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1/48 Revell B-1B yellowed plastic....


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I decided to build my 1/48 Revell B-1B kit from 1983.
195054-13330-52-pristine.jpg

Because of the age of the kit (39 years) the original white plastic trees/sprues/parts have yellowed considerably. I need to fix this.

I saw this video that shows how using 3% Hydrogen Peroxide removes "most" of the yellowing.

Fixing Yellowed Parts...

My question is has anyone used 3% (or stronger) hydrogen peroxide to remove "yellowed" plastic before?
Do the parts have to be in the sun for this to work? Someone mentioned in the comments section of the video that you don't need (UV) sun, but heat(?)

Has anyone tried this method to restore the original plastic color?

Thanks for your help.

Scott
CNJC-IPMS

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Sorry, I should have been more specific.

The kits plastic is (was) white, that has now turned yellow with age.

I plan on painting the model white (prototype). I need to bleach the yellowed colored plastic back to it's original white color.

I know I can just prime it with white and all, but that is just another step I don't want to do. Having the white plastic will help with the white paint coverage. It's just easier that way.

The video I posted says it should work, but has anyone here tried to do this with white plastic that has yellowed with age?

Scott
CNJC-IPMS

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Trying to bleach that plastic back to white is going to be chancy at best. Might not even work. That's an extra step you don't want to take. It is far from easier this way!!

 

What you want to do is get a spray can of Tamiya Fine Whte Primer and shoot it right out of the can. It lays down beautifully and the model is white. It is a great base for any white you put over it. Done in no time at all. It is just easier this way.  Keep it simple.

 

Bob

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I think I will do a test with a piece of the kits tree/sprue to see if the plastic holds up in 3% HP. I won't try it with the kits parts until I know what will happen.

I'm not sure how brittle the plastic is. It sands easily with no problems or cracking. Liquid cement works OK on it. It looks like the old plastic is stable enough to try the HP test.

Scott
CNJC-IPMS

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11 hours ago, scotthldr said:

Seems a hell of a lot more hassle with an unknown outcome to bleach the plastic, rather than just prime it🤷‍♂️

 

9 hours ago, jonwinn said:

I use Tamiya white primer all the time. It works most excellent. What sense is there in bleaching plastic when all you have to do is prime and paint?

 

This!!  What would you do if the kit plastic was grey?  Prime it and paint!!

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I’m curious on what would happen to any plastic kit soaked in bleach, would it alter the qualities of the polystyrene, would it etch it or slowly dissolve it over time, would it become brittle etc etc ……🤷‍♂️

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah I guess your right. The plastic is old and yellowed. No telling what the  HP would do to it. Might make it more brittle...

 

It looks like I have to invest in LOTS of white primer...

 

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

Scott

CNJC-IPMS

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To me no matter what color the plastic is I am going to prime it, I built this when the kit came out back in the day but do not remember much about the kit, with that said, you are going to need to clean up any seams and so on anyway.  This is going to be a big hunk of plastic when assembled so surface finish and preparation is going to be far more important than yellowing of the plastic.  

 

This build by the time you work out all the finish issues may need several coats of primer.  Personally I have been working on a 1/32 Tamiya Mustang, the wings are covered in surface detail, most of which was typically puttied and primed over, to get a reasonably filled finish took me something like three coats of priming and filling to get to where I was satisfied with the result.  Primer can be one and done but does not have to be and sprayed thin is a useful tool in surface preparation and curing of surface defects including color.

 

For me I am starting with a primer that is going to show me how much work is needed on the seems, maybe even gunze mr surfaces black 1500, that is kind of my standard starting point.  Because you are going white surface, I would not even worry about the white primer until I was happy with the surface finish of the model, no seems ghost seems etc.  Once all that is done I would prime it Mr. Surfacer white 1500 or tamiya ultra fine white from a rattle can.  However 99% of the time anymore I prefer my own mix of mr surfacer and leveling thinner, I was a Tamiya spray primer user but every once in a while I would get a bad result so I normally shoot primer myself.  So yellowed plastic would not bother me, to the point that it would have never occurred to me to worry about the plastic yellowing with age.  

Edited by Cbk57
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  • 4 weeks later...

Check out the RetroBright process for restoring yellowed plastic. They use it on old toys a lot. Basically it involves high-powered hydrogen peroxide, like 12%, and they also hit it with UV lights. That helps bleach the plastic back to white. You could use sunlight as your UV source, or blacklights. Sunlight will take longer, but it's free.

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Man, just prime it with Mr. Surfacer White...in fact, don't even think of it as "primer"...that is your white base. Couple of coats of it, then shoot a very thinned out coat of Tamiya Gloss White over it. That is my go to method of painting any overall white aircraft.

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