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Cleaning "yellowed" pieces

Hello, everyone!

Does anyone have any suggestions on this? A few of my old 12v track rails and track are yellowed. I also have some white that has done the same thing. This has always mystified me because out of 16 pieces of rail assembled when new, only one or two of them will do this. I also had a set a while back where one 2x3 white brick did this while all of the other pieces remained pure white. Are there any preventative measure when assembling a new set? Should all of us wash the parts in detergent before even putting a new set together to get rid of any residual manufacturing oils (which is why assume that the bricks might do this)? Any suggestions would really be appreciated!

Best Regards,

Mark

Reply to
Mark A. Plum
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Hi Mark,

White Lego pieces often turn yellow. I had an aeroplane kit (white) which I built some 10 years ago. Throughout this duration, it has been on my shelf, in direct sunlight. I disassembled it a few months back and the sections of wing that were covered by other bricks are still bright white, but the rest was a disgusting yellow.

I posted to this newsgroup about the problem (albeit in less detail) and was recommended bleaching and/or the use of a washing machine with a net bag.

I opted for the former, placing a sample block into a cup of bleach overnight, to no avail. I left it in the cup for a week, still with no visible difference. At the end of the month, I removed the block and fitted it back onto the kit I took it from, and sure enough there is a clear improvement. It's not perfect and it takes ages, but it is possible to partially restore white bricks.

I suspect this may apply with coloured bits also, but as always, use a sample block first. Good luck and please post back if you find a more effective way :)

Reply to
Jon Hedge

Jon:

I tried the bleach trick and it seemed to work pretty well overall. I mixed

1/3 cup clorox to 2/3 cup water and let the pieces soak for three days. I did this with 16 pieces of 12v gray track (which turn a really ugly shade of yellow). Two of the pieces went a bit overboard and turned spotty and milky white. As an experiment, I took a light scouring pad and was able to buff off the milky spotting, although it is quite impossible to get rid of the spotting in the crevices and the pieces were ruined anyway because of the scrubbing. It is interesting to note that in any case, the discoloration is entirely on the surface of the pieces and seems to go no further than that.

Any other suggestions???

Thanks for the reply!

Best Regards,

Mrk

Reply to
Mark A. Plum

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