Yellowed Barnacle - thoughts/advice?

[Sugar]

Hi all!

So I got this lovely lad in a lot off eBay:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


I love the Big Brothers, and I'd love to restore him to his former glory!  He has the inevitable brown spots, and his symbol and eyes will need retouching... but it's his body that has me pondering how to pursue.  He's rather yellowed (moreso than the photos would lead one to believe), and I don't know if dark blue ponies fare well in sunlight.  I know his hair will need to be securely covered, eyes taped and symbols masked... but will the sun do weird things to his blue?  Does anypony have experience sunfading blue ponies?  Or brothers in general?  Thanks in advance!

[bbassel]

I can't help sadly but I am going to be stalking this thread. I have a barnacle with a couple brown spots as well. He is the only one in my collection with the breakdown and I originally bought him as a fixer upper but never got around to him yet. I am excited to see what people suggest although I don't think many people have too much luck sunfading breakdown. Good luck

[himmie]

Barnacle is certainly prone to cancer and discoloration. (I seem to have more of an issue with Quarterbacks here.)
As far as I know, sun fading would not eliminate that.

[Stormness_1]

I can't say I've had any luck sunfading yellowing, as the yellowing seems to be a result of it, rather.

[PinkRosedust]

Yeah, I think sadly sunfading a discolored blue pony is more likely going to discolor him further. Aside from attempting to re-dye or paint over it, I wouldn't think there's anything you could do for yellowing. :/

[hathorcat]

It depends what is causing the yellowing to be honest - is it a result of the chemical break down the same one causing the age marks or is it perhaps staining from another source [such as something pressed up against the pony or from nicotine] or is it a result of natural fading [as often plastics no matter their colour will simply fade to a yucky yellow with time - mainly because the other 2 pigments are much more readily faded].

Unfortunately without knowing which one of the above is causing it, its tough to say if fading will work - if its option 1 you could cause further further plastic break down by exposing the pony to the sun, if option 3 then the colour is already faded out and the sun would simply make it worse. However, if it is option 2 then yes you could manage to fade it out - but I would warn that as the pony already has age marks sun exposure could make them worse.

[Sugar]

Thanks for the answers, everypony!  I popped Barnacle's head off, and now I'm beginning to think I've got a pony with outside staining only - he's his normal gorgeous shade of blue inside. *whew!*  Though he doesn't smell, I'm thinking tobacco might have been the culprit once upon a time (possible, considering I have next to no clue of his provenance).

Anyway, since it's getting sunny here in the Great White North again, I'm going to have a go at sunfading him... very, verrrry cautiously.  At best, he'll look spiffier; at worst, he'll break down further.  But he's got a good home no matter how the sunfading turns out.   Shall I keep you posted?