EXPERIMENT: Whitening old Plarail

So, here is the subject: Super Large 500 series Nozomi. It is very noticeably yellowed, and the top section has totally different colour from the small bright blue bit at the end.



Tool used: Hair salon cream that contains 12% Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2), cling wrap, plastic gloves, and the Sun.



For preparation, I did it in the bathroom to easily clean if stuff goes wrong. Cling wrap under the train to cover all the H2O2 cream, as well as avoiding H2O2 to evaporate under the sun. 



Before I apply cream to the train, I also wrapped the inside with cling wrap in case the cream got through. It didn't despite the gap. 

After that, I set the train out in the sun. It is told that the UV reacting with H2O2 would be essential for plastic whitening to efficiently happen.

The train after a day (6 hour of fairly overcast day, but some effects have happened)



The train after 2 days (6 hour of clear sky with bright sun, after being cleaned)



Results: Not very satisfying. 

- Due to little cream coverage, streaks formed on the painted part of the train.



- But, because of using H2O2 on a 24-ish years old plastic, chips of paints have come off, and parts of plastic is cracking (known drawback of H2O2)




So yeah, I won't experiment any further on this Plarail set. I have a few smaller yellowed Plarail trains, so I might try this again in another time.

[Super]

Thanks Hanoi for posting your results.

https://www.blueplastictracks.org/thread-3395.html

[Super]

Thank you Dr Chris 👍