Whitening yellowed toys with Hydrogen Peroxide

[Ravagecat]

hmmm must be a bad batch kup. My Vroom hasnt yellowed (knock on wood) yet or at all actually. Although my downshift figure could use a creme treatment, it's not pristine white as it should anymore.

Just to mention that it actually took two years to yellow again (wow I didn't realize it had been that long!), it wasn't a sudden thing.


That's why the whole thing seems strange to me. The toy had been kept in constant darkness ever since I whitened it. My guess is that although sunlight (artificial light) may expedite the process, yellowing can occur despite of it just for being exposed to air.

As we know, some plastics are more prone to yellowing than others so maybe some will mostly be affected by sunlight while others just need to be exposed to air to yellow.

Thanks for the reply Kup....It would seem what you are both saying makes sense. Some plastics (especially if the batch was not quite right) are prone to yellowing with age due to exposure to just air

Frustratingly disappointing to say the least

[liegeprime]

it is frutrating , but, thankfully there is this option, rather than nothing at all. I guess some of us though have learned to live with Jaundiced figures

[GoktimusPrime]

Yesterday I bought some H2O2 and have been using cotton tips to rub it into parts of my Fortress Maximus, especially the right upper leg section. I'm not sure if I'm seeing whitening or if it's my imagination. I can't be bothered disassembling the toy to soak the pieces in an H2O2 bath... but one thing I'm not doing is letting it set in sunlight (but one fear is that, because I'm not coating the entire toy in one go, it might yellow the uncoated parts even more).

So, short of doing the H2O2 bath thing (ceeeebs), should I:
* Put the toy in direct sunlight anyway
* Avoid sunlight, but just keep applying more H2O2
* Or maybe expose the toy to "mild UV", i.e. open the blinds in my TF room (the window faces east, so the western sunlight would be bouncing off opposite buildings and back into the window - so it would be indirect sunlight coming in)?

I guess what I want to know is... is applying H2O2 onto the toy still useful for whitening if it's not being exposed to sunlight (but perhaps less effectual), or is it a complete act of futility? I've only been rubbing the H2O2 in the right upper leg, none of the left. I'll take a photo this evening and post it to see if anyone else can notice any difference between the two sides. I've done about 5 applications so far since yesterday afternoon.

[kup]

Yesterday I bought some H2O2 and have been using cotton tips to rub it into parts of my Fortress Maximus, especially the right upper leg section. I'm not sure if I'm seeing whitening or if it's my imagination. I can't be bothered disassembling the toy to soak the pieces in an H2O2 bath... but one thing I'm not doing is letting it set in sunlight (but one fear is that, because I'm not coating the entire toy in one go, it might yellow the uncoated parts even more).

So, short of doing the H2O2 bath thing (ceeeebs), should I:
* Put the toy in direct sunlight anyway
* Avoid sunlight, but just keep applying more H2O2
* Or maybe expose the toy to "mild UV", i.e. open the blinds in my TF room (the window faces east, so the western sunlight would be bouncing off opposite buildings and back into the window - so it would be indirect sunlight coming in)?

I guess what I want to know is... is applying H2O2 onto the toy still useful for whitening if it's not being exposed to sunlight (but perhaps less effectual), or is it a complete act of futility? I've only been rubbing the H2O2 in the right upper leg, none of the left. I'll take a photo this evening and post it to see if anyone else can notice any difference between the two sides. I've done about 5 applications so far since yesterday afternoon.

Be very careful, Fort Max reacts badly to liquid H202. You will see it go 'lighter' almost right away but it will then begin to break down into a white powdery like surface. All 1987 toys seem to suffer from this. The larger the surface area you 'clear up' the worse it will get.

Here is my experience with it:

http://d343355.u107.fasthit.net/boar...hread.php?t=66

Here is Eruntalon's:

http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=8032

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah... admittedly I just don't have the patience/inclination (and probably lack of skill) to disassemble Fort Max like you guys did. I recently went to liegeprime's place and he showed me how he'd managed to de-yellow some toys by applying H2O2 with cotton tips. I certainly haven't noticed any immediate results... if there have been any results it's been slow coming. I'm just testing it on one part atm, the right upper leg, see how that goes.

So I started yesterday evening and then applied some more this evening, and here's what it looks like so far...

I've only applied H2O2 on the right upper leg, the left one hasn't had any applied at all... it looks like it's starting to get whiter.

[kup]

Yeah... admittedly I just don't have the patience/inclination (and probably lack of skill) to disassemble Fort Max like you guys did. I recently went to liegeprime's place and he showed me how he'd managed to de-yellow some toys by applying H2O2 with cotton tips. I certainly haven't noticed any immediate results... if there have been any results it's been slow coming. I'm just testing it on one part atm, the right upper leg, see how that goes.

So I started yesterday evening and then applied some more this evening, and here's what it looks like so far...

I've only applied H2O2 on the right upper leg, the left one hasn't had any applied at all... it looks like it's starting to get whiter.

Certainly lighter, just watch out for the powdery surface after effect I mentioned.

[GoktimusPrime]

cheers, will do

[liegeprime]

As I told you... apply it and wait for a few days for the effect, mine took like a week. What I did was after 2 days (the applied creme wouldve become semi dry by then) I would wipe off the first applied creme with a wet rag then re apply some more creme then wait 2 more days and do the same. Dont just keep adding creme coz it's be like applying more creme on the creme not on the plastic itself.

[5FDP]

Would it be possible to use teeth whitening paste? It seem to use the same active ingredients. Just curious as I would probably be more comfortable with this than giving a vintage toy a H2O2 bath.

[liegeprime]

It prolly would since it is using H2O2 as well but no one has tested it.. Does it contain nothing else though? Coz there might be other ingredients mixed I that might corrode the plastic.