How do you deal with yellowing plastic? My Toy story collection Buzz started to yellow. Not so bad as picrel, but bad enough to annoy me. Previously I tried several methods.I used a peroxid paste hair product and sunlight. It worked remarkably well, but only in a few cases. I managed to whiten a G1 Metroplex nicely and also an O-ring Cobra commander, so it worked on blue plastic too. Unfortunately in several other cases it didn't work, guess it really depends on the type of plastic.My other method is to simply paint the figure white. It works for smaller figures like GI Joes, but I'm hesitant to paint a big figure like Buzz Lightyear. I also tried hunting down junker figures and use them to replace yellowed parts.I just wish there was a good solution that worked every time.
same think you'd do with a super nintendohit it with retro-brite
>>11815945>hit it with retro-briteI've heard that Retro-Brite actually ends up destroying the plastic.
>>11816383who knows, i've never seen anyone actually come back and show any proof of that.
>>11816460This is a sticking point for me honestly. I genuinely wish there was more chemical analysis done on the aging and preservation of toys. You'd think the way hippies piss and moan about wanting less plastic ending up in landfills there would be more call to have fewer toys thrown away because they haven't been restored.
>>11816383The yellowing is a result of UV degradation. It's already in the process of being destroyed. There is no reversing this. The options are either to let it keep degrading naturally and just accept that it looks bad, or attempt to bleach it as gently as possible so it looks better while it still has some life left in it. The problem is you can easily over-bleach it which will accelerate the degradation, but if you are willing to take your time and experiment a little it should last as long as it would if you ignored it. You don't need extra additives like retrobrite uses to make it bleach faster, and you don't need to expose it to extra UV light for the process to work. You just need peroxide and a little heat and patience. Placing it in sunlight or using a UV lamp is just a way to heat it but people are stupid and think that because UV rays caused the problem then UV rays + a magic potion the learned about on the internet will reverse it.>>11815930>it really depends on the type of plastic>I just wish there was a good solution that worked every time.Unfortunately the first statement is true so the second is wishful thinking. A lot of yellowing in toys and consoles is UV damage where peroxide bleaching works, but not all. Some plastics just can't be bleached with peroxide, and a few can react very horribly because it is a powerful oxidizer. If you're lucky someone has already experimented with the specific thing you want to restore and published a detailed guide on how they did it, but odds are if they have there will be someone who claims to have followed their guide and fucked it up, or worse someone will respond with their own guide claiming it's better when it's actually worse and they're just an idiot spreading misinformation.
>>11815945Retro-Brite is just hydrogen peroxide as a brand.>>11815930BE GENTLE. 50% peroxide solution with 50% water. Use the weakest (5% peroxide) so you don't damage the plastic. A UV light bulb works better than sunlight because it's consistent and doesn't deal with clouds or a moving sun.
