Lost causes?? Sunfading tedium

[Sugar]

I don't know if this might help for Baby Heart Throb, but I recently tried a salon-strength nail varnish remover and it worked for budging some more stubborn stains.  It's higher acetone than the standard stuff, but lower than the pure acetone that's harder to come by, and it doesn't smell any worse than regular remover.

(I'm going to be following the progress on your sunfading; I have a pretty Parasol with a blob of marker smack dab in the centre of her forehead, quite like your Sunnybunch but in dark purple )

[hathorcat]

No problem. And yes this is certainly the time to enjoy your weather then if you are in NZ . Have you tried sitting them out somewhere the UV is going to get really intense? The parcel shelf or dashboard of a car which is sitting out under the sun is usually pretty good for this.

That'll get it very hot but unless the car is really ancient the glass is UV treated, and even plain glass blocks UV rays shorter than 350 nm. For restoring ABS plastic the desired wavelength is 300-350 nm in conjunction with a peroxide formula (a more scientific version of the Transformers method of putting the toy in a tupperware full of peroxide and leaving it in the sun).

No don't worry it still works I have seen amazing success with this over the years. The glass blocks short wave UV but not long wave UV that's why many professional drivers or those using cars extensively are advised to still wear sunscreen and even have additional screening on windows. Plus as mentioned below ponies are not made from ABS plastic so they cope differently. 

The theory you mention of hydrogen peroxide in the sun has always confused me. If you leave an HP solution open to the air or exposed to air and sun it will simply become water...and it can do so within a very short period of time. So you may as well simply soak the pony in water. In addition ponies are not made from ABS plastics - although pony playsets are. I have certainly seen the practice of H202 on harder based plastics over the years in an attempt to remove yellowing and bromide staining but I honestly have seen more success in pony collecting with people who simply expose a pony to sunlight though glass.

[Marlin]

Wow.... I am endlessly fascinated by what you people know!

I will keep you guys posted with what (if any!) progress I have with the three ponies I have! 

[silverdragon54]

Acetone hard to come by? I found mine in an auto parts store, and it's well worth getting.

Maybe I can get in on all of this awesome expertise.  I have a Fashion Style Fluttershy that I rescued from a thrift store, and the poor girl had a rough life with her last owner. I don't think sunfading is an option here. She has purple pen marks (pen, not marker) in one ear, in both eyes, and on her scalp. Magic Eraser didn't work. I can repaint her eyes if I need to, but what about the scalp mark? Would acetone leech into the hair plugs and dissolve the glue holding them in?

[NovelNerd]

Unfortunately peroxide can dry out hair. You've got ponies that really need paint covered up and peroxide will help to quicken paint discoloration/fading.
How lucky you are to be in an area with sun! Winter is sliding in here and sunfading is now going to take forever x5... LOL.

Let us know how things are going with the sunfading in a few weeks??

Really? I haven't had that happen yet. I'm only on number five, but my girls have come out better than they went in. I did have an unfortunate accident with some painters tape once (not in peroxide) it rubbed off on one girl and stained her symbol blue. That was just her sitting around with it before going to sunfade...it was odd.

[kezrob23]

i have one on my dash now. it gets a good 8 hours of sun a day, so i'm hoping it won't take too long. i must look like a total nut driving around with a pink tail-less pony with tinfoil on her hair and tape on her eyes on my dash, but if it works i reckon i can handle it!!!

[pineapple]

No problem. And yes this is certainly the time to enjoy your weather then if you are in NZ . Have you tried sitting them out somewhere the UV is going to get really intense? The parcel shelf or dashboard of a car which is sitting out under the sun is usually pretty good for this.

That'll get it very hot but unless the car is really ancient the glass is UV treated, and even plain glass blocks UV rays shorter than 350 nm. For restoring ABS plastic the desired wavelength is 300-350 nm in conjunction with a peroxide formula (a more scientific version of the Transformers method of putting the toy in a tupperware full of peroxide and leaving it in the sun).

No don't worry it still works I have seen amazing success with this over the years. The glass blocks short wave UV but not long wave UV that's why many professional drivers or those using cars extensively are advised to still wear sunscreen and even have additional screening on windows. Plus as mentioned below ponies are not made from ABS plastic so they cope differently. 

The theory you mention of hydrogen peroxide in the sun has always confused me. If you leave an HP solution open to the air or exposed to air and sun it will simply become water...and it can do so within a very short period of time. So you may as well simply soak the pony in water. In addition ponies are not made from ABS plastics - although pony playsets are. I have certainly seen the practice of H202 on harder based plastics over the years in an attempt to remove yellowing and bromide staining but I honestly have seen more success in pony collecting with people who simply expose a pony to sunlight though glass.

Yes, water is the final result. UV exposure speeds up the reaction with the peroxide and the surface of the plastic. I'm well aware ponies are PVC rather than ABS, but results on rubbery mouse buttons at the retr0bright site give me hope. I'm planning an inconspicuous test spot on my very yellow Paradise, and some more experiments with stains and marks on my baitiest ponies when I get a chance to mix up a batch of the brush-on formula.

[hathorcat]

Good luck - you should check out some of the sun fading threads and tutorials and information people have built up over the last decade on the subject. Its fantastic to read all the different results and theories!

[pineapple]

I'm familiar with sun fading. If the retr0bright formula works similarly to how it works with ABS it could brighten age yellowed ponies in hours rather than weeks or months.  I'm also curious to see what effect it would have on cancer spots and accessory dye transfer ("pink highlighter").

[hathorcat]

Cant wait to see your results! Will be really interesting.

[pineapple]

Probably not gonna have time to mess with it till after the holidays, but yeah.  Here's hoping!