I bought a used GID sofubi figure, but it is awfully yellow. I know that it is sometimes possible to whiten a yellowed vinyl toy by immersing it in hydrogen peroxide and sitting it in the sun for awhile. But has anyone ever tried this on GID glow vinyl? Does it lessen the yellow? Does it take away the glow? Thanks for any tips..... It is an unpainted glow toy, by the way, so no worries about removing paint. cindy
In general, I would say no, nothing to do besides maybe change your attitude about yellowing. Look at it as wabi-sabi. It's my understanding most yellowing is due to intrinsic changes at a chemical level which are unpreventable, not just something on the surface you could remove with a solvent. This is why I've generally noticed with toys that have yellowed, all examples of them have, regardless of conditions. One exception of which I am aware being sun exposure, which I've heard can accelerate the process (not lighten as you have suggested) though I can't personally attest to this. I have... a number of GID sofubi figures. They come in many shades, it's just how it goes.
Most of my GID toys are yellowed to some degree - all different shades, as you said. I think what bugs me about this one is that is has yellowed quite unevenly - the bottom is far more yellow than the top for some reason. And it is very yellow, a kind of sickly color that is most noticeably not attractive, esp when placed next to other GID figures. I saw a video once (can't seem to find it again) where someone took some older vinyl that had yellowed and did the hyydrogen peroxide treatment and it really did the trick - whitened it considerable without affecting any paint. The explanation given about it was something about bromine in the vinyl being the cause and that it was reversible. But that was regular vinyl, not GID. So not sure whether to give it a go or not. (If you want to try it, the guy basically just submerged the vinyl in a jar of hydrogen peroxide and left it in a sunny window for several days.) Overall, I'm not a big fan of yellowing. What sucks most is that the clear figures are so prone to it and yet those are the ones you wish you could put in direct sun to show the beautiful transparency. But, sadly, you can't. Direct sun is a cause of yellowing, esp. for clear.
Yikes. The sheer prospect of submerging a toy in hydrogen peroxide for a few days (even unpainted) makes me cringe. Let alone exposing it to direct sunlight all the while... However, if you (or anyone else) do decide to try, I'm curious to hear the results Blank GiD toys are one of my focuses in collecting, and yes the yellowing factor is unfortunate especially to those of us in this for the long haul. For that exact reason I tend to avoid clear vinyl toys, knowing the inevitable will happen in time... Like Yuck!!! said, not much one can do avoid it (save limiting/avoiding sunlight and smoke exposure). So looking at the positive side of things, yellowing on blank GiD vinyl is kind of a plus, as it darkens thus helping to pull out the details on sculpts that aren't as easily seen in its pristine state.
That is interesting it has yellowed unevenly. I have seen figures where segments of figures have yellowed differently, an arm or a leg that are slightly different, assumedly they were from a different and inconsistent "pull" and then all the cut pieces where lumped together before assembly, but never seen a piece where different sections of a single cast piece had yellowed to different degrees. I am assuming you are intentionally not saying what the specific toy is, but I am curious if it is common enough that you can find pics of other examples of it from the same run and how they have yellowed, and also how old it is. If it is older I would think maybe it was displayed or stored in such a way something, a chemical gas leaking from adjacent toys or plastic bag or object, smoke etc. could have affected only part of it. If it is very new, the condition is even more curious. I am not sure I am sitting on anything very yellow I would feel cool experimenting on with the hydrogen peroxide experiment, but Ill keep it in mind if I ever do, might be fun just for kicks even though I am fine with yellowing personally.
I don't know in what respect or type of object you saw that was immersed in peroxide and then sun-exposed for that length of time, but I would be very hesitant to do that with anything I had as part of a collection or valued. Even with video evidence that it may have worked in one situation, knowing the chemistry behind this, and having seen the effects of yellowing and general aging on plastics, it seems like it would possibly be fruitless at best, or incredibly detrimental at worst. Harsh chemicals should never be treatly lightly, and radiation from the sun is nothing to ignore either. As for the discolouration you are facing, it is unfortunate. I can appreciate how you are not too happy with it, especially since it is non-uniform on the figure. But, it is something you just generally live with with GID toys. Yuck gave some good examples of how off-gassing and exposure to different parts of the package, etc, can cause colour changes. I have also had a GID figure (it was an M1 blank for anyone curious) that developed somewhat 'spotty' yellowing in the GID vinyl. It was probably just not mixed as thoroughly when it was poured, and different compositions were aging at different rates. Mostly though these are all in fairly older toys (either vintage or from at least a decade ago). I don't see the yellowing as too serious. Wabi sabi, as the man said. But I also collect toys that are old, beat up, and importantly, loved; and I can recognise this is not the same for everyone. If you do find any other treatments or reach even partial success, please do share the results and details here, it could be helpful to a lot of people. Oh Yuck, you are such a cad. Thanks for that. I might just have to steal this for my signature.
If you would like, I could take some of the extra vinyl "flash" pull points that I've got kicking around. I've got some gid, milky, opaque, clear, as well as some with test paint on them. I'll stick them in a jar of hydrogen peroxide in the sun for a week. I'll let folks know if there is any degradation to the vinyl or if they come out the same as they went in. Non of this vinyl is yellowed as it's new, so can't say if it would help with that or not. I'm guessing it's diluted hydrogen peroxide... anyone know the ratio?
The ellipses was a nice touch. "I have (pause for effect) a number of GID sofubi figures. (raises one eyebrow)"
That is an incredibly generous offer, Chris. It would be an interesting experiment, and I'd like to see the results if you did it, but to anyone reading this, as a caveat I would be wary of making too many generalisations based on what comes out from the test flashes. Vinyl batches will vary, and not all will behave in the same way. But in any case, if you do have some old vinyl, GID or otherwise, we could try. Unfortunately if it is not yellowed it won't answer that question necessarily, but can at least give us some idea if this is even a viable method. Definitely diluted peroxide though, I don't know if you'd be able to get your hands on anything else anyhow. The stuff you can find at your local pharmacy is probably already very dilute, but, depending on how keen you are feeling, I might try a few different - even more diluted - ratios at the start, and see what comes of the different percentages and different times. That is the scientist in me though, and I can foresee this turning into a very complex series of experiments.
I used this on old bike tires which made them bright white. I dont know if i would try it on vinyl unless i had a toy to test it on
