Peroxide treatment tip for stickers

subzero

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I used peroxide cream on the head of my AT-ST last month and was a little impatient to get it done, I stupidly covered the original stickers up with selotape and after I took the part out the bag the cream had got underneath the tape and soaked the stickers and then the tape pulled off the stickers ( lesson learnt ). So this time iv'e tried using Vallejo liquid mask which I used to use a while back for masking areas off on models for painting, you just paint it on as a liquid and it quickly dries into a latex to fully seal & protect the area, and then easily peels back off.

This has worked a treat on my AT-AT canopy and the stickers have been perfectly preserved during the peroxide treatment, just a little handy tip iv'e discovered that I thought i'd share for other guys on here looking to use peroxide.



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pizzathehutt

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anyone remember when someone on here bought a really yellowed imperial shuttle and tried to get it white again and just ended up with a melted load of plastic?
 

subzero

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pizzathehutt said:
anyone remember when someone on here bought a really yellowed imperial shuttle and tried to get it white again and just ended up with a melted load of plastic?

Wow, really? :?

Iv'e had nothing but success with all my peroxide treatments so far, is this the reason for the 'no love' for peroxide on here?

I thought his was supposed to be safe!
 

subzero

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I prefer to restore something back to it's original condition as long as the original parts are all there, repro parts & stickers is an obvious no no for me but I wouldn't have thought collectors would feel as strong for a simple colour restoration :?

But that's all fair enough, each to their own I suppose.
 

peekaygee73

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What concerns people is the long term effect of using hydrogen peroxide on plastic.

I'm no chemist, but my understanding is the plastic has already been damaged and discoloured through photodegredation, and the hydrogen peroxide attacks the yellow pigment before attacking the colouring of the original dye in the plastic. Generally any changes in colour attained using hydrogen peroxide are short-lived, so you'd have to keep using it which can (and as has been mentioned above does) cause further damage to the plastic.
 

subzero

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peekaygee73 said:
What concerns people is the long term effect of using hydrogen peroxide on plastic.

I'm no chemist, but my understanding is the plastic has already been damaged and discoloured through photodegredation, and the hydrogen peroxide attacks the yellow pigment before attacking the colouring of the original dye in the plastic. Generally any changes in colour attained using hydrogen peroxide are short-lived, so you'd have to keep using it which can (and as has been mentioned above does) cause further damage to the plastic.


Thanks for letting me know about this, it's news to me, i'll be using no more peroxide on my toys from now on if that's the case. I knew the plastic can go back to yellow again and had to re-do the treatment again in future, but thought it was fine on the plastic and didn't know about the severity of the damage :shock:
 

SublevelStudios

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Yes, peroxide treatments are a 'quick fix' - there is long time damage to the plastics so you actually end up speeding the process of degeneration up instead of halting it.

There are plenty of people who support this method but it's not one I recommend. Imagine buying a lovely white crisp Stormtrooper and paying a premium because of it's condition, only to find out it's been treated with chemicals to enhance it's appearance - as bad as repros IMO.

Restoring toys using original parts and good clean ups is great fun, but if you are looking for mint or unyellowed examples, there are plenty out there.
 

subzero

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Would've been nice if the guy in the youtube vid I watched mentioned all this in his peroxide vid lol, well this will be the last time I ever use this treatment.

Now iv'e already done this on my toys how long do you estimate for the yellowing to return back, months?.. years?
 

ScruffyLookingNH

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Subzero, whilst I understand where everyone is coming from in the anti-peroxide thing and I have had it explained by none other than our resident mad scientist, Prof. Lee Bullock (don't argue with that man; he eats Phal's because he likes them) I have just bought the yellowest shuttle known to mankind and will be trying out some peroxide on it. Was wondering how to keep the stickers alive so thanks for the top tip.

If anyone wonders what shade of yellow it is, go and look at your Bossk. I'm talking the colour of his head and limbs here, not his jumpsuit.

Yes, it may end up in a melted mess but what's been lost? A toy that is probably useful for parts only. I wouldn't throw it in the bin so why not try this.
 

subzero

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No problem glad to be of help, haha luckily the yellowed parts on my AT-ST and AT-AT aren't as yellow as Bossk's arms :lol: , but they are slightly yellowed to the point where it catches my eye and it's a bad thing for me because i'm a bit of a perfectionist and I very easily notice the tiniest flaws in things. But when they eventually do go back to the slight yellow they were at then at least I can live with it as they're not actually bad at all.

I wouldn't want to further risk damaging the plastic now anyway, I think i'd be gutted if that happened.

Let me know how you get on using the liquid mask or if it turns into a steaming blob lol, FYI when you paint it on make sure to paint over the edges of the stickers by at least 1mm onto the plastic all around the edges, otherwise you'd have peroxide seeping into the edge of the stickers underneath the latex.
 

Mini99

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The use of Peroxide was covered with much else on the subject of plastics in a "Vintage Rebellion " pod cast, possibly number 24 or 25.
If you have not listened to this Interview with Lee Bullock I would really recommend it to you, as he is, as already been mentioned is a scientist in this field!
I suspect that you possibly won't be in a hurry to use this chemical again. :(
 

Robstyley

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I would never use any chemicals on my vintage toys. A little warm water or extra mild baby wipe is the most I use for cleaning. Not a fan of dicking around with ships, Mocs or anything really, removing stickers etc. It's a clever way to protect the stickers though if you do want to do this sort of thing!

This is my childhood Scout Walker. It's completely ****ed but I love it, I like the patina of the knackered plastic. Would never try and restore it 8)

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Mini99

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Robstyley said:
This is my childhood Scout Walker. It's completely ****ed but I love it, I like the patina of the knackered plastic. Would never try and restore it 8)

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This really does look like it's done the rounds on Endor.
I like the battle worn look.
 

ScruffyLookingNH

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Mini99 said:
Robstyley said:
This is my childhood Scout Walker. It's completely ****ed but I love it, I like the patina of the knackered plastic. Would never try and restore it 8)

image.jpg

This really does look like it's done the rounds on Endor.
I like the battle worn look.

Was going to say the same thing! Doesn't look ****ed, looks super cool :)
 

palitoyjunky

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That is the worst condition and yet coolest looking AT-ST I have ever seen 8) The whiter bug eyes make it look super mean :lol:
 

subzero

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The only things I have left from my childhood are a Commodore 64 light gun with a carrier bag full of loose tapes lol, a beat up Hero Turtles coin album with a 1/4 of the coins in it, a Gamorrean guard loose beater and maybe a couple of others ( hidden somewhere amongst years of crap ).

By the way Robstyley are you gonna get a glass display case for that childhood AT-ST? 8) :lol:
 

staermose

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Last week I got two Kenner AT-STs. None complete. But between them and my spare parts bin, I now have one that is only missing it's top gun, and the small round hatch.
I didn't use peroxide for this restoration, although I have with others.

Besides trying to get a complete vehicle, I also needed to clean the parts. One of them was especially filthy, to a point where I suspect that it may have been buried outside. I unscrewed all the screws of both walkers. Disassembled the walking mechanisms. And pried the cockpit apart.

Then I carefully removed all remaining stickers.

I took all the plastic parts and gave them a wash in my dishwasher. This is extremely effective for removing any dirt that may be in hard to reach spots. And so far hasn't warped any parts.

With clean parts, a full set of stickers I put the best of the parts together for one decent AT-ST, and one that looked ok, but lacked stickers, and had some severe discolouring on some of the parts, especially the cockpit. And some scratches to some of the leg parts. And some loose stickers. This was sold, at a price reflecting it's condition.

My point by all this is, that is relatively easy to remove, and reapply original stickers. And this gives option of both giving it a better clean, and a peroxide treatment if wanted/needed.

The newly restored AT-ST is the one on the right.

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