How to Restore Yellowed LEGO Bricks
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- Опубликовано: 2 июл 2014
- If your LEGO bricks have stayed in the sun too long, chances are they have turned an ugly yellow color. In this video, I show my process of how to restore those yellowed and discolored bricks back to looking new again.
Развлечения
Its not just sun damaged its oxidation from the air. I have pieces that have never seen sun light and stored in the basement for 30 years that turned yellow. Some pieces just oxidize quicker than others. also you need to make sure the pieces are all exposed to the sun with a shallow container, and let them sit for 3 hours in the sun, and check every hour, and flip them. I've been successful with white, gray, and blue with this process.
Do you have to put them in water and what do you mean by a shallow container
@@dylandylan3644 I obviously don't know exactly what he means but I assume he is still talking about hydrogen peroxide and a shallow container means that pieces aren't ontop of eachother
Thanks for the good video! This is the only video I have found on RUclips for restoring yellowed bricks.
Hey, this worked perfectly for me. I found it was helpful to do the process in a disposable metal oven dish. I am really pleased that it has worked so well as it was going to take me ages to replace a selection of 100+ white pieces that had gone a horrible tan color. This worked well, even for my severely yellowed pieces. It was complete after approximately x2 8-hour days in the sun at ~25 degrees C.
But it turns to yellow again…
@@denizbeytekin9853 only if you leave it out in the sun
@@thetinytatertot3806 nope
This is fantastic! Thanks for uploading! :D
YES! Thank you so much for posting this Alex. I have a ton of old brick that I want to restore.
Also, how do the trans elements hold up? I know they are a different type of plastic.
Big B Bricks I have not personally done this on translucent bricks, but I would be willing to bet it would work the same, but keep it indoors.
Alex Nunes
Oh, I thought there was a trans-blue element imbedded in some of those white elements. BTW - Love the city. Glad you are getting more popular.
Big B Bricks You know, you are right. They didn't seem to mind the conditions.
For me lego goes yellow if I don't let it in the sun and at smells
Not a lie
Just got a v-19 torrent used, and the pieces were yellowed. This technique works great! Thank you!
I did this with a used UCS AT-ST that I purchased. Many gray bricks has yellowing. A 3% peroxide solution with a few hours in the sun brought them back to new again
Thanks so much. This saves time and money. Great video. I think I'll subscribe now👍
Wow, you have a nice lawn! it's a lot better than my own! (And by that, i mean you have a yard in general)
For me lego goes yellow if I don't let it in the sun and at smells
Not a lie
Thanks, that will be very helpful
Thanks for the fast response and I love u channel!!❤
Good video and thanks for pointing out to not put grey parts in the sunlight!
Yesterday I took one of the Bionicle chrome masks that was heavily damaged and got rid of the rest of the chrome as well. The grey underneath is really weird, maybe some Hydrogen Peroxide can help me.
What about bricks from the 60s and would this take the yellowing off the transparent bricks
Thx, this is lifechanger for me. I recently got my old mix from family house with some 25 yo legos, time to say goodbye to yellow :)
Great Video, I have used this process to great success also. I have also added a teaspoon of "oxyAction" style soaker and this also increases the chemical reaction. You just need to make sure the soaker is dissolved before hand. I have great success with old space grey, blue and of course white. depending on yellowing normal it has only need about ten hours in sun.
Thanks for uploading this
wow! thanks so much for this i was able to restore yellow pieces from my lego set 6696 and re apply stickers to look new!
Good stuff, definitely have a couple sets with plenty yellowing. So does it work on the colored brick if you stay indoors?
That is really helpful. Good video
Awesome technique. As I was working on my Lego airport, I noticed some of my white bricks were looking a bit yellow. Now I know what to do. I was thinking maybe soak them in vinegar, but that might actually damage them more than the hydrogen peroxide would.
Cool , I did a similar process but in a low strength jell form brushed on for some of my model trains and retro consoles...
Good afternoon Alex, thank you for the tip. Best regards from a Portuguese guy living in Jersey.
Good to know! Thanks. Great concise video
If only Lego made a way to fix Lego bricks that are safer for kids
Thanks, I was about to do this with my grey bricks
I do this sometimes with the old grey ones. In that case it put grey ones together with discolored white ones and check the results on a daily basis. When I see that the hydrogen peroxide has done its job with the whites, I put them all out.
Cannot say that this does not result in some excess bleaching of the grey ones; it probably dies.
But for me the result is fine.
Thanks mate, my Villa Savoye will like that
very helpful thank you
How do these bricks look now. Just Saw An other video stating the decoloring Comes back worse after a few months.
Thanks! Great tip
So, it doesn't damage stickers, but what about white pieces that have printed things on? (I'm specifically thinking of the flags on the Saturn V)
I just brought a load of white bricks off eBay and 50% of them are discoloured! (No wonder they were cheap) I will use this technique, problem is I live in Britain and it’s always cloudy, who knows when the sun will come out. Thank you for your tip.
Same here in the Netherlands hahahahah
I was gonna say that, as I live in the Uk and the sun is a rare commodity. Will try this. Does it work with mini figures.
I bought a double door box car from a seller on Ebay who had the Red Cargo Train outfit from 2011 and the white bricks were slightly yellowed from its four year life span. I did not make any issue over this and I was happy just the way it is so I left like that as if it is showing its age just like the real thing along with my other wagons that are about 20 to 30 years old.
thank you so much man! :D
The man made a fence out of white lego! Legend!
so you can do stickers and printed part's? also i saw another guy do this but he also only put them in the sun for five hours and put gray ones in the sun
Great tip!
Alex, would you be willing to do another how-to video on correctly removing and storing used stickers? You seem to have all the tricks so I thought you might know this one as well. Thanks again for all the videos.
wish i could try this out right now... but a bit weary about it being winter and leaving the hydrogen peroxide with legos sit outside and it freezing instead hah... maybe ill try a couple and place by a window with a lot of sun but i think glass absorbs a lot of the uv-b & uv-c rays which might be what is needed for the reaction to take place.
Hi, Does it matter on the temperature of the day? is winter sun as good as summer?
Great and helpful Video! When you say keep grey bricks indoors do you mean have them position so they get sun light through a window or is a there a different light source for indoors you would recommend??
Thanks!!
Keep the gray bricks out of the sun completely. They may need a week to soak though and they don't always look like new, but it does restore the color to some degree.
Alex Nunes As long as my lego Death Star doesn't look like the Death Sun I'll be happy!
thanks i was just wondering to myself yesterday how i could restore some bricks
Nice yard!
Does this work on printed pieces as well? I have some clone troopers that could really use some whitening
question: will this do something bad to glow in the dark lego pieces?
Do I have to buy the exact brand you showed in the video or is it okay if I used any other brand?
Hey Alex, I have a few things to say/ask. 1: Nice video! 2: What did you do with that leftover Hydrogen Peroxide? (The one in the cup after some of it evaporated) Can you like use that again on different bricks and add just a little bit of Hydrogen Peroxide or do you have to remove the whole substance and fill it again (because by my calculations you could almost fill two cups if you kept throwing it away) 3: Would any Hydrogen Peroxide work or does a specific type of Hydrogen Peroxide work? (They're all the same but the concentration is a little different) Thank you! The one I found is called "Heritage Products Hydrogen Peroxide Mouthwash" Not sure if that will work but I don't want to take the risk because it is kind of expensive in my country. I need to revive some of my white bricks xD
Thanks! I have sometimes reused the Hydrogen Peroxide, but not very often since it is not expensive for me. The concentration I use is 3%. I think that's pretty standard. As long as the ingredients show at least 3% Hydrogen Peroxide, you should be fine. Good luck.
Alex Nunes Thank you!
does it work also for reddish brown brick? since they are known to be brittle i fear using this method.
Thnks!
does this work on dark grey bricks
Hello Alex...Great video Thank you....I have a question, I know you said that the H Paroxide does not hurt the stickers. I have some white police bricks that have the word police on them in black lettering, have you ever tried this on those types of bricks and if so did it damage the black lettering? Thanks...
+Daniel Crowl Hello and thank you. Great question you have there. I know exactly what pieces you are talking about. I can't say I have done this on white bricks with black lettering. My guess is it will not hurt them because they are printed. I recommend doing a test on a similar piece just to make sure though. Good luck.
Thank you man
ir can be used also with 1950's bricks ?
Hi,
So for the grey parts, I should leave them on the peroxyde with NO sun then? I have two of those huge 90's castles all gone grey-yellow :(.
Thanks!
I use light grey bricks and they look good
If I use let's say a litre of Hydrogen peroxide on my lego and let it sit there for a week as instructed. Can I then remove the lego from that container full of hydrogen peroxide, and finally insert more legos so that I wont need to waste more money on the hydrogen peroxide? Or will it lose its effects after a week????
Thank you ever so much!
Matt.
Do the pieces retain the shine after the treatment?
I have a grow light which is UV and used that inside and worked much faster as there was no night.
Great video, thank you very much ! I'm just wondering if this would work with my lego star wars characters. All of my white clones for example have become yellow, and I'm wondering if this would ruin the black paint on them...
It should be fine, but do not leave them in too long. I would do a test on one first to get an idea on how long they should soak.
Alex Nunes ok great, thanks so much for your help !
Question: does each piece have to be in direct contact with the sun? Like if I put 50 pieces out and some are submerged under other pieces, will it still work for those pieces? And will the undersides of the pieces be fixed or do I need to be continually stirring the pieces up?
All the pieces will whiten, but it is a good idea to stir and rotate each day for the best result.
Really thanks Alex
Nice tip. I got a lot of yellowed bricks.
Saw another RUclipsr using exactly the same bottle and it was stated to be only a 3% sollution so it would seem that even the weaker stuff will get the work done :)
Question: Does it have to be 4 consecutive days of sun for it to work, and will it still work if it is not sunny all the time? It is so rare that you will ever get a solid four day sunny spell.
+Jack Lewis No, the sun just acts as a catalyst. Depending on the severity of the yellowing, it may just take one day in the sun. I usually leave them in a window seal and rotate them each day until I am satisfied with the color.
+Alex Nunes Thanks!
no sun at all can? (no light source at all)
Excellent video! One question, I was under the impression that the bricks needed the sun exposure (with the HP), in order for it to work. Your bricks seem so packed in there, they are obviously not all getting direct exposure. Is it a chemical reaction with the sun and the HP that then reacts on the brick surface? I hope I'm explaining it well. I would love to pack as many bricks in as I can, but I didn't think that would work.
When I have them soak in the HP indoors it takes longer. The sun seems to be a catalyst to to the chemical reaction. It is not necessary, but id does help. I do this a lot in the Winter time when the sun isn't really available, and it still seems to work. Hope that helps.
Alex Nunes Sure helps me. Living on the sunny beaches of Vancouver BC, where it almost never stops raining.
are there a mountains behind your house? You have a really nice view man ..and where is some garden in your backyard? Lazy? :D
Tome Rodrigo Those are the rocky mountains. I live in Utah. And as to the Garden, we have a small one on the side of the house, but I can't take credit for it. The wife does most of the yard work. :)
I just turned some very yellow, small ladders, white again in about 6 hours using the Hydrogen Peroxide. I live in Arizona and I think the heat and not so much the sun quickened the whitening. It is 93 today and of course sunny.
does anyone know if the hydrogen peroxide damages prints? i have some yellowed clone troopers i would like to restore and i don’t want to damage the print on the figures
I have a question I would like you to answer for me please: are you allowed to put in all color parts that might not have discoloration? Would it mess the Bricks up? I'm putting in all my bricks(except black) from my Lego 7727,7730, and 7760, even the ones that don't look discolored, to make sure none aren't yellowed, but would that mess them up? Thanks
Be very careful because the chemical will alter the colors if they are left in too long. They will all come out lighter.
1st and great video!
I was first to see it
Can you bleach moldy legos? With mold stains?
I have a question regarding this method: how does the Hydrogen Peroxide affect metallic colours?
The reason I ask is because I have a sun-damaged Bionicle mask that marbles from white to silver, and I want to make sure that I don't end up ruining the silver or the marbling effect when trying to fix the sun-damaged white area.
If anyone has any information regarding this, I'd really appreciate hearing from you.
I am not certain how this would impact it. I have had several non-white elements in HP with a little success, but I would be careful not to let them stay in for too long. Maybe test on a piece that is expendable first.
Thanks for the response;
I wish I had a similar piece I could use to test with, but most of my silver parts are Bionicle parts, and silver Bionicle parts are made of a slightly softer plastic than traditional Lego pieces, which could give a different result.
I'll do some more research and see if I can find anymore information on the matter.
Thanks for making this video by the way, it's good to know that I can at least restore my plain white parts back to their original state.
Hi, Alex. I have a inquiry. How's the bricks right now? Is there any coming back on them to the yellowed condition?
if they're in the sunlight, I'd assume they rebecome yellow
I wonder if this solution damages the lego, how will it be damaged?
I find it to be the thinner pieces that get yellowed faster
Don't try this with yellow bricks. They will become light yellow or beige. :D If the sun does not shine for a while, heat helps too. Simply place the container with hydrogen peroxide and Lego Bricks on a radiator/heater. After a few days the bricks are nice and white again. A closed container works better than an open one because of the atmosphere that forms in the container.
I know this is an old video but I was wondering if the process effects prints? I know you said the stickers are fine but what about prints. Thank you.
Sanbo Gaming it doesn’t
This video is from 2014. Are the bricks still white? Debating weather i should use this method or buy new parts, especially for the greys and blues. My old castles and early 80s space sets got really yellow despite being stored in their boxes in the basement for the last 25 years. Some of the yellowed parts were really brittle and snapped when i tried to assemble them.
Some of them do turn yellow again, but it takes a few years. You can just do the hydrogen peroxide process again if it happens. I did a batch a year ago and most of them are still almost as white as new. The main exception is a big ship piece that was horribly yellowed prior to treatment and probably should have gone longer. It is still leagues better than it was before, though. I don’t know much about how the process affects brittleness, but I think brittle parts is a problem with older Lego in general.
Will it work with beige bricks?
My 2010 Draco minifigure head has some yellow on the sides of the head. Can this cleaning process work on that head?
I believe it would, just keep an eye on the progress so that it doesn't go too far the other way.
I know this is an old video, but does Hydrogen Peroxide work with minfig pieces? Will it ruin the printing?
what happen if he pieces have any type of print?
Awesome
can you use UV lights instead of the sun?
thanks for this! For grey pieces you have to also let them one whole week inside the Hydrogen Peroxide solution?
@elwingy yep
I did this, My lego becomes really smelly, and it’s not just that after keeping it on my shelf like for a day the yellow become yellowed again pls help
Make sure you are rinsing the pieces off really well after they have soaked. You also want to leave them in the hydrogen peroxide for a good week. Some pieces react better than others, I don't know why.
What about blue bricks? they get yellowed too, and does this method make the bricks more brittle, i heard somewhere that they do but idk. I'm watching a bundle of classic space bricks on ebay and i can tell from the picture i'm gonna need this lol
In my experience with colored bricks, such as Blue, it didn't seem to work as well. I haven't really done this on many colored bricks though. I haven't noticed this process causing bricks to become brittle. Then again, LEGO is a very durable toy. Good luck.
thanks, they don't really sell this in the uk i found out, so gotta go online :( my other question is what about the tub you put the bricks in, what if it was more clear, or does it not matter? surely there would be more sun getting through if you tupperware was more crystal clear
Alex that's amazing. I have so many white LEGO pieces that have that sun damage and figured that there was no way to fix it - how wrong I was 😂😂 - I have some LEGO Star Wars Minifigures that have gone yellow aswell, I want to try it with that too, but I'm worried that it'll damage the printed details. Do you know if it'll work without damaging the image? 😬😬😬
the printed elements do ok, but the minifigures are different. I think the printed parts of a minifigure may get faded with this process, but it still works. You just need to make sure it is not in too long. I really do not know the exact time though, there are too many variables.
@@alexnunes alright thanks for the reply 👍
And I know you answered this in the video, but is it still ok to do parts with stickers? Thanks again
yes
I did some research on this, and there's another product called retr0bright which also uses hydrogen peroxide as the main ingredient, however it also uses an oxiclean product, xanthan gum, and glycerin. It is designed for this exact same process however it also works on grey. I read on a lego blog that someone tried using just hydrogen peroxide for 24 hours and it didn't have effect on their parts (they did not specify what color). Does the hydrogen peroxide bring your white bricks to the same color as if it is new? Or is it still slightly damaged. Also, what's the shortest amount of time that you did this and the bricks were fully restored? I would appreciate very much if you could reply.
About the results on the white bricks, he said it was as good as new if not better towards the end of the video.
Honestly if you can keep those bricks under direct sunlight for 2 or 3 days it should be enough but just make sure to check after the second day a few bricks in your own container if the results are good or not yet.
The 8-bit guy discovered that heat works better than the UV method. The problem is keeping it at a steady temperature for about 70°C
I have the same divers set in home.
@Alex Nunes
Do you know if this has any affect on the bricks' printing? Like for example, that map tile at the top of the screen as seen at 7:41?
NerdKing108 i wanna know too
Guys, ive seen some videos with the same whitening process, nome of them destroyed the stickers or the printed ones. You just have tô be careful not to let too much time, or its color will degrade
Bob 1 Ive watched Otherside vídeos, they leave It only for about 3/5 hours. The white can be inside for many days because its color will not fase, but the other colors will
NerdKing108 w
Hm, I live in the UK....we don't get much sun here, this could be tricky.
I did this 2 years ago. Left the pieces out for 3 days and they turned white. Now, 2 years later, I have a yellowish Saturn V rocket. The yellow came back.
i have discolored blue parts from an exo-force set do you know if this will work on them to?
It does work on blues, but it tends to make them a little bit paler in color, and if you leave them in way too long they start to turn milky white.
Question: does this method damage the print on a lego piece.
+Fraser McInnes It might. I have not done a lot of testing with prints.
Nice! I will try it on my Saturn V rocket that become ugly yellow.
great video! one suggestion: add some trees to your garden :)
Does it effect printing? My old phase II clones are sadly yellowed
I don't think so. Do some testing first, but in my experience the printed pieces were unaffected.
Full sun is nesceity. Cloudy days prolong the process but 16 to 18 hrs. In FULL sun is sufficient. Works on all color bricks. Doesn't effect prints, at least haven't seen any damage in own experiences.
Thanks! I was wondering how it affects prints
hi guys does anyone no a good and cheep website to buy and ship lego to perth Australia ???