Well, we took all the Plasticville off the layout, picked up the green felt, put down the ReadyGrass and are in the process of dusting/cleaning the accessories (wow, didn’t realize how much stuff was there).
Question:
A number of the buildings have white plastic that has turned yellowish. Based on your experience, it there anything or any product that you know of that can restore the original white?
As always, many thanks.
You could try bleach BUT I HAVE NEVER TRIED IT
If they are the plentiful to find types I just paint them, makes them look new again. And no real value lost.
S.J.
We recently have undergone a lot of painting/fixing/etc on our home. Mrs 53 became pretty obsessed with the cleanliness of the electric socket plates - also plastic. She soaked them in a shallow plan of bleach and they came out super clean. I doubt the plastic composition is the same, but you might want to try bleach and scrubbing them with a toothbrush. Try the back wall of a common piece first in case the results are less than expected.
You can try headlight restorer compound, it is a super fine abrasive for plastic with a little bleaching agent in it. Just rub a test area using a clean cloth and a small amount of the polish. I’ll test it myself and try posting pics since I already have some.
I’ve had reasonable success with both Windex and Formula 409. Both of them contain ammonia.
Becky
First of all, thanks for your replies.
We tried soaking the pieces in bleach, Windex, Formula 409 and straight ammonia with no noticeable success.
The consensus around here, considering the cost of replacing the items, is to repaint the pieces, maybe with a glossy white spray paint. We’ll see.
Anyway, thanks again.
I have found the spray cans you buy at Wal-mart are surprisingly good quality paints. In particular - equipment grey primer, flat and gloss black and flat and gloss white. These are large blue spray cans - brand name “Color Place.” Steer clear of colors other than these however, as they don’t seem to spray all that well. At $1.09 per can, it’s a great bargain and no compromise in quality.
One thing that I have used in the past that helps brighten Plasticville pieces (as well as other plastics and even lithographed tinplate) is Arm and Hammer’s Magic Eraser. I guess these also have a bit of an abrasive in (on?) them, so you need to be careful if you are using it on anything that has decals or rubber stamping. But for Plasticville, I fail to see how this could damage anything. They are cheap and readily available at most grocery stores too.
Hope this helps
J White
We did it and it came out great!
All the yellowed white pieces have been painted. Our Walmart didn’t carry the Color Place spray so we used Rust-oleum Painters Touch gloss white spray instead. Very easy and fast drying.
Thanks for all your advice.