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Maryw164 · 05-03-2009, 03:16 AM

I'm going to try this method from another thread, along with a good wax type sealer/protectant after:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f38/...tic-48931.html

I'm afraid that the paint on stuff will just wear off or flake.

Mainstream · 05-03-2009, 04:27 AM

I removed all the bath from a 78 Sovereign (Rear Bath) and sprayed on two coats of "Tile Doc" two part epoxy paint from Sherman Williams. It is like steel and harder than the Orig. Looked like a new from the factory bath outfit when done,but you must clean with a degreaser then with Zylnol then sand with 220 then re-clean with Zylnol to get all the old soap scum out before painting with anything. That soap scum goes deep and will make any paint fish eye if not cleaned properly.

bmklawt · 05-05-2009, 02:09 PM

This is a repeat from my post http://www.airforums.com/forums/f38/...tic-48931.html but worth posting here also.

I tried the Retr0bright on the kitchen window surround it is ABS plastic like the front endcap and has the same print on it. I did some testing before I painted my endcap and do know the print or design on the endcap can be taken off with MEK or Xylene.

The Retr0bright stuff lightens up the ABS plastic but does not touch the print. Wish I had heard about this sooner.

This could be done with out taking the ABS parts out of the trailer, use a 4' shop light with some UV lights instead of the sun.

Chuck · 05-05-2009, 02:30 PM

Excellent!! mine has the same "print", and I was kind of wondering about that...seems that most years have a solid color. The other thing about mine is that it seems perfectly fine; no yellowing at all...except in a couple of spots. maybe its just not subject to alot of direct sunlight?? anyway, I always thought it was in much too good a shape to mess with it. very different from the bathroom parts. I would have guessed that it was made from an entirely different material.
anyway, I'm definitely going to have to try this. Kudos to those who found it!!!

Distantdrummer · 05-05-2009, 02:53 PM

Bruce what exactly is the state of the things there in your pictures?
I know those are ABS parts but please be more specific on the areas that are different colors. Was all coated and only some lightened? or is some in the pics still "cooking", or what exactly is happening there?
Is the beige paint or just ABS aging or is that nicotine or what?
Is the "bleached" result uniform regardless of time left to work, or is it critical to time the stuff carefully? In other words will different times of treatment and thickness of standing solution leave a splotchiness of various shades of "renewed off-white"?

Also I am confused about the print on the endcaps. Was there also a print on the kitchen window close-out ? Was the print from the factory you think or some previous owner's brain child?

Sad how this thread which is and was about the new chemical reaction process somehow devolved into a painting one. There are plenty of threads regards epoxy painting and other paints for ABS.
I want to know much more about this "peroxide" method of cleaning/re-newing.

Like what if anything does it do on the vinyl walls, and the mystery composition interior end domes.

ticki2 · 05-05-2009, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Distantdrummer

Bruce what exactly is the state of the things there in your pictures?
I know those are ABS parts but please be more specific on the areas that are different colors. Was all coated and only some lightened? or is some in the pics still "cooking", or what exactly is happening there?
Is the beige paint or just ABS aging or is that nicotine or what?
Is the "bleached" result uniform regardless of time left to work, or is it critical to time the stuff carefully? In other words will different times of treatment and thickness of standing solution leave a splotchiness of various shades of "renewed off-white"?

Also I am confused about the print on the endcaps. Was there also a print on the kitchen window close-out ? Was the print from the factory you think or some previous owner's brain child?

Sad how this thread which is and was about the new chemical reaction process somehow devolved into a painting one. There are plenty of threads regards epoxy painting and other paints for ABS.
I want to know much more about this "peroxide" method of cleaning/re-newing.

Like what if anything does it do on the vinyl walls, and the mystery composition interior end domes.

I second that ??????

StingrayL82 · 05-05-2009, 06:22 PM

We have the print on our front endcap as well...definitely from the factory that way. This is definitely one of the best ways to restore faded/stained ABS, but does anyone know if there are long-term effects. Another post detailed how bleach will turn the ABS brittle. I know bleach and peroxide are different chemicals, but I'm just wondering if there have been any noted side effects of this cleaning process.

bugz42 · 05-05-2009, 08:55 PM

We have only had our plastics brightened for about a month on some parts but it doesn't feel brittle or different in any way so far.

We did brighten the plastic surround for our clock and thermometer as well as the plastic cover for the air conditioner. Both of these pieces have a print or pattern on them that matches our walls and there was no adverse effect at all. They turned out great actually.

We didn't plan on using this process for the interior vinyl walls because it is a different material and I believe there were other methods of cleaning it. We were going to skip using it on our endcaps as well because they have many cracks that need to be repaired so we will end up painting these.

When doing the retrobrite I did notice that the brightening would mottle a bit but after my third application the color was nice and even and pretty darned impressive. My plastic looks new. I am beyond happy with our results. I will post pictures as soon as I am home when the light is good enough to take them.

Lisa

bmklawt · 05-05-2009, 09:32 PM

All credit for this great find needs to go to bugz42

Quote:

Bruce what exactly is the state of the things there in your pictures?
I know those are ABS parts but please be more specific on the areas that are different colors. Was all coated and only some lightened? or is some in the pics still "cooking", or what exactly is happening there?

The picture was just the corner of the kitchen window close-out, I just wanted to test this to see if it would do anything to the print.
I smeared the peroxide solution on just part of the corner so I could see and show the difference, it was on there for 6 hours.

Quote:

Is the beige paint or just ABS aging or is that nicotine or what?

The color is just the yellowing from age, it is the worst of any of the ABS in the trailer.

Quote:

Is the "bleached" result uniform regardless of time left to work, or is it critical to time the stuff carefully? In other words will different times of treatment and thickness of standing solution leave a splotchiness of various shades of "renewed off-white"?

I don't know the answer to that yet, they say it can take 4 applications of up to 8 hours each.
I have done this twice to my bath sink and shower pan and can see I will need to do it some more. As of right now it appears to be diminishing to yellow to a uniform white.

Quote:

Also I am confused about the print on the endcaps. Was there also a print on the kitchen window close-out ? Was the print from the factory you think or some previous owner's brain child?

The print is factory to match the walls, it is on the front endcap, kitchen window close-out, A/C shroud and tambour doors which all appear to be ABS, the rear endcap is a solid color with a textured surface.

Quote:

Sad how this thread which is and was about the new chemical reaction process somehow devolved into a painting one. There are plenty of threads regards epoxy painting and other paints for ABS.
I want to know much more about this "peroxide" method of cleaning/re-newing.

Read up about it at Retr0Bright - home I am no chemist but it looks like you can use to much peroxide Retr0Bright - Problems and Pitfalls and it does not appear to bleach the plastic Retr0Bright - ABS Plastic but I could be wrong, it's over my head

Quote:

Like what if anything does it do on the vinyl walls, and the mystery composition interior end domes.

I just finished painting my endcaps two weeks ago, I would have like to try this on the endcap and the tambour doors.

Picture of the kitchen window close out, tested the lower left corner:

bugz42 · 05-07-2009, 04:56 PM

Here is a photo showing my results using the retr0brite. The top left is with no treatment, bottom left is one treatment and still yellowish, top right is two treatments and kind of blotchy yellow in spots and bottom right is with three treatments with a nice even color that is no longer yellow. If you enlarge the thumbnail you will get a better idea of the results.

Lisa

somefun · 05-07-2009, 08:54 PM

Has anyone tried this without the UV light? I am thinking about doing this in my bathroom, but I don't want to disassemble everything, and I know a UV bulb couldn't cover everything at once.

bugz42 · 05-09-2009, 05:01 PM

I haven't tried it with a UV light but I would imagine you could just do it in sections. The plastic only lightens to the original color so you aren't going to see mismatched areas once it is all done.

Lisa

Retr0bright · 05-12-2009, 03:25 PM

Hi everyone, this is Merlin, from the Retr0bright Wiki site!!

It appears the name Merlin is already taken on here, so I went for the next best name

I am really glad you guys have taken to this and I would like to use some of your "before and after" pictures on the Wiki, if I may. The members and the Airstream site would be credited for the pictures and it helps to spread the word about what our invention can do.

I am also happy to answer any questions you may have about Retr0bright and how to apply it.

anasant · 05-13-2009, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bugz42

Hi all. Pretty much all of the plastic in our 1976 Sovereign was very yellow and I really didn't want to paint it if at all possible. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet we came across this site RetrObrite: Open Source Problem Solving - PSFK.com

We figured if it worked for computer plastic it should work for the plastic in our trailer so we gave it a try with excellent results. The concoction is cheap and easy to make with ingredients found at your local drug store and beauty supply. The instructions are available on the website but I would be happy to post the recipe and instructions here. You simply make up the gel, brush it on the plastic and put it out in the sun.

Here are some pictures that show the results we were able to obtain. The first shows an untreated piece in the lower left corner then clockwise a piece treated one time and two pieces treated twice. Once it is back to the original color it won't lighten any more. The second picture shows a piece that was treated except for the back that won't be seen. Some of the mixture dripped down and illustrates how well it works.

We did all of our plastic including the large pieces in the bathroom and I am amazed at how great they look. Yay no painting!

Lisa

Yes please! Could you post the recipe? I just bought a 1974 Landyacht Sovereign and yellow plastic is everywhere! My email address is anasant@bellsouth.net.

Thank you so much!

tallytwo1994 · 05-13-2009, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retr0bright

I am also happy to answer any questions you may have about Retr0bright and how to apply it.

Merlin,

Any chance this will work on fiberglass also?

Carol

Retr0bright · 05-14-2009, 01:34 AM

@ anasant

Here's a direct link to the Retr0bright recipe page; there are a couple of variations on there, dependign on what you can lay hands on.

Retr0Bright - Retr0Bright Gel

@ Tallytwo

It works 100% on ABS and to a lesser extent on polycarbonate, as the flame retardant is slightly different for polycarbonate. It won't damage fibreglass, so I would definitely give it a try on a test area to see what happens.

bugz42 · 05-14-2009, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retr0bright

Hi everyone, this is Merlin, from the Retr0bright Wiki site!!

It appears the name Merlin is already taken on here, so I went for the next best name

I am really glad you guys have taken to this and I would like to use some of your "before and after" pictures on the Wiki, if I may. The members and the Airstream site would be credited for the pictures and it helps to spread the word about what our invention can do.

I am also happy to answer any questions you may have about Retr0bright and how to apply it.

You are more than welcome to use my pictures. I am very thankful I came across your site. I couldn't be happier with the results!

Lisa

Retr0bright · 06-09-2009, 09:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bugz42

Trust me this is MUCH easier than painting. I'm lazy and I did all of it :-) I am going to do our third and final application in the morning and will post some before and after pictures of everything. I am not sure what if anything we are going to use to keep them bright. I am open to any suggestions! In any case it took many years for the stuff to yellow so down the road we can always brighten them again if need be.

Lisa

Hi Lisa,

Did you ever manage to take those before and after pictures? I'd be interested to see how the final project turned out as you installed them back in the batchroom.

I'd like some for our Wiki if you have them please. Thanks.

bevman · 06-17-2010, 08:31 AM

Has anyone tried this on their fiberglass "Astrodome"? Mine is quite yellow (1958) and nothing has brightened it, so far.

jimbob79 · 06-17-2010, 08:49 AM

My wife picked up some commercial hair bleach at a local beauty supply store that worked great straight out of the bottle and made our end caps match the rest of the interior of our 73 Overlander. It is the strongest that can be purchased without a license and is already thickened. I wish I had tried it on the tub and sink before I painted them, but live and learn.