I just tried this today on the arms and legs of a Lady Giga Power Master from Overlord I recently acquired which I was lead to believe from an eBay image was whiter than it actually was. Results soon.
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I just tried this today on the arms and legs of a Lady Giga Power Master from Overlord I recently acquired which I was lead to believe from an eBay image was whiter than it actually was. Results soon.
I've had a go with some 6% Hydrogen Peroxide recently and had some nice results on a few small parts and a QuickMix who I completely disassembled. It's not all roses though, as I threw Strafe in whole, as he just needed a little lightening.
It definitely does affect the screws negatively, so I recommend taking the time to disassemble your figures if you're going to do this, but the worst thing for Strafe was that the paint on his face was ruined. He is meant to have a red visor and face (see here) but as you can see in the attached image, his red face was bleached into a browny, bone kind of colour. Sorry for the crappy image, but my camera isn't charged so just used the old iPhone.
It's not the end of the world, since I'll just go over it with red paint at some point, but be warned if you are peroxiding figures with red paint on them.
http://www.otca.com.au/boards/attach...1&d=1273850559
Lady Giga:
This is the image the seller provided in their listing on ebay Hungary:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1019/...9f057aac_o.jpg
I'm still considering whether to leave neutral feedback because they have not provided a reasonable explanation as to why they provide incorrect coloured images on their auctions.
This the is the actual colour of the plastic after disassembling:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1051/...9770ab6e_o.jpg
In jar of hydrogen peroxide for an entire day, but was very cloudy:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1305/...102ac51d_o.jpg
Around mid-day the next day after a very sunny morning:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1202/...2b3ebde9_o.jpg
Reassembled:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1410/...4dec7eea_o.jpg
The plastic has gone from being approximately 30% yellow stained to 5% yellow stained after nearly two days exposure to the chemicals.
That looks amazing!
My Giga also had a bit of yellowing on the legs and it got cleared up in one day with the H2O2.
Right now I have Scourge wings submerged. They are not totally yellowed but had yellow 'spots' on them. The right side of the wings cleared nicely and now I am doing the left. I also have another severely yellowed Scourge which I will give it ago once I am finished off with this one.
Before:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/...0eca8414a1.jpg
After:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/...e8c5c6105f.jpg
Before:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/...6a815ffdc9.jpg
After:
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/...a137762df4.jpg
fark yeah! I no longer have to be paranoid about my rare TF's getting yellowed! :D. so yeah, Grand and Fort maximus,...im looking at you!!
Prevention is better than cure, but at least a cure is available should the worst happen.
now, if only we can come up with a sure-fire method for reversing the damage on coloured plastics because not all of the coloured plastics respond well to H2O2.
some coloured plastics repair fine, whilst others fade!!! :(
Wow, all these results are really positive. I haven't had occasion to try it yet, but I'll be sure to rest easy knowing yellowing now has a cure.
Bruticus, that is freaking awesome!
Was that done with the 30% H2O2?
I am currently trying 6% on spare Scourges which were severely yellowed. They are clearing a noticeably well after 4 days but still have a long way to go.
My results are based on 35% H2O2 and after ~9-12 hrs indoors with a UV lamp.
However, theHandsomeCrab has said earlier that he only needed to use it for a couple of hours to work, so even faster results are possible with the high strength H2O2!
btw, are your scourges the ones with a light blue plastic on the top with a dark blue sticker or the ones with a factory standard dark blue plastic top and no sticker required??
i'm interested to know if the dark blue plastic version fades or not.
I'm also curious to know if the bubbles that are normally formed, inside the glass jar, are a resultant of a chemical process and indicates that the H2O2 is breaking down? If this is the case, then there is a chance that the H2O2 will lose its strength with multiple use. I dont know for sure, just speculating at the moment.
Maybe someone here will know.
Bruticus, how are you obtaining your 30% concentration H202 if you don't mind me asking? Do you have connections with a laboratory?
On another note, I'm also going to be posting up my 'Operation Restore Fortress Maximus with H202' in this thread soon.
I tried putting in a lightly 'greened' Scourge head canon which had its colored restored to blue pretty well. There was no fading.
The spare Scourges that I am restoring are all sticker blue tops. Two are Targetmasters and one is '86.
In regards to the Bubbles, from observation it seems that they are indeed responsible for restoring the plastic color. It forms several hundreds perhaps thousands of tiny bubbles all over the surface of the part. I have also noticed that although you can reuse the H2O2 multiple times, it eventually looses its effect and you can notice that by a lack of bubbles. I believe this is when the H2O2 has simply become plain H2O. It is possible that this happens because some of the O2 escapes from the jar as vapor when bubbling.
TheHandsomeCrab helped me with finding this. He and I both bought from a seller on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/FOOD-GRADE-Hy...item20ac707d9c
It works out to be cheaper per volume, per percentage concentration than buying from your local pharmacy. but Max of 1L per shipment though.
Just remember to wear rubber gloves and goggles when handling!!
when i was opening the parcel for the first time, i didnt realise that the seal on the bottle was leaking a bit and accidentally got some on my fingers.... it turned my skin white for a while and was freaken itchy, which freaked me out... luckily the reaction was only temporary and everything was good afterwards.
Oooh. cant wait to see.
Btw, will you be using the bath technique or the gel technique??
cos bathing it will required several litres of H2O2. Unless you plan on diluting the concentrated stuff, it might end up pretty costly.
So there is no problems with importing the H2O2 from overseas? It seems like something that would annoy customs.
So it should be fine to drink once there are no bubbles appearing? :p :D
But seriously, I have got to try some of this stuff on some of my figures, but when I have money to do so. I have a severly yellowed junker Slugslinger, and want to see the effects on his paint, escpecially on his face.
I bought some 35% H202 from the UK (thanks Bruticus and TheHandsomeCrab) and I am just waiting for it to arrive.
Here is a comparative shot of the color restoration of the Scourge I am currently working on. It shows just how much of the 'yellow' clears up after a part is soaked on H2O2 for about 4 days. It's not perfect but it's one heck of an improvement.
http://kupscigar.com/fixes/h2o2.JPG
(The stringy plastic thing is something that just fell on it. I didn't realize until after I took the photo)
nice results kup!!!
but damn man... 4 days and thats not even 1 quarter of the figure yet!!!
i thought you had a larger glass jar?
but its really great to see old toys get a second lease on life!!!
I do have a larger glass jar but not enough H2O2 :)
i'd love to see someone try and whiten this Fort max or an even worse condition one!!! :p
eruntalon, is your fort max as bad as that??
wasnt kups like that before?
I love how it says, "with signs of yellowing" :p
Maybe its the camera flash but that toy is 'yellowed' in a way I have never seen before - I am not sure if the problem is just due to standard yellowing as I have never seen an oranged Max before.
Typically the white just turns into a mustard color at maximum yellowing like the Scourge I photographed.
Kup, do you suspect something else is happening other than sunlight damage??
The damage on the FM looks like it occurred over a very long time.
This yellowed ratchet from thetf.net that you linked us, is almost as bad as that fort max on ebay.
I've also seen the grey plastics on a dinobot turned dark/dirty yellow, whilst the clear plastic turned dark orange (almost red) in colour. However, since i'm not the original owner, i cant say for sure if it was caused by only sunlight damage or another source.
thankfully these days, no one here is that neglectful to let our prized TFs yellow to a stage where it is too hard to reverse the damages.
To me that Ratchet's yellowing is different than the Max. That Ratchet has a similar form of yellowing as my Scourge, a mustard color while that Max looks a weird 'earth' orange color.
Clear plastic does turn orangy but not white plastic. White plastic turns yellow not orange red unless that Max is at a very severe rarely seen point of deterioration or its just the photo.
Grey plastic does indeed turn a dirty/green color but white discoloration is a pretty standard mustard yellow.
We should probably do a list on toys we have encountered that don't respond too well to the H2O2. It will help anyone thinking of trying out the H2O2 on a toy and also to help us determine if there is a solid pattern.
- Aimless (Misfire's TM)
- Metrotitan head
Anything else?
Does anyone know what sort of UV light I should be getting to simulate actual sunlight? I'm trying to search through the myriad of useless junk on ebay from Hong Kong to find something that will do the job. Will a standard UV blacklight globe even do the job?
I bought a UV lightbulb from bunnings and it worked for me.
sorry, it may have been labelled "blacklight". dont know for sure as i threw away the package.
but mine looks a bit like this:
http://www.halloweenblacklight.com/b...ght-bulb-2.jpg
should be in the light bulb section of bunnings. how big is your bunnings? cos it could just be that some of the smaller stores may not have it in stock.
but if you want to buy from somewhere else, then i cant see why not as you probably just need an ordinary blacklight/UV light source.
Just a couple of tips i used when working with the UV bulb (*FYI: these are just my opinions and by no means are they the correct way to do things):
--since i dont know what the long term effects of exposure to the artificial UV light can do, i try to limit direct contact with UV light to as minimum as possible, until someone can prove otherwise. (better safe than sorry)
--wear UV protective glasses (sunnies).
--shield off as much stray UV rays as possible just in case parts of your house get damaged (walls, doors, appliances etc).
--i use a motorised display turntable to rotate the glass bowl regularly for even UV exposure on the sides of the jar/bowl
--for the plastic parts that always floats facing the bottom of the glass jar/bowl due to buoyancy, they are hard to expose with the UV, so i ended up using two spare shelves in my detolf cabinet. put the UV light on the lower level shelf aiming it up and put the jar/bowl on the top shelf directly above it. that way the bottom of the jar/bowl now gets direct exposure.
Hopefully that should give you a few things to think about and you should be able experiment with different options to find a way that works best for you.
good luck with the fort max project!