The Magics of RetroBright

That is quite nice indeed. I remember reading about this concoction in the console and classic computer realm, nice to see yet another application.

IIRC it's a mixture you make yourself of somewhat noxious household ingredients you brush on the surface and UV cure, then rinse. There's really a ton of info about it out there and it's truly fascinating stuff, going on about the plastic composition and why and how it decays to the familiar yellow.
 
I've been using this stuff for a while, works great!
Problem for me is I need to find a good UV light source. The sun works, but now it's getting cold and I'm afraid the solution might not work well in the cold.
 
I've been using this stuff for a while, works great!
Problem for me is I need to find a good UV light source. The sun works, but now it's getting cold and I'm afraid the solution might not work well in the cold.

Someone school me on this. Are you making it yourself or buying it?
 
Putting together the ingredients does take some effort. Hydrogen Peroxide @ 12% came from Ebay Xanthan Gum from a Health Food shop. Not CVS or GNC Glycerin was found at CVS My second batch was made with 4 oz into the blender, then some Xanthan, then more peroxide and so on. The Xanthan converts to a gel almost instantly so just dumping the Xanthan in all at once didn't work so well. "You have to respect the Chemistry" Walt
 
The ingredients I was told which works and I have been using. PLEASE NOTE: These ingredients are to create the retrobright solution in gel form:

3% hydrogen peroxide
Corn starch powder
oxiclean

Put about 50ml of Hydrogen peroxide in a small container, heat in microwave for 20 seconds. Add 1.5 teaspoons of corn starch. Stir the starch in with the peroxide. Place back in microwave for another 20 seconds. Remove and stir again. Then wait a few minutes for it to solidify. NOTE AGAIN: The gel will start to bubble up and possibly spill out of container if container is not large enough, and this can get messy. I usually put my container on a paper plate to catch any spills or overflow. Then, apply gel to plastic and expose to UV light (Sun or some other UV lamp).
 
I want to use retrobrite on my Star Trek cockpit...but I'm scared of melting it after making the mixture incorrectly.
 
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