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How does one properly clean and restore parts? (Yellowing/Residue)


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Hello there all, this is the first forum topic I start. I've read everything, so I hope I'm doing this right.

Background:

Anyhow, I just unearthed my shoe box, containing memories of a Biological Chronicle. My shoebox includes two MOCs of mine that I mish-mashed many years of parts together, and the last three Bionicle sets that I did not disassemble for MOCing during its sunset years of '09-'10.

As expected with the 11 years that passed, there was dust but also some unknown residue on the Mahri/Phantoka visors and the feet of my remaining sets and parts. I still haven't unearthed the giant box of parts in my upper closet, which may contain even more residue and other unknown oddities that latched themselves onto the parts during its storage (It is also worth noting that during the storage of these Toa, some parts have loosened considerably while some like Mata Nui's legs have become extremely stiff).

As expected with some of the white pieces, they have yellowed over time, for example, Pridak's salvaged arms and Mahri Matoro's legs on my MOC. It reminds me of some of the SNES's that stood the test of time and they have become yellow over the years. I realize that this is inevitable with the plastic.

The fire that is my passion for Bionicle has never died out as the years passed and it was only recently that I dived into the community. As I matured, it was then that I realized the importance of properly caring for the sets and pieces.

[TL;DR] My question-starter:

I'm curious about how those in the community have properly cleaned and restored their sets/parts, what did you use? What was your fail safe and what are some things to avoid? How did you do so that didn't damage the parts and sets? How does one tackle the yellowing of certain parts when restoring sets? (amazingly Pridak's spikes and his arms are still snow-white! incredible haha)

I'm excited to see the responses to this, as this is my first time starting something. :)

 

Many thanks! Take care.

Example of my yellowing situation vvvv

yellow.thumb.jpg.87091e1ef0da88c1cf787fb566930121.jpg

Edited by TakuaTheChronicler
Forgot to add an image example.
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For  white pieces, a mechanical tooth brush rubbing in a mix of Dawn soap and baking soda; rinse over water. Its not perfect, and there is a hyrdogen peroxide method that is stronger; but I find the baking soda/Dawn worked well enough for my needs cleaning off some yellow stains I had struggled to remove for months. I don't know if it is safe for transparent plastics though (the baking soda kind of acts like "grit" to lift up the yellow stain, and while it is ABS safe I can't vouch for it on other plastics especially transparent ones). 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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Yup, these are great tips! I think Eljay has a video out there somewhere as well for cleaning parts

edit: found it! 

 

Edited by Humble_Matoran
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:exclamation:currently searching for ANY Gray Plastic Krana Kal (GPKK):exclamation: If you were a member of Proto-squad, or know someone who was, please feel free to get in contact with me

 

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Do these cleaning methods also work for parts with printed detailing on them? My Saturn V set has had some of the white parts (including the ones with red letters and the American flag on them) get slightly discolored from being placed near a window for the last few years, so it would be nice to know if I can restore them back to the original white color without having to worry about risking damage to any of the printed detailing.

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Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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43 minutes ago, Chronicler06 said:

Do these cleaning methods also work for parts with printed detailing on them? My Saturn V set has had some of the white parts (including the ones with red letters and the American flag on them) get slightly discolored from being placed near a window for the last few years, so it would be nice to know if I can restore them back to the original white color without having to worry about risking damage to any of the printed detailing.

I kind of imagine with stickered parts that you could possibly do something to remove the stickers safely and then re-adhere them after the process is complete. I personally haven't done this, but I know there is a way to remove and re-adhere stickers safely. I'll look around and see if I can't find a video.

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42 minutes ago, Max Nui said:

I kind of imagine with stickered parts that you could possibly do something to remove the stickers safely and then re-adhere them after the process is complete. I personally haven't done this, but I know there is a way to remove and re-adhere stickers safely. I'll look around and see if I can't find a video.

The Saturn V is all printed pieces, not stickers. Since the set is being re-released it might be easier to buy new parts from Lego's customer support.

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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If it's really dusty use high pressure settings in your bath or like washing dishes. Large titan sets might need taking apart in sections to really get into the grimy stuff like inside Axonn, Bahrag gears or a toa mata gear box. But don't use a dishwasher machine. The heat for drying might cause plastic warping out of shape.

For white sets and noticeably affected suntanned sets turning yellow you need liquid hydrogen peroxide since the problem is deep in the plastic. Plastic yellowing is not outside dirt or dust. Just a heads up hydrogen peroxide is nasty if not handled properly. You need gloves, a ventilated mask safety goggles and a ventilated area.

Edited by (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-)
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On 4/3/2021 at 10:25 PM, Xboxtravis said:

The Saturn V is all printed pieces, not stickers. Since the set is being re-released it might be easier to buy new parts from Lego's customer support.

The issue is practically all of the white pieces in the set (or at least the half that have been facing the window after the last few years) so you're suggesting that I might as well purchase the whole set all over again. I'd rather not do that, as I'm interested in getting the Space Shuttle set that just came out. (While I am capable of affording purchasing both, I'd prefer to not spend another $120 on something that I already have.)

Besides, my question still hasn't been properly answered. Do these cleaning methods (specifically the one that uses hydrogen peroxide) work on printed parts without risking damage to the printed detailing?

Edited by Chronicler06
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Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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On 4/5/2021 at 6:18 PM, (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-) said:

But don't use a dishwasher machine. The heat for drying might cause plastic warping out of shape.

I smell a lesson learned through experience here:P

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:exclamation:currently searching for ANY Gray Plastic Krana Kal (GPKK):exclamation: If you were a member of Proto-squad, or know someone who was, please feel free to get in contact with me

 

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On 4/5/2021 at 7:48 PM, Chronicler06 said:

The issue is practically all of the white pieces in the set (or at least the half that have been facing the window after the last few years) so you're suggesting that I might as well purchase the whole set all over again. I'd rather not do that, as I'm interested in getting the Space Shuttle set that just came out. (While I am capable of affording purchasing both, I'd prefer to not spend another $120 on something that I already have.)

Besides, my question still hasn't been properly answered. Do these cleaning methods (specifically the one that uses hydrogen peroxide) work on printed parts without risking damage to the printed detailing?

Go to Bricks and Pieces, look up set #92176 or set #21309, you can ask Lego customer service for replacements for the printed parts. Then you can replace the printed parts with fresh pieces, then use the methods above to clean the rest of the rocket body up to match the fresh parts. https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/replacementparts/broken/location

Personally though I would be tempted to buy a second Saturn V (totally not because I want to do that to create a Saturn V in Skylab configuration and a Saturn 1B to accompany it... no of course not :P)

52641688958_d61c0bc049_w(1).jpg.c0871df0de376218d7ca2bc4f409e17d.jpg

All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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