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salvine

Yellowing shell

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There have been some recent posts about removing scratches and such but how about older shell that has started to yellow? Just acquired a NIB Kyosho F1 GTR. All there and want to build it but since it will be white I'm sure the color will be off. Any luck with the Tamiya Lexan cleaner or another product?

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Nice. Hope it works well for lexan. Will need a lot of peroxide to submerge a shell.

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Well... It's an entire 1/8 scale body. My one thought is what will happen if I leave the overspray film on. Will I get the same results... We have these great dollar stores here in the states so it's time to hit them up for a case of peroxide.

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@mongoose1983 I am amused by your assumption that people living in NJ or England ever have enough sun to catalyze H2O2 ionization.  LOL

I'd bet Santiago gets a lot more sunshine than central NJ!  OCD, the author of the second link lives in sunny California.  I've heard of TCers in TX who've used this method successfully.  You know, Texas... where don't live like mole people in constant rain and darkness.

BUT anyway if salvine (or others) want to try it there may be a few things worth trying to enhance the effectiveness.  This experiment relates to the use of H2O2 in tooth whitening, but it's the same effect as desired here: link to PDF

There are 2 or 3 things, it seems to me -- inferring from the chemistry described in the document -- that might squeeze a bit more effectiveness out of the UV luminosity you are working with:

- Iron ions seem to enhance the process for some reason... maybe try dropping something made of iron into the solution.  A rusty screw, a broken bit of magnet... ironically, certain voodoo / santeria practices could even be helpful and add a flair of spiritual drama (do I have to say I'm joking?). :lol:

- Slightly basic / alkaline pH helps... but too high of a pH has the opposite effect.  Maybe drop in a tums or other (non-liquid) antacid.

- Increased temperature enhances the effect, although menacingly apparently leads to "thermal runaway"... so maybe a little hot but not too hot or 'fire in the hole'.

I haven't tried any of these... b/c I didn't know to try them.  But I did have some seriously disappointing results whitening plastics in the past.  So, maybe it's worth trying some of these ideas.  Maybe throw in your dentures while you're at it!

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I'm guessing the answer is yes but you chem majors out there would know. Will the peroxide loose its potency? Seems like it was working and then dropped off a bit.

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42 minutes ago, salvine said:

I'm guessing the answer is yes but you chem majors out there would know. Will the peroxide loose its potency? Seems like it was working and then dropped off a bit.

Yeah it can only do anything that you are using it for by breaking down to other molecules/ions/radicals.  The simplest version is 2(h2o2) -> 2(h2o) + 1(o2).  So the h2o2 molecules in the solution will turn into the more stable water an molecular oxygen, which is a gas and why you see all the bubbling.. the higher energy light helps break down the h2o2 into more reactive ionically charged configurations, but eventually these will also react down to a delicious watery broth.

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So I'm not getting the results I'm after. If this is going to work I guess I need some more intense UV. Living in the Seattle area is not helping right now. Thoughts?

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Finally got some sun for a couple days. Let it sit for two days. Even pulled of the over spray to let the peroxide get to both sides but not really seeing much change. The plastic wing did seem to clear up though. Not much love from the lexan.

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