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ZX80 retrobrite questions


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I received this yesterday http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161206/e3e068669c1a503ed150d81e820f1d86.jpg as you can see it's yellowed, not bright white like it should be. I want to retrobrite it but I'm a bit worried that the peroxide solution will remove the screen printed details like the ZX80 name. This is the peroxide solution I have.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161206/e1ff72f6caff962bad74219450eaebe7.jpg Do I just brush this all over, even the screen printing, wrap it in glad wrap and put it out in the sun on a not too hot day? I'm a bit nervous about wrecking the case.

Cheers Trev

 

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That pretty much sums it up mate, just make sure its 100% clean.

 

BTW I like many others have had mixed results with this, usually after a few years the plastic goes yellow again.

Thanks. I guess the bromine is still in there to leach out even after the peroxide has been used.

I'll give it a go. I'm going to try a pop bumper cap too to see if it affects the paint but from what you've said it shouldn't.

Cheers Trev

 

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From my experience it's best to just submerge the item in a shallow container and leave it out in the sun.

 

Didn't find the brush/wrap method to be beneficial.

 

Using only peroxide can take days for it to fully whiten. The advantage is that it's relatively gentle and doesn't tend to harm stickers/labels/paint etc.

 

You can speed it up by adding bleach powder to the peroxide, just keep a close eye on it. I've turned a complete brown famicom to factory white this way.

 

Do what you want, in 1-2 years time it will be yellow again.

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From my experience it's best to just submerge the item in a shallow container and leave it out in the sun.

 

Didn't find the brush/wrap method to be beneficial.

 

Using only peroxide can take days for it to fully whiten. The advantage is that it's relatively gentle and doesn't tend to harm stickers/labels/paint etc.

 

You can speed it up by adding bleach powder to the peroxide, just keep a close eye on it. I've turned a complete brown famicom to factory white this way.

 

Do what you want, in 1-2 years time it will be yellow again.

Thanks for the info. I hadn't thought of doing it that way. I know that you have to get a fairly even coverage and brushes can sometimes remove more than they're putting on.

Cheers Trev

 

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Well I can only speak from my own recent experience which is all documented on my apple IIc thread using the exact same stuff Trev has.

I covered the whole thing in the stuff, wrapped it and left it out in the sun with excellent results, no damage to any of the stickers, keys and labels.

A peroxide bath is nice for smaller things but not very practical for larger stuff.

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It's been outside in the sun for an hour and a half. No sign of drying out but it's looking a lot whiter. I'll give it another 30 mins and wash it off. This area will show how well it's worked. There was a sticker here that I removed prior to cleaning.

Before pic.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161207/930c4d074d5ecbaab4005c6f641f70fa.jpg

 

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Where the hell did you find a zx80......HUMMMMM! :)

Gumtree for $55 plus about $25 postage and the listing was about a week old. It came with the manual, a book of programs, a cassette cable, a tv cable and a whopping 1k of ram. My sister gave me a white plugpack psu I can use with it.[emoji1] I've wanted one for ages but could never justify/afford the prices on Ebay. It's not perfect but looks better now.

Beforehttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161207/696414c6d4be70a2bb419dd4619d89a5.jpg

Afterhttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161207/31cac12e9777c55138f862e525f993c7.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161207/576c35106c06ddd41212aa98f85a08f3.jpg I still need to do a bit more around the edges and the underside of the base but it's getting there. It'll need a composite mod to get a good picture out of it on a modern tv. They're about $15.

I love it. Now I need a Spectrum.[emoji6]

 

 

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You know they sell on eBay for upto $1000 due to how rare they have become. Plenty of ZX81 around but not ZX80.

Yep 😉

This one does have a few marks in the case though. The mint in mint box ones fetch a small fortune.

 

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Bugger. It was going so well. Nice and bright white but the yellow started to come off.

Before.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161208/3ec3b6d1b5d555c85c03905df1e9f26d.jpg

After.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161208/01b83f88b81284afbf860ef1c228d91a.jpg is there anyone out there that's really good with an airbrush who could fix this? @jason1 @Savage

Thanks Trev

 

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Wouldn't / shouldn't be hard to fix.

Im guessing it printed directly on, waterbased acrylic airbrush or pen may be go.

 

 

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Yeah it's printed straight onto the plastic. The orange has bubbled a bit.

It needs a bit of black touched up underneath too but that's not as important.http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161208/e7e03b0216bfa79d0b0e09af27d8c662.jpg?

Trev

 

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if you wanted todo it your self, you could just make a stencil and repaint it or airbrush it, Or maybe a waterside decal.

I like stencils because it is neater than taping it.

And savage is right, its not hard of a job,

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It's a bit late now but I suggest not allowing it to heat up too much. I had a few issues early on with certain apple labels bubbling. At first I thought it was the peroxide but the next time I covered the labels with tape and it still happened. In the end I worked out the glue on the label clear coat was letting go in the heat. You also need to be careful with any labels that are damage.. moisture gets underneath and they end up looking a lot worse.

 

Cheers

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I might just print a decal on a white background and stick it over the top. I've already done the artwork. They're vacuum formed cases so I was thinking of making a mould using fibreglass and resin and see if I could get some vacuum formed? But a decal will do for now.

 

 

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