Anybody else tried this?

[ApertureScience]

I was looking for a way to remove highlighter stains from plastic without sunfading and I stumbled upon an interesting way to remove Sharpie instead.  Apparently, no matter how old the Sharpie mark is, you can rub an Expo dry erase marker over it and then just wipe both marks off together.  There's an eHow and a YouTube video of this method.  I'll post the links in the morning (not using computer at the moment).

Has anyone ever tried this?

Oh, and I still haven't found a way to remove highlighter without sunfading.

[teresat]

Oh my gosh. Gotta try this. I wonder if you can do highlighter over highlighter the same way. I have some bait ponies that I can try.

One question: What were the surfaces that they used in the demos? That might make a difference. Some surfaces are more porous than others and won't release the coloring.

[Whoa1234]

I tried  this multiple times a month or so back on a G1 Princess Moondust, the sharpie didn't budge an inch. :/

[ApertureScience]

@Teresat:  In the video, a 1x1 Lego piece was used.  In the eHow article, it just said that it works best on harder plastics, but some soft plastics worked just as well.

@Whoa1234:  Oh, shoot.  That's a shame.  Well, thanks for letting us know!  I hope you find something else that will remove it.

[Wilford B Wolf]

due to some cemical testing in my early modeling days and plastics..yeah..lota custom cars..ive come across some stuff thru the years that may just work...but untill i have a very trashed pony to test on i wont know......i used use dot3 brake fluid to cleanly strip ALL types of paint and the bodys would come out as new as they day they were made..would it work on a pony...more than likely but dont blame me if it dont lol...now..if someone wants to send me some trashed ponys to run some experaments on..ill run my old lists of chemicals and post results..but i wont be held acountable for ponys that disintigrate

[Baby Sugarberry]

Yes, this may work on hard plastic surfaces like Lego, however it does NOT work on ponies.


Vinyl is porous, and many ink stains are years old.  While you may be able to lift the original pigment carrying particles off, the dye has seeped into the plastic and will not lift out by applying more ink.  We had a thread about this a month back or so, and various people proved it doesn't work.  Dry erase markers don't work either. 

[Pythia]

Yeah, tried this a few months ago. Doesn't work.

[kittybethy]

I wish it would work!

[hathorcat]

Yes, this is a common technique for removing permanent marker on durable and hard wearing plastics - as others have said unfortunately the porous nature of the plastic used for MLP means seldom is the ink "on the surface" thats the problem but the ink that has penetrated the plastic!

Cute idea though...it would be a wonderful solution if it worked.

[ApertureScience]

Oh, okay.  Thank you for your answers, everyone!  I'm glad I didn't waste my time trying then!

[HavACrumpet452]

I've tried it too and ended up getting dry erase marker stuck in the pores of the pony that I had to remove with acetone. Many pink marks people mistake for highlighter marks on ponies are actually dye that leaked over from pony accessories like shoes, saddles, and bridles too. It isn't often actual highlighter.