know.

i have banana trees in my basement require extensive purple UV light to stay alive its on 24hr a day. my 1/48 valks are right next to it

i guess i finally have to give my bananna trees away.

mind you i haven't noticed any yellowing thus far however, its only been in that spot for the past 6 months or so

No, keep the banana trees, but move the valks somewhere else. At least when the banana tree bears fruit, you don't have to go to the market to buy one since you've already got one.

[soze]

Eh.... so much for your raving valkyries.... No more raves for you skull squadron!!!

Mine.... they are sitting in a box waiting to escape when I have my own house.

[APU]

i honestly don't think sunlight or any light has to do with it and let me explain why.

if any of you remember, i recently sold my MPC vf1J hunter veritech.

i literally pull it out of the box once, transformed it, noticed how crappy it was, put it back in the box.  its never seen the light of day and i've never displayed it...EVER!  it was the crappiest thing i bought, and a disgrace to have it next to a yammie so safely it stayed in my closet for however many months. 

well i threw up the auction and didn't bother opening up again, anyone here who checked the auction knows i didn't even bother to take a pic of it.  so finally the auction ended and i decided to give it a once over, you know, to make sure everything was in there, etc  when i noticed one of the wings had yellowed!  WTF!!!  

the fact is that the MPC was never displayed, never seen the light of day(opened it at night time), packed exactly like it came from the factory, stored in my closet, sealed in the box, sealed in a plastic bag, and then put into a another box and it still yellowed?

now mind you, i got this before this past christmas so it wasn't like it was hot...it was BRICK here in NYC, and it still hasn't gotten warm enough nor has the humidity level really gone up.  

so how do you guys explain that one? 

The answer is really simple. Have you inspected the plastic on the MPC? Compare it to the Yammie 1/60 and you will notice that it is of significantly lower quality, much softer than the Yammie. Not only that, it is more translucent than the yammie, which is basically opaque. Hence, the glowing head syndrome... The Rick 1J MPC is white. Without the presence of dyes and combined with the translucence and cheap plastic, the yellowing will show up much easier and earlier.

Anyways, in the end ALL plastics will oxidize by virtue of the air we breathe. Yellowing is inevitable. It can be slowed but not stopped. Ok, that's not true. You could keep it in a sealed chamber flooded with inert gas and it will probably not yellow, but if you have that kind of money and devotion to a toy, I think you need to get a life.

Air oxidation is usually not a big problem for quality plastics. UV is much more effective at breaking apart organic bonds. That's why we wear sunblock: so our DNA doesn't get damaged. Not only that, UV is capable of initiating free radical oxidations, a chain reaction, in compounds that have halogens. Since many plastics contain halogens, I would guess this could be a problem.

Just to clarify, I do organic chemistry as well as molecular biology for a living and while I do not work with plastics, the principles involved in any organic chemical reaction is pretty much universal.

you call that simple?

its still strange that i went to such great lengths to take care of it and keep it away for sunlight and otehr outside forces yet it still yellowed? i always thought it was sunlight that did this but now i have to find all new method(other than inert gases..do farts count? ) for storing my toys.

and yes, the plastic is WAY CHEAP!

I finde it strange how you took such great lengths to take care of it and keep it in the best condition possible...But its crap right? I think you had to justafy the fact of having a MCP by still being cool and saying its crap.

[APU]

this sucks.

before i red this post i though yellowing were exclusively bandai valk problem shows how much i know.

i have banana trees in my basement require extensive purple UV light to stay alive its on 24hr a day. my 1/48 valks are right next to it

i guess i finally have to give my bananna trees away.

mind you i haven't noticed any yellowing thus far however, its only been in that spot for the past 6 months or so

Banannas huh

[RTShark]

I finde it strange how you took such great lengths to take care of it and keep it in the best condition possible...But its crap right? I think you had to justafy the fact of having a MCP by still being cool and saying its crap.

Well how else would he have *known* it was crap if he didn't own one?

I guess if someone doesn't like the MPC they just can't win. If they don't own one they get ragged for talking about it without really knowing. If they do own one they get ragged because they must just be putting it down to be cool.

I sold mine. I did own it, but don't anymore. Am I allowed to rag on it?

[Metal_Massacre_79]

Hey, who was that one dude that used a sort of conductive paint to light up his 1/48? I remember seeing pictures with the landing gear lit up and the light on the wings as well. Anyone else remember this? I though it was extremely creative at the time.

[do not disturb]

I finde it strange how you took such great lengths to take care of it and keep it in the best condition possible...But its crap right? I think you had to justafy the fact of having a MCP by still being cool and saying its crap.

Well how else would he have *known* it was crap if he didn't own one?

I guess if someone doesn't like the MPC they just can't win. If they don't own one they get ragged for talking about it without really knowing. If they do own one they get ragged because they must just be putting it down to be cool.

I sold mine. I did own it, but don't anymore. Am I allowed to rag on it?

thank you RTShark, i sensed some fire i those words.

APU,

i stand by my opinion, i think the MPC's are crap, plain and simple. i own 1/48's, 1/60's, 1/55(bandais) and had 1 MPC. thats all it took for me to know it was a piece of crap, unworthy of display on my shelves.

the sad part is, that was the first valk i got since i was a little kid and i didn't even play with it. from the minute i removed it from the box i knew i had gotten ripped off. sorry if the MPC isn't my bag but thats my opinion.

i apologize for all the italics but some folks here are too sensitive, so i'd like to make it clear that i only speak for myself and my disappointments while owing this toy.

back to the topic at hand....

it seems there is no logically explaination for this happening to the valk? plastic clam shell, enclosed case, plastic bag, cardboard box, in a closet, not near a window or any sunlight. there is no reason for this? other than toynami uses crappy materials or theres some kind of weird stuff lurking in my closets.

[RTShark]

thank you RTShark, i sensed some fire i those words. 

Maybe just a little.

I just notice how anyone who says anything bad about the MPC must not have a valid reason for disliking it... At least that's the impression I get from certain posts.

the sad part is, that was the first valk i got since i was a little kid and i didn't even play with it.  from the minute i removed it from the box i knew i had gotten ripped off.  sorry if the MPC isn't my bag but thats my opinion.

Yeah. Me too. I was really excited when I first got it. But that high sunk pretty fast after I opened it. This was before I knew about Yamato so it did get shelf time for a while until I discovered the 1/60s, and then later the 1/48.

More recently I sold it to a friend of mine for cheap. He got quite a deal for the Valk + Fast pack so I don't feel too guilty.

back to the topic at hand....

it seems there is no logically explaination for this happening to the valk?  plastic clam shell, enclosed case, plastic bag, cardboard box, in a closet, not near a window or any sunlight.  there is no reason for this?  other than toynami uses crappy materials or theres some kind of weird stuff lurking in my closets. 

It just happens. There seem to be some things that might speed it up or slow it down, but from my experience there is no hard and fast rule for exact causes and how quickly or slowly it happens.

My Toynami was a Max so there really wasn't anything to yellow. (Oh, and I definitely agree that the plastic feels really cheap and not good).

Odd note that my eighties Bandai Skull-one was fine for a long time. I bought it in the mid 90s and kept it displayed for a while. Last year put it in a box of stuff in the basement (dark and dry) with plastic garbage bags over the whole box to keep moisture out (it's dry down there, but I wasn't taking chances), I took it out a few months ago and it had started to yellow. Went about 17 years with no hint of yellowing and then started all of a sudden. It's not bad, but definitely noticeable.

Edited April 30, 2004 by RTShark

[Hurin]

I finde it strange how you took such great lengths to take care of it and keep it in the best condition possible...But its crap right?   I think you had to justafy the fact of having a MCP by still being cool and saying its crap.

I did almost the exact same thing. Pre-ordered from RT.com. Got it. Opened it. . . said: "Holy crap! This is cheap! Jeez! It's entire head lights up with the LED! It's flimsy! It's proportions are off. . . etc. etc!" Of course, this was before I regularly visited MW. . . so I suffered in silence.

So, I put it back in its box and stored it in my closet. I never bought any other MPCs because they were (in my opinion) that bad. And a year or two later, I made a nice profit on it.

Don't really see what's so odd about that. Why would anyone mistreat a toy (even if you don't like it) when you can just as easily put it back in its shipping box and, throw it in the closet and forget about it.

H

[do not disturb]

Yeah. Me too. I was really excited when I first got it. But that high sunk pretty fast after I opened it. This was before I knew about Yamato so it did get shelf time for a while until I discovered the 1/60s, and then later the 1/48.

its funny but thats exactly what happened to me. i bought the MPC cause i didn't know any better, someone pointed me here to MW, i asked around, picked up a 1/60(cool), then BANDAI 1/55(classic), and then a 1/48(need i say more).

Odd note that my eighties Bandai Skull-one was fine for a long time. I bought it in the mid 90s and kept it displayed for a while. Last year put it in a box of stuff in the basement (dark and dry) with plastic garbage bags over the whole box to keep moisture out (it's dry down there, but I wasn't taking chances), I took it out a few months ago and it had started to yellow. Went about 17 years with no hint of yellowing and then started all of a sudden. It's not bad, but definitely noticeable.

well now you got me paranoid.

i just put my bandais away and now it got me thinking.....

maybe the yellowing occurs cause there is no "fresh air" circulating? i discovered this with my white lego pieces. i had some sealed in a ziploc bag, yet the pieces yellowed. i had some pieces just sitting out and no yellowing what so ever.

i'm still not sure, nor is anyone else but i think keeping them air-tight is whats causing some of the problems? i'm not a 100% sure but i'll pull my bandais out of the box and just store them in the same closet "open", with no box, no wrapping, no special nothing and see what happens? though i really wish i had another MPC to do this with....no reason to ruin my good toys on freak experiments.