Cleaning clear plastic

[duck]

I salvaged some small, wood and plastic display boxes from my parents house. They spent years exposed to dust and heavy kerosine soot. I disassembled them and scrubbed them with dawn dish soap and sanitizers. The clear plastic is still discolored. Any tips on how to remove the discoloration?

Edited June 17, 2018 by duck

[southwestforests]

Could be the plastic itself which is discolored from chemical reactions within it.

Clear and white plastics are notorious for that: even the white plastic of unbuilt Monogram/Revell 1/72 Shuttle kit which has sat in the dark in the closet for something like 15 years has discolored.

Also will happen to white enamel paints and to clear lacquers.

[11bee]

If it's surficial, you can sand and polish it away.  If it's through the full thickness, not much you can do. 

[Slartibartfast]

Maybe try the U.V. trick that fixes yellowed decals?

[Steven H. McLain]

I have had a lot of success with products called "Novis Plastic Polish".  It comes in three different types, coarse, medium and fine.  Fine is what I've used for models.  We used to clean our lightbars with it.  The sun crazes and hazes clear and colored plastics.  It worked wonders for lightbars.

[Jonathan S]

If you are having a yellowed plastic, try Googling peoples solution to fixing yellowed/discolored Lego bricks.  This might work here.

Edited June 13, 2018 by Jonathan S

[duck]

Thanks for the tips. Between school work, going through the sruff i salavged from the house and everything else, i hope to try some of these before the months out. I’ll update with results.