restoration of vintage Futaba- cosmetic

[JosephS]

I've collected a pair of interesting Futaba controllers.
I have a futaba senior

and one of these AM radios

I was going to use a toothbrush and simple green to clean up.

Are there chemicals I should avoid on these plastics? I assume acetone is a no go.

Is there a good way to clean the clear plastics? I was thinking about novus plastic polish.

Should I stick to an external cleaning, or are these easy to disassemble and reassemble.

[TRX-1-3]

I'd go with a "dry brush" method first. Like a somewhat aggressive "stab brushing" with a 2" interior trim paint brush. That should get it looking pretty good. The paint brush bristles are fine and flexible enough that they get into a lot of nooks and crannies. Then a light surface cleaning with a damp cloth with mild soapy water.

Taking them apart is possible, but alot of these controllers have metalized foily decal plates that hide "secret" screws and they get bent and destroyed when removed. So sometimes you get all the screws that you can see and then it still won't come apart. Then you have to kinda guess as to where the remaining screws are and start forensically lifting decals, or lightly prying at parting seams, etc.

You could take apart what comes apart easily, basically.

[Dangeruss]

Would agree with TRX-1-3, dry brush the loose dirt, follow with diluted Dawn sparingly and wiped off quick. Picks in the crevices, q-tips on the chrome, nooks and crannies, with care around Futaba's soft decals. All you're removing is dirt and grease, soap does that without harming anything like simple green and other more caustic chemicals.

Novus or any fine plastic polish on the 2PD's door, but I'd mask off the inside where it wraps around the front to keep polish out of the hinge openings and trim adjustment area.

I wouldn't polish the transmitter bodies though, if you were thinking of doing it. Uneven finish and a polish residue nightmare.

They appear to be in decent nick and not terribly dirty, if they work right I'd stick to external cleaning. Like TRX-1-3 said, while disassembly is possible, it's like opening a can of worms.

Though, first time I've heard a 2PD called "one of these"...