yellowing the test

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Mon May 26, 2008 1:33 pm

this is a catch up (the story so far lol)
so far whats been treated (before and after)
seacon parts before and after (most notable is the fin ):-

first attempt in the jar (before and after)my mates ratchet
parts been placed into solution

after treatment

note the bubbleing
this is a side by side of ratchet (well top and bottom lol) before and after and again this is after only 48 hours total .

and also the metal front was also steeped with the clear plastic windscreen still fixed, with no damage to the clear plastic ether
in robot mode

seacon feet plates

cyclonus wings (silver) left side wing side wing

and cerebros

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Mon May 26, 2008 1:37 pm

my tests
NOTE:- i was also testing other action figure lines too
started the testing at 3.00p.m, weather was over cast and no sun and wouldnt say it was hot or cold.
these are my test items -
lovely yellowey goodness -

and this is my ratchet (oh boy more brownchet ..or brown hide ?!!)

these photos were taken -
3.00p.m.

3.30p.m

4.30p.m.

5.30p.m.

6.30p.m.

and finaly 8.00p.m.

as you can see by the photos there wasnt much going on and apart from bubbles no change .
at this point 9.30p.m. i didnt take a photo as there realy wasnt any change and i had to call it a night as i had to get the bane to bed, but before i left it for the night i took it into the sitting room and placed on the window ledge as the sun comes up realy early and hits there first.
end of test for the night .
this morning 9.00a.m.
WHAMMMM!!!

yep things changed ...a lot !!.
firstly i will point out a few things
a) the sun is a main factor in the stuff working as you can see in both photos every think which is suposed to be white has turned white, but the stuff out of sight of the sun has just realy slightly turned and not fully changed back.
b0 the jetfire cheast part was suposed to only turn white were the piece was in the solution but infact it all turned white so it looks like as the solution heats up and condences it still works (i had a lid on this at all times to save it from evaporating).
after photos

(i didnt take the ratchets photos yet as ive turned al lthe parts round so the tainted sides gets treated )
the chest piece dosnt realy show it here but it realy is white
this is the head stormtropper

the head has also been placed back in the solution to see if i can get it whiter (again this part was away from sunlight)
decoy

i think its turned the purple a lighter shade (ive never owned a fresh unyellowed one so i carnt tell)?
anyways the tests show it works on other plastics and rubber types (and the rubber still hasnt changed, still bendy)
at the moment ive got the stormtropper head back in the gear so hopefully itll turn a bit more .
ill keep yer posted
next parts (some of the ratchet parts still need a little longer) but take note of the landerd head its finished

i think this is more importent to most of yers though (sorry i too a tf nut)
but the final step for the storm tropper head
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=289g84x&s=3

this is the head in the shade

the photos realy dont show it as well but the head is white and no side effects to the plastic (eg still rubbery too)
landed head

decoy bendy test

please also not this was posted on another site too hence the other figure lines

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Mon May 26, 2008 1:50 pm

now the hows, whats, were and importent the safty bit.
this has been a long time research progect (come hobby) for both my mate and myself, were talking years here and have tryed a number of daft ideas rangeing from bleach to toothpaste and from brasso to vinigar!!

firstly i must repeat:-
this is realy only at test stage this has now been going on for aprrox 3 weeks only so more tests are needed, not only to stop anyone destroying any figures .
also please note use at your own risk .

this is a statment from the lad (my mate) who found this idea:-

HI there i'm new to the boards, but by way of introduction I'm catguts mate, (the one who has been trying out ways of removing the yellowing from figures, in my case transformers). and the suggestion to use this method was given to me by a friend who uses this in labs all the time and stated that it "lightens the colours" on their coloured plastic equipment and therefore may be of use here.

The trial i have been conducting is using a 30% Hydrogen peroxide solution, which can be obtained with a little research on the net (apparently you can get this as a health supllement??)

Anyway i have been soaking the pieces in a glass container and placing this in direct sunlight (ironic i know) , this appears to react with the peroxide causing it to "bleach" the plastics back to their original colours. Unlike conventional bleech this does not appear to cause a brittleness in the plastic after cleaning, however its earlly days yet so use this method at your own risk. The figures i have tried this on were either spares or in dire need of attention.

Now heres the warning part Peroxide is listed as harmful, and so gloves and care should be used when working with this stuff, the contact times vary depending on the plastic and the level of yellowing seen.

If you spill this on skin rinse immediately with plenty of water, the skin will turn white but should return to normal after about 30 to 60 minutes and is associated with a pins and needles type of sensation which lasts for about 10 minutes.

Again use this material and method at your own risk,so far i have had success with all of the figures i have tried this on but i am only trying it on hard - not waxy or rubbery- plastics so the effect on these is currnetly untried.

I'll keep forwarding pics as time and the trial goes by but so far its looking promising.

this also contains the infomation which you need to try this out
also ready my test above to find out the follow up tests which i did and my results.

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Mon May 26, 2008 2:03 pm

and heres the news yer been waiting for were to get this stuff
this link is for the usa posters -
(these are larger amounts and maybe better to get in a group)

http://www.purewaterworksinc.com/prices.htm

were useing food grade (mine is 35%)

u.k. posters -

http://www.reagent.co.uk/hydrogen-perox ... s-lrg.html

this is only 27.5% but shold do the job.
but this site can suply 100ml bottles of 35% stuff

www.healthleadsuk.com

http://www.healthleadsuk.com/supplement ... 100ml.html

but remember buy and use at your own risk.

Dinobot · Post by **Dinobot** » Mon May 26, 2008 7:31 pm

In the description that you offered, the peroxide is 30 %. Do you have to mix it with another solution? I looked at the pricing of the place linked, and that is just too expensive, but in your other post it was way cheaper. Is there another way to get it cheaper than the place linked? My cerebros is in the same shape as yours was.

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Mon May 26, 2008 8:14 pm

Just do a Google seach for 35% hydrogen perioxide. I found at least 10 different online dealers. Shipping the stuff is a little pricey...USPS and UPS won't touch the stuff...so there is an additional hazmat charge from most places. I'm going to check some of the local health food places as H202 is used for "medicinal purposes".
This sounds totally feasable as a whitener....one of the main ingredients in that OXI-clean laundry detergent that is on TV all the time.

I'm gonna give it a shot on a few of my discolored seacons.

Post by **Time Traveller** » Mon May 26, 2008 11:53 pm

The medical stuff (used for sanitizing wounds) is 3% concentration, we have some here. i kinda doubt it's strong enough to do the trick.

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Tue May 27, 2008 3:11 am

try home and barrets (thinks thats the name) but also try health stores too,
the stuff my mate used is 30% but the type im useing is the 35% food grede (it comes and is used in concentrated form) all you do is place it in a jar and pop the items in (lol the jar im useing is a coffee jar).
the bottle size which i got is only 100ml but it gos a long way but the links above are only for examples of places to find em (hot shots right goggle it theres loads of places out there) also that quantity is massive so the best idea would be to buy in a group if you were to buy this much (5gals would probely turn off before youd use it all, also id recommend not haveing that much in the home at one time, but again the links provided are only a guide to what to look for),
this stuff is used in all sorts of things from food to cleaning and from hair dye to medical.
time traveller i know on the other site a guy has tryed the 3% stuff and yes it dose work but takes a lot longer (hes useing it on a mask vehicle)
im not sure if theres a healthleads in the usa ? but thats the place mine came from and thay deliver pritty quick .
hot shot the seacons come up a treat when complete
i forgot to post the final photos of them !!
also to give a guide to how good and how little youll need of this stuff , ill get a list of the bots which has been done off my mate (hes been running the test longer) as he to has only been getting the 100ml bottles as well.
300ml so far has done -
ratchet
cerebros
tentakil
jawbreaker
skalor
both arm ramps off fort max
starscream wing (all 6)
cyclonus wing tips
jawbreaker gun
the car off typiticon
and a host of scrap test parts
plus the solotion is still working too

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Tue May 27, 2008 3:30 am

give these a try
http://www.pureh2o2forhealth.com/
lol you can even pay with paypal (the 1 pint version is $12.32 this is more than 4 times the size of the ones were useing )

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Tue May 27, 2008 4:04 am

seacons done so far

if you look at the photos above jawbreaker was on of the first to be tested, also note the whiteing on the top, this was due to him been left steeping to long, but if you keep an eye on it (also recommended for any darker plastic colour) this wont happen.
i would recommend keep checking every 30min. just to be sure, if you think the parts clean take it out ,steep it in cold water for about 30mins and check it, if it still needs longer just repeat until done.

also i would like to add, please please above all else just be careful in useing this stuff, it works a treat and dose the job, but at all times be careful as it can be very harmful too.

Ramjet · Post by **Ramjet** » Tue May 27, 2008 9:35 am

Time Traveller wrote:The medical stuff (used for sanitizing wounds) is 3% concentration, we have some here. i kinda doubt it's strong enough to do the trick.

A guy on another board tried the 3%. I think he said it was working, just takes forever.

Post by **Time Traveller** » Tue May 27, 2008 12:17 pm

How'd you get the seacons done without bleaching the decals to smithereens? or did you replace them with reprolabels?

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Tue May 27, 2008 1:43 pm

strange as it sounds the stickers have also been treated too, most stickers are fine and as long as you dont touch the sticker when you take the part out and allow to dry off (after takeing the part out of the soloution you must soak it in cold water, i normaly do this for 30mins. the take it out of the water and place on a board ) by itself (normaly therell still be a few drops but if you pat dry the part it should be fine).
the only stickers so far which dosnt stand up well to the treatment is the paper type ones , especialy the ones also heavy yellowed (aka ratchets red strips) also the foil type stickers seem fine.
if you get some electirc spary (recol is good) you can take the stickers off before, but spraying the sticker then use a craft knife to lift an edge, then use flat end twezzers to slowly lift the sticker off , if it starts to stick, spray again and keep repeating until off, have a sheet of plastic (like a c.d. cover and stick the sticker on there until your ready to put it back on the figure (useing the electic spray keeps the glue sticky).
haveing sayed that lol get a set of repo sticker to make it minty again.
the sticker sheets for these seacons are in the post as we speak so he just poped em in the stuff without removeing the sticker.
hope this helps

and yep ramjets right, i was speaking tto the lad last night and he said it was slowly changeing, also found out this stuff he was useing was a paste and he mixed it with water, seems to work but again takes longer

Hot Shot · Post by **Hot Shot** » Wed May 28, 2008 12:38 am

Catgut....have you tried it on any parts that have any chome pieces attached? I was wondering if it would have any ill affects on chrome.
I have a silverbolt that the wings are yellowed but I don't want to remove the hinge pins to take them off.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Wed May 28, 2008 3:39 am

this is awesomely amazing good Cat gut. nice work

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:53 am

cheers cliffjumper many thanks
hot shot this is a funny question to answer .
i was warned that the effects on metals may corrode it but on an metels ive tested so far its had ether no effect or a postive effect (i put a realy bad brainstorm head in the stuff, which has a pin though the legs, very heavey rusted, also yellow down 1 side)
heres the results (i did take a before photo of this and other parts but when itransferd em to the comp, it crashed and i lost em

)
but if you look close to the rusted top, you can see it was so heavey it even stained the plastic around

as you can see the metal is starting to show though and the rust is going

this is him finished (the arm was broken along time ago, so i though id use it to test the colours)
also ratchets front plate and feet plates are both metal
heres a close up of the metal from both bits after treatment

(the paint was chipped before been treated so the metal was exposde to the soloution, also that head stick was also still on the plastic and treated too)

these are wing pins from a silverbolt (i took them out when i read your post).
anyways i have now got one of the pins in the soloution testing for you, its been in there about 3hours so far, but ill keep it in over night to see how it reacts.
i think if the metal is good quality (eg the pins and plates) it seems to be fine, but some times the screws are a cheaper metal quality and my well corroude.
also i wil ladd this update from the other site (contains some tfs).
also it has a full view of the ratchet robot.
oh should add the chome plastic bits were also treated with no ill effects.
this is the next batch done, also apart from a gundam action figure i think its all i have (yellowed) which i can do.

close up on blue rubber fake robot
before

after

no signs of any change to the plastic, bar the yellowing going
this is the skullgrin sword and the gundam small figure before

gundam now

sword (heavey yellowed 1)

i did a close up to show the liver spots now, that havent totaly gone but much better than before, after a few more treatments these may go
block man figure close up
[IMG]http://i26.tinypic.com/r0762v.jpg[/IMG

Post by **Time Traveller** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:35 am

Hm. I was going to ask about the "liver spots''

on pretender grey rubber pieces (Skullgrin, Waverider, etc...) but you answered my question.

Ramjet · Post by **Ramjet** » Wed May 28, 2008 10:48 am

Wow, I wonder if that would work on a Thundercats Pumyra?!?

Catilla · Post by **Catilla** » Wed May 28, 2008 11:14 am

lol no problem T.T. im trying any think i can think of (also any lines which i have yellowed figures from for the other sites too).
with this sword i keeped a close eye on it until the colour came back to as close as normal as i could, its posable it might even get it to go away even more, but if its in to long the liver spots turn white, but even at the leave its at i think it looks 100% better than brown and black

(i dont think itll ever get 100% back to normal but 90% to 95% a lot better )
ramjet mate, its posable that it would do the trick for this plastic also , so far any rubber or plastic types ive tryed its worked, i would try one out for you but sorry to say i dont have a thunder cat figure here , humm is the thunder tank plastic the same ? even the red seat (think thats a little softer plastic than the shell?.
if it is let me know and ill hack a bit off and try it for yer.
hot shot ,pin is still in and so far no change

Ramjet · Post by **Ramjet** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:00 pm

I think the figure plastic is softer. I'm gonna dunk a Storm Shadow once I get me some of the 'juice'.