Yellowed plastic.  Pretty much all game collectors know what I'm talking about, and often blame gets thrown in different directions; from smoking, to sunlight, to just plain dirt and grim.  But how do we deal with it?  Cleaning doesn't seem to work, and many of us have learned the hard way that some cleaners can even score and damage plastics.  So what do we do?  We try to remove the yellow, of course.  But how?  That, my friend, is the interesting part. As odd as this may sound, I'm taking my Commodore 64 to the salon supply store.





This is an old problem; the yellowing/browning of older micro-computers and game consoles. So the question again:  What do we do about it?  For most of us, we would likely do nothing, simply living with the fact that our consoles look weird, and in some cases, multi-colored.  The more common action to take these days is an application of Retr0brite, but considering how involved (and potentially dangerous) creating Retr0brite is, we thus either place the blemished systems back into their display boxes, or maybe even become blind to the defect.  In this respect I am one of you.  I've put countless hours into my nasty, brown-tinted Commodore 64 without a thought of how it looked.  Well, once I got used to it, that is.  Before that I scrubbed at it with various chemicals in a vain effort to make it look as fresh as it did back in the day, so that when a friend visits he might actually want to know what it is, instead of dodging around it to get to the console systems.  But alas, the cleaning was to no avail.  Until, that is, a month ago, when I stood outside in the sun, feeling my skin crisp in the heavy UV radiation which was so unusual for Michigan during that time of the year.

Bromide.  That is the chemical, which when added to plastics as a flame retardant, can cause the yellowing over time when exposed to UV radiation (sunlight, fluorescent lights, etc.).  Like I said before, I'm pretty sure this is common knowledge.  To counteract the yellowing, the idea was to create a mixture, with the key component being hydrogen peroxide.  Not the generic stuff you find at Walmart, but the stuff that is actually dangerous (of the 6% variety).  You either create a "bath" of the solution to dip the affected parts in it, or create a mixture of peroxide, laundry detergent, and xanthan gum (which would make it more of a gel) and place said yellowed parts in the sun, which would reverse the yellowing.  Sounds easy, right?  Yeah, I didn't do it either.  Be it because of laziness or whatever, I didn't do it.  Probably me being cheap, as I knew that it couldn't be cheap, and since I still am pretty utilitarian about my gaming, I would rather spend the money on actual games and systems.

So last month I'm outside in the sun, thinking about putting sun screen on my head, when it hit me:  I should have my Commodore 64 out here with me!  A little research and I found the solution:  Developer, that being hydrogen peroxide cream.  It is still dangerous (when coming in contact with bare skin), but unlike its liquid cousin it isn't unstable.  It also happens to be cheap, easy to buy, and relatively easy to work with, right out of the bottle.  So off I went, kids in tow, to Sally's Beauty store.  My wife came with me, informing me that if I showed up (older, balding) with two children in tow asking for strong developer, I might be taken for a weirdo, and who knows what would happen after such an incident.  And to close this narrative out, I would like to say the developer was cheap, the results were good, and thus, I am happy.


For those that want to play along, the process is very simple.  All you need is:

1 bottle of type 40 hair developer cream (I got SalonCare 40 Volume from Sally's Beauty, cost about $5 USD)
1 paintbrush (old but clean)
2 sets of protective gloves (nitrile, latex, etc.)
1 flat surface, such as cardboard, that can be used to move the parts easily without touching them
1 relatively steady source of UV radiation (UV lamp, sunlight)

After you've gotten all that stuff together, the fun begins.  First, take a picture of the part(s).  Trust me, you'll want this for comparison.  Next, you'll need to take the console/computer apart, taking care to remember how you did it for reassembly later.  For me it is my Commodore 64, which I don't ming saying makes me more than a little nervous, given this is my only working unit.  You can remove stickers as well if you want, but I did not.  Though I should say in my case the stickers in question are out of sight on the bottom of the C64, so I really didn't care too much.  Still didn't affect it, though.

Now it is time to snap those nitrile/latex gloves on and paint the affected parts with the developer, taking care not to splatter it on any exposed skin  It might also be a good idea to try and space out the parts on the flat surface so that they get maximum exposure to the UV source.  I imagine for most of you starting out with this, it will be the sun.  Leave the part(s) under the source between three and eight hours, depending on the intensity of the UV and also the general heat of the day (if you are using the sun).  You have to be patient, but you should start to see results pretty quickly.  Once you are satisfied (or too curious to wait any longer), remove the developer using water, be it directly (under a hose or laundry tub), or indirectly (wet paper towels).  I opted for the later choice, as I wanted to make sure all of the developer was off, and spraying my C64 case just felt weird.  It took a bit of effort, but only because the developer had dried due to the intense heat of that day.  I also managed to get some of the dried developer on my thumb, and boy did it hurt.  Not all at once, but gradual and over a period of time.  Chemical burns really suck, boys and girls.


The final step, where you get to see the final outcome, is to take another picture and compare.  For purposes of this article I only did half of the C64, as you can see in the shot above, more to show off to my friends and workmates.  Did I mention I did this while at work?  I did, prepping the parts during my morning break and removing them from the sun during my final break (about five hours exposure total).

After completing this fun little experiment, I do have a couple of thoughts for future attempts.  First, I would recommend gloves at all times, even when removing the developer after the "baking" process.  Chemical burns with 40 developer are painful.  Second, the sun works very well (even on cloudy days), but the heat associated with said sun is bad.  For example, I poured developer into a gallon ziplock bag with the individual keys of my C64 keyboard, and after a the first five hour exposure they looked great, but the heat, no doubt made worse by the closed ziplock bag, had deformed some of the keys.  Not cool.  I'm thinking of building an cardboard enclosure with a UV light attached to the top, which should make the entire process easier and more streamlined.  This is important, as there are people saying that this process is not permanent, but with continued exposure to UV radiation the yellowing will creep back in.  Unfortunate, but I'm in this for the long run, so I don't mind all that much.  In my opinion, this is totally worth any perceived hassle, especially if you plan on showcasing your game/computer systems.


Thanks for reading!

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