I have a vintage toy from 1963 that is worth $$. I want to make it as nice as possible for sale. A part of the toy is a sky blue plastic stand. The age discoloration on this is very obvious as the area where it connects to the rest of the toy is a much brighter, cleaner sky blue while the rest that is exposed to air is darker and has a brownish tint. Looks kind of like grease. Is there some specific cleaner that would be best for removing this? I don't wanna use anything abrasive or with bleach. Is some kind of solvent what I want? Is oxidation the correct word for this discoloration from age?
Mike
2006-10-24 17:08:03 · 3 answers · asked by xitsmike 1 in Home & Garden ➔ Cleaning & Laundry
The discoloration is from the sun. You really aren't going to get rid of the discoloration no matter about how hard you try. The reason why the one area is brighter is because it wasn't exposed to the sun. The sun degrades plastic. The best thing you can do is to try and preserve your toy so it doesn't get any worse. You can do that by using Armor-All on it. Plastic is porous and has a chemical that gets put in it to keep it flexible and helps keep it somewhat from degrading. That chemical is called a plasticizer. That's basically what Armor-All is, a plasticizer. That's why it's good at preserving the plastic dash in your car.
Your problem isn't oxidation, it's the sun and lack of plasticizer. If you had kept your toy in the dark it'd probably look like new. I'm a packaging engineer and I've studied plastics for my degree.
2006-10-24 17:25:00 · answer #1 · answered by devilishblueyes 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You can't do anything to correct discoloration with plastic. I have had a lot of vintage antiques & collectable toys etc and know people who restore them but my advice would be to let it alone. If you attempt to restore an item with hopes of selling it as a collectable then you could lose even more value by tampering with it and trying to make it look new. Surprisingly enough people appreciate it in its original condition and you may get 20% less its actual worth if it was 100% mint condition as opposed to getting 80% less the original value with it being restored. Good luck.
2006-10-25 01:08:44 · answer #2 · answered by Mom_of_two 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mike: I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I am not knowledgeable of ANYTHING that would remove the discoloring. I have had similar problems in the past and was not able to find anything.. On plastic, you have to be rather careful and cannot use just anything and everything
2006-10-25 00:15:14 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋