Yellowed decals

[kruaxi]

Often, old decals show a yellow film: it's a problem for a vintage lover as me.
I read on the web to expose them to the Sun for two or three days... problem can be fix, most of the time.
Well... bad weather, night... too problems... How to resolve ?
I think about... probably UV rays are the solution.
So, i bought a little machine with UV lamps, used for nails art...

I know... seems an AREA 51 hangar... or a satanic dog's bed...

Yesterday in the evening i took this old decal, then i leave it inside that UV 'oven' for a day...
This is the result:

BEFORE

AFTER

Well, i believe it's really different !
Now, i leave it again, for a day or two, to see if remaining yellow can disappear entirely.

I don't know if any have had this idea before... i never read about...

 

[T Bolt]

I've never had much luck leaving the decals in the window, but it looks like your light really works. Great idea

 

[Wayne Little]

Interesting!

 

[stona]

I've saved some by exposing them to sunlight. Your system looks to work too. I always coat decals I've treated this way with Liquid Decal Film before I use them.
Cheers
Steve

 

[treyzx10r]

That is really amazing ,nice fix !

 

[Crimea_River]

Great tip, thanks!

 

[Wurger]

The problem of getting yellowish by decals was discussed a few years ago here in the forum. We all agreed tthat the sunlight and the UV rays are very useful for fixing of the problem. The idea is really nice because we are sunlight-independent especially living in countries where the sunshine grade has never been the same like in the OZ for example. Please keep us updated with results.

 

[herman1rg]

Looks like a good discovery

 

[Switcha]

I've saved some by exposing them to sunlight. Your system looks to work too. I always coat decals I've treated this way with Liquid Decal Film before I use them.
Cheers
Steve

Highly recommend this. The UV rays seem to weaken the decal film and they shatter very easily. This has been my experience but the decals I have been using are very old, either way coating them is a good idea. If you don't have any decal liquid paint them with a gloss clear as this works almost as well as decal liquid but is not quiet as flexible.

Cheers Switch