RC10 Plastic Parts Restore Questions

[danglenode]

Hi, My name is Phil and this is my first post. I got my first RC10 Gold Tub when I was 6 years old and have since bought and sold a plethora of RC10s. I have now gotten into act of restoring the Vintage cars some for the shelf and some to run on the track and in the backyard. So far in restarting my collection I have 2 1984 Gold Tub Buggies, an RC10 DS (electric), my original RC10T, and 2 RC10T4s.

I was wondering if there are any tried and true ways to clean and remove the brown staining on the vintage white parts? I have read things anywhere from scrub real hard, to easy off to bowl them in Scrubbing Bubbles toilet cleaner. The only thing I have tried is scrubbing in dish soap but that doesn't seem to restore the color. I have noticed that a lot of people have very white parts, and all the parts I have or seem to come across on ebay are either stained or brand new and very expensive. Any help you could provide in this area will be greatly appreciated. I will post photos once I have the digital camera back from the shop.

Once again thank you very much.

[Halgar]

We were just talking about tire cleaners and many good cleaners came up.

Click Me!!!!!

[scr8p]

of all the threads on this subject, i'm pretty sure we never figured out a tried and true method. i know i've never found anything that actually made the parts whiter. i don't even bother. i just give them a good cleaning, and that's it.

[danglenode]

Hi, that is what I was afraid of. On one of the gold tubs, there seems to be an even coat of brown, almost like an even fading effect. Almost like someone got chlorine on all the plastic - something like that. On the second one I have it seems to be heading towards a brown color and would like to prevent it.

I love simple green. I usually clean all my RC parts in the stuff and it works well enough. It also seems as the parts get older their condition and color gets worse (which can be expected) I am active buying and selling on eBay so I am on the lookout for the whitest parts but they are either out of my budget or the car is completed, where as I enjoy cleaning and reassembling and hunting for parts.

Just wanted to know if there was some way to get the color back to white.

BTW - I have been looking for a forum like this months, and another eBay seller shot me the link and I am so happy and excited that this site exists!!

[Halgar]

In the link that I posted above, one of the things discussed was Bleche Wite, an automotive tire cleaner. Someone said that it makes the plastic parts sparkly clean and white. I don't know, I've never tried it, but may be worth a shot to you if it's important. Bleche Wite is not something you want on paint or anodizing, though, so be careful.

[danglenode]

Hi, I actually read through that article before posting, and I have also heard of the Bleche White, but my LHS advised against that product and any other product that has harsh abrasive or acid-type chemicals in it. I guess at this point I am just confused and have to deal with having not so white parts.

Thanks for the responses it is greatly appreciated.

[Toaster]

Simple green is great stuff...I scrub the living crapola outta my parts, picture suds flying everywhere and then I soak them in a jar of household bleech for a couple of days which seems to do the trick.....however there are two things perhaps someone else has experienced doing this.....does long term bleeching weaken the parts....do they discolour again after long term exposure to the sun?

[danglenode]

Hi, I thought of using bleach, maybe diluted with some H2O but wasnt sure if that would ruin the parts or weaken them. Parts are in limited supply for me so I would rather have functional parts that are tan/brown over ruined parts. I even tried a brass wheel in the Dremel in the lowest speed, and although it seemed to help ever so slightly it was mostly time consuming with little results if any.

Thanks for all the info.

[mikedealer]

i like good ol' informecial oxyclean stuff, a little hot water, a good scrub brush, and the parts come out really really nice. no need to really let them soak, but not to say it wont work, i just dont have much success with that.

[wts873]

most of the methods to whiten the parts pulls the oils out of them. Has anyone tryied to seal ( like a varnish) the pores exposed in the parts to keep from geting worse??

[Scruedloose]

I think i have the answer.
1. bleach the livin snot out of the parts
2. rinse thoroughly. dry and reassemble.
3. take picture in doors with the flash on under bright lights.
4. sit back and admire how white the flash makes your parts look

but seriously.... i did exactly as i stated above and the parts came out beige . However, I did notice that the lighting/flash seemed to have an effect on how "white" the parts appear. also, if you are going to do a bleach soak, remove all the metal from the plastics, otherwise they'll rust faster than a japanese car.

your best bet is to experiment with parts you don't mind damaging/ruining just in case it has any adverse efffects.

[Erich Reichert]

I tried soaking parts in straight laundry bleach and it did relaively nothing... maybe i didn't soak them long enough (about 8 hrs) ?

[aconsola]

I tried the bleach for a lot longer than 8 hours with no real benefit.
I am not sure how long they were in there, 3 days at most. The plastic measuring cup I had them soaking in did not like the bleach and hazed and cracked, eventually leaking the bleach out.

[mrlexan]

I have tired denture cleaner..... for AE parts it really did nothing, but for Losi parts, specifically wheels, it seemed to do wonders..... maybe it was just me, but I thought it really made a difference. I tried bleach, with no real noticeable difference as well.

Thus far, as Doug mentioned in the past, I have found nothing better than Simple Green.

My wife bought a package of "enviro friendly" super-concentrated clearners, she saw on Oprah for like $100.00, but I have yet to try it. I will let you guys know if it does any better than simple green.

[Erich Reichert]

Damn you should have just sent her to the show... make Oprah buy that crap for ya! hehe