Keeping white legos "white"

[stackables]

I have a couple of star wars sets that are predominately white and I am afraid that they will begin to yellow. Especially the imperial shuttle. Should I stop displaying them and put them back in their boxes? What does everyone else do with their white sets?

[Ed Mack]

I have a couple of star wars sets that are predominately white and I am afraid that they will begin to yellow. Especially the imperial shuttle. Should I stop displaying them and put them back in their boxes? What does everyone else do with their white sets?

KEEP THEM OUT OF THE SUN!!! Any sort of sunlight! Direct or indirect. That is the best advice I can give for any LEGO set, especially ones with white bricks.

[timinchicago]

How about just regular old indoor lighting? Do the white blocks consistently "yellow" over time no matter what the conditions? I have plenty of things made of white plastic that do not seem to fade or discolor over time, why would LEGO plastic be so susceptible? Also there are complaints/reports of new LEGO parts being clearly different shades (white and grey being the usual offenders) within the same set, including the IS. In fact I have seen reviews that specifically point these variations out.

[Ed Mack]

I did some research and found this article. As the article says,"It turns out this yellowing is usually the result of bromine released from flame retardants added in the master batch(of ABS plastic) to facilitate production and later molding. (Bromine, you will recall is a dark reddish brown liquid at room temperature) The loss of bromine doesn't necessarily mean that the plastic itself is deteriorated or unable to give decades of further performance, though a mental illusion often convinces us they feel brittle or rough.". The UV light from sunlight or certain fluorescent bulbs quicken this 'yellowing.' The article also goes on to explain how to remove this discoloration.

To a layman like myself, it sounds as if the ABS(acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic that LEGO bricks are made of will discolor in most conditions, even dark ones, they just yellow or discolor faster when exposed to UV rays.

[JesusLovesLegos]

I did some research and found this article. As the article says,"It turns out this yellowing is usually the result of bromine released from flame retardants added in the master batch(of ABS plastic) to facilitate production and later molding. (Bromine, you will recall is a dark reddish brown liquid at room temperature) The loss of bromine doesn't necessarily mean that the plastic itself is deteriorated or unable to give decades of further performance, though a mental illusion often convinces us they feel brittle or rough.". The UV light from sunlight or certain fluorescent bulbs quicken this 'yellowing.' The article also goes on to explain how to remove this discoloration.

To a layman like myself, it sounds as if the ABS(acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic that LEGO bricks are made of will discolor in most conditions, even dark ones, they just yellow or discolor faster when exposed to UV rays.

So I wonder if the white bricks will discolor in the MISBs???

[Damnation666]

So I wonder if the white bricks will discolor in the MISBs???Maybe not in the plastic bags, but maybe loose in the box.

[Guest idunno101]

I have a couple of star wars sets that are predominately white and I am afraid that they will begin to yellow. Especially the imperial shuttle. Should I stop displaying them and put them back in their boxes? What does everyone else do with their white sets?

I have a few sets that are white that I've had for about 25 years, and only a couple of bricks have tiny dots of yellow that are hard to notice unless you look at them very close. I've kept these sets in my basement which is cold but i don't know if that helps and they are out of the sun. So the bricks turn yellow but for me it sure has taken a while.

[cody.riggins]

Good to know!