Yep, I have some questions about yellowing that I hope you guys can answer! Here we go... What is yellowing (exactly)? How can I prevent it? Can it happen to my Classics/Movie/KRE-O figures? EX: Classics Ultra Magnus, can/will he yellow? Thanks for helping! Just trying to prevent something like this from happening:
All toys eventually discolour. There is (from what I know) no known way of preventing it. Some say to keep the toys out of direct sunlight but others say that did not stop them from discolouring.
There may not be a way of preventing it completely, but you can delay the inevitable at least by keeping them out of direct sunlight and extreme heat. I used to live in Vegas, and several of my figures suffered for it.
A follow-up question: Is there any way to "fix" discoloration like this? I have a few TF's that have been exposed to direct sunlight and changed colors, is there anyway that I can change them back?
Could I keep it from happening by keeping my figures in a dark room with no windows thats only illuminated with artificial light?
Here's a picture of a G1 Jetfire I restored two years ago using the peroxide method. The leg on the left had not been restored (the right half of the left leg is die-cast), while the leg on the right had been restored.
Yes, it really does work. Here's a I Snapdragon I did as well -- main body soaked in 20% H202 with sunlight vs the arms that had not. I know we have a few threads about it if you dig around -- like this one: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-toy-discussion/197984-yellowing-problems-might-help.html
Speaking of which, does anyone have experiences with artificial lights doing damage? Like, I have a Ben-10 figure that I believe is mostly white Vinyl, and it seems that he might start living under my bedlamp due to space constraints, but I'm kinda worried about ruining him. I never have that thing on for longer than maybe 5 minutes at a time, but I still thought I'd ask.
Yellowing is just the result of the plastic aging. Regardless of what you do it will happen eventually to any and all plastics. Direct sunlight or other strong UV light will speed it up, as will storage in a place with strong changes in temperature and humidity. Basically the bonds in the plastic start to break down overtime and the chemicals making up the polymer start to separate. Depending on the plastic's composition the result is of age is the brittleness problem in the old Gold plastic Hasbro used, the sticky feel that the Monstructor shells and other rubbery plastics get, and of course different degrees of yellowing. Keep the figures out of direct sunlight, try to keep them at an even and comfortable temperature and humidity level and you should have years of enjoyment with your collection. Better technology and newer materials should give a longer shelf live to modern TFs, but they need the same level of care. Just keep in mind that these are toys and Hasbro never intended for them to become collectibles that people would be hording twenty and thirty years later.
Thanks for the reply, and I've had pretty good luck with things so far couse I don't keep toys in toilets, etc, so...
I has my Star Wars StormTroopers in storage, away from any light exposure and they still yellowed. On the other hand some of my other figures such as Star Wars Snow Troopers displayed outside still in pristine white condition. Recently, I managed to get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and soaked the yellowed figures into them. The first time I did it, there was noticeable improvement. The second time i did it, I exposed the toys to sunlight. I recalled reading somewhere that the UV lights will cause a reaction to whiten the plastic. No idea if this is true? Anyway, mine was 3% hydrogen peroxide.
