Getting rid of yellowing?

[PGowdy]

Great results Steve. The one in the middle is as white as new (except the dodgy black paint).

 

[Oto]

Hmm a clever lighting trick and photoshop?

 

[Stargeezer]

Hmm a clever lighting trick and photoshop?

No, peroxide actuallly works and it's also used on other hobbies (like vintage game console collectors use this aswell).

Only thing is, this is something that many collectors consider tampering with the original figure, that why the OP said he would mark them.

But yeah i've tried this aswell and it definitly works.

 

[plantman]

Looks very good, i wonder if this makes them more likely to dicolour again? like taking the enamel off teeth ect, the protective outer coating.

 

[Imperial nut]

As my theory above suggests the cause is heat and exposure to dust and other particles.
But you might have a point about the re-yellowing but the reaction does not seem to remove any layers of the plastic but chemically sucks (technical term) the disclouration from the pores of the plastic or more accurately from the molecular structure. From what I have recently read on polymers and separately hydrogen peroxide this seems to be the most likely thing goon on

 

[poncho]

Mr imperial Nut Sir! I tip my hat to you!

 

[Imperial nut]

Mr imperial Nut Sir! I tip my hat to you!

hah thanks ,, i admit i had a little anorakky moment as i am one of those kids who kept asking why???? so when i look something up i go all nuts.


Anyway just came back fro a trip that should have been 4 days but ended up as 6 and i remembered somewhere halfway down a river in slovenia,, " ahh crap the troopers are in the peroxide for 6 days"

cue girlfriend breaking her ass laughing and telling me i will have to pour the out when i get back,,,, well no.
they are fine after a 6 day soak.

pics up later

 

[DarthSwales]

This looks like it does a fantastic job! I think ifI ever do acquire some horribly yellow figures/vehicles then I will try this method.

 

[greedodidntshoot]

Very interesting. I look forward to the results of the test... Excellent idea for a posted experiment.

 

[av6]

I've tried this on a spare slightly yellowed 8D8 figure that I have. The body of the figure is as white as the day he was made, but the limbs and head had yellowed.
I put him in 6%, 20 vol, Hydrogen Peroxide and within a few hours I could see the difference. It's said that the sun can play a big part in reversing the yellowing effect, but as it was late evening (and no sun), it's just been the peroxide at work.

It's a great trick to get figures back to their former glory, but as it's already been mentioned, it won't be long before the ebay crooks catch on. I can see the quotes now in EVERY crooked sellers listing....

I can GUARANTEE that these figures HAVE NOT been dipped in Hydrogen Peroxide or Retrobright.

 

[Joe]

I won't lie, I find the fact that people are supporting all this quite wrong really, by doing these experiments and writing up detailed reports of it all you are giving people a how to guide which I am almost certain will be used to rip someone off.

I am also still a firm believer that this is doing something to the plastic that can't be undone and in time we will see I guess.

Odd really that certain people can be against touch ups yet are all for dunking figures in cocktails of chemicals to turn them white again..

Edit- Steve my grumble about the thread is not entirely aimed at you, I know you are a good bloke and there are a load of these threads out there so it's just a general :evil: moment than anything personal.

 

[Chewie]

I don't actually see anything wrong with it, in reading this thread it would seem you are just basically opening back up the pores of the plastic and cleaning out the dirt and grime that has gathered there.....I know it is peroxide but it seems to be just cleaning out the dirt and not bleaching as it doesn't affect any of the paint.

I hate repro's and I wouldn't have a touch up figure! But i'd have one that has been cleaned to remove the dirt. Like i said i don't anything wrong with it but thats just me.

 

[Joe]

I don't honestly think this as simple as comparing it to cleaning up the figure, this is not taking a baby wipe to a figure with some mud on it, discolouration is not caused by a figure being dirty, the plastic has changed due to the elements or age.

People who have done this experiment have been honest and said the yellowing comes back and the figures can need more treatments, if it was just a bit of dirt it would be gone for good IMO.

Time will tell with regard to what it's actually doing to the figures but even if we were to make a crude comparison with regard to bleaching hair, bleach strips the natural colour of the hair, if you bleach hair too much it can damage it so much it will fall out..

I honestly don't think it takes a degree to work out this is doing something to the plastic that can't be undone.

 

[Chewie]

I'm just going off this bud :wink:

As my theory above suggests the cause is heat and exposure to dust and other particles.
But you might have a point about the re-yellowing but the reaction does not seem to remove any layers of the plastic but chemically sucks (technical term) the disclouration from the pores of the plastic or more accurately from the molecular structure. From what I have recently read on polymers and separately hydrogen peroxide this seems to be the most likely thing goon on

discolouration is not caused by a figure being dirty, the plastic has changed due to the elements or age.

I actually think the discolouration is because the figure is dirty.

Have a read of this.....http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

Thats just my opinion though :wink:

 

[av6]

I see both sides of the arguement, TBH. At the end of the day though and me being me, I was willing to give it a try to satisfy my own curious nature.

I personally don't see the problem with it as long as there's no real damage made over time. It's down to the individual that wishes to try it. No one held a gun to my head. Reading about others that have used the method (and used additional ingredients), it SEEMS to be perfectly safe with no reports of damage down the line. What I have read though is some people have overdone it with the percentage of peroxide used and have experienced kind of white spot damage to plastic. This being used on retro style computers that have yellowed badly with time. The way I see that is, too much is like not enough. I've also seen some methods used just right and these things made too look like brand new.

 

[Joe]

Actually yellowing is most likely to come about from bad storage conditions or exposure to the elements, like leaving a figure in the sun or half buried in the ground or sand box, a bit of mud or dust won't turn a figure yellow.

Figures break down and react to other plastics as well so keeping them in plastic bags with no air holes and in a sealed container for example may result in yellowing, those figures are not dirty- they are degraded due to the plastic breaking down or reacting with other things.

Edit- I once put my mint han carbonite figure face down in his carbonite block, sealed him up in a zip lock for storing while I moved a million miles away from home, 2 years later his torso was completely yellow yet only the front! To me that says it all, the plastic of the block and the figure reacted in an environment with little to no air and the result was yellowing. The back of the figure was like new and like it was when I put it away..

Second Edit- :lol: - What about figures that have discoloured in the bubble? Torsos and limbs that are completely different colours, that's not dirt if the figure was sealed is it?

 

[av6]

Here's another example of someone using the 6%, 20 Vol, Hydrogen Peroxide (Neat) method. On appearance it only seems to attack the desired area and not damage the enamled/glossy effect of the white plastic. Whether or not this maybe something that will now deteriorate over time remains to be seen, but no reports as yet.

 

[shawn_k]

Whenever this topic comes up, I like to point to this article on why plastics yellow. I know most have read it already, but for those that haven't read it, it is worth the read which goes into the chemistry behind it all. I think if anyone was to sell a figure using this method, that they should be marked just as anyone else would want a repro marked. We have no idea what will happen to these figures in say another 10 years. They very well could look worse than the yellowing they show now.

 

[PGowdy]

I agree one should disclose that they have bleached a figure before selling. 100%. I also don't think it would bother most buyers. I'd pay a lot more for a bleached Stormtrooper than a heavily yellowed fit for the bin Stormtrooper. Time, it seems, has already damaged a yellowed figure so i pretty much don't care what happens to it in 10 years because of bleaching. I personally can't see it doing much more harm, and there certainly isn't any proof of it, than time itself. Just my opinion tho.

 

[Joe]

Time, it seems, has already damaged a yellowed figure so i pretty much don't care what happens to it in 10 years because of bleaching. I personally can't see it doing much more harm, and there certainly isn't any proof of it, than time itself. Just my opinion tho.

While I agree to an extent that a degraded figure itself has been damaged perhaps beyond repair (time will tell) your post doesn't make much sense when coupled with this -

I'd pay a lot more for a bleached Stormtrooper than a heavily yellowed fit for the bin Stormtrooper.

So, you wouldn't honestly care about something you paid MORE for? If people were giving these stormtroopers away for free I could see where you are coming from, but you can't spend good money on something that has been bleached and then not care what the future outcome might be! If you are that happy with throwing money away you know where I am! :lol:

And that is where the problem lies, people will pay more for a pure white Stormy over a yellowed one, so if they have been bleached they need to be marked and the buyers need to be aware.

The equivalent is someone doing a really good reseal of a rare MOC and selling it to you for a decent chunk of change as an original seal. It's been tampered with so it needs marking as such and not sold for more money than what it's actually worth.