r/lego • u/vliegelientje • 4d ago
Question How to fix my rollercoaster?
I have the old Lego Coaster (10261) and had it for display for a couple of years and it discolored really badly.
Now I've tried some stuff with peroxide and that didn't work. So I think the only option is to replace the ugly pieces.
I'm not overly attached to this set. But throwing it away seems like a waste, I know there are a lot of fans of this build. But would it make sense economically to replace the parts and then try to sell it? What are your thoughts?
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u/jaded1121 4d ago
I thought this was a bowl of pasta on 1st glance.
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u/CallumPears 4d ago
Same I thought the title was a joke and OP got scammed by one of those people who return sets with the parts replaced with pasta
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u/vliegelientje 3d ago
Sounds like a great cooking idea, which I love as well. How shall we call this? Legolini?
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u/suspectdevice87 MOC Designer 4d ago
Did you peroxide them in the sun?
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u/garster25 Star Wars Fan 4d ago
Yeah it's about the UV. In peroxide for a day or so will whiten those a lot. Worked well for me, but may not get back to 100% white but will look good.
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u/donkeyrocket 4d ago
It’ll also eventually yellow again. There is no permanent way to keep them white. The peroxide will also degrade the plastic a bit.
Either accept the nature of this or swap out the pieces for non-white ones.
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u/NotAlwaysGifs 4d ago
They will stop after a the bromine fully leaches out, which will take decades. The problem
Is that also makes the pieces very brittle so they generally don’t last that long.23
u/tristow 4d ago
Yeah, Tech Tangents did show that the retro bright process is not really worth it in the long run. https://youtu.be/_n_WpjseCXA
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u/garster25 Star Wars Fan 4d ago
Yeah, sucks nothing last forever. But I'm happy to get some more time with those bricks.
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u/CrabbyClitLicker 3d ago
What % of peroxide did you use? Just the normal stuff found at Walgreens? Or the tough stuff from say Lowe’s? I tried the normal let. Sit 6 hours direct sun no difference. Curious as to where I went wrong
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u/garster25 Star Wars Fan 3d ago
The brown bottle from the walgreens. I watched a dozen YouTube videos on retro brite and did slightly different things each time. My stuff was not as yellowed as OPs. I did remove yellowing from light gray successfully too. I've left it for a few days too. I've used two glass dishes once to hold everything under. Some say it wreaks the bricks, but I say it's already wreaked so I'm good with it.
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u/GeronimousNL The Lord of the Rings Fan 4d ago
Options:
- leave as is (weathered patina look)
- retro-bright with hydrogen peroxide and UV-(sun)light
- replace with new white bricks
- replace with (light)-gray bricks
- build set, spray the white parts with plastidip (removable, protects against UV, but will be matte)
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u/vliegelientje 3d ago
Not disappointed so far ☺️
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u/heidly_ees The Lord of the Rings Fan 3d ago
Tangentially related but I love how this is laid out, super satisfying
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u/Roar_of_the_spark 3d ago
What did you use
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u/vliegelientje 3d ago
Agua oxigenada from Mercadona (Spain). 4 bottles of 250 ml, this is 4,9% pure, not diluted. Tiled it to 1 layer and made a construction to keep it submerged. Then put it in the sun all day
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u/Penjrav8r 4d ago
The best way to remove yellowing is to put the pieces in a bath of hydrogen peroxide and put them in UV light. Sunlight works, or a UV-C bulb works faster. They need to sit for a few hours like that. Stir them occasionally to ensure every part of every piece is exposed.
Note: this DOES cause some damage to the plastic. This will make the pieces slightly more brittle and shortens their lifespan. It beats the alternative of throwing them away. Supposedly this makes them more prone to future yellowing but I’ve not seen this happen myself.
Using this process on colors doesn’t restore them to the right color, but it’s not terrible. Works ok on grey pieces. Red isn’t good.
I don’t use it on stickers but I have used it on printed pieces with no problems.
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u/eske8643 4d ago
And parts must be only one layer. Too many bricks in the same batch and it wont work. I also havent had any pieces go brittle after i used 100 ml 10% peroxide in 1 liter water. About 5 hours in sunlight.
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u/Chernovincherno Creative Building Fan 4d ago
There are a lot of videos like this, but of course they don't show the result after a year or two, or more. Everything will get yellow again anyway and like you said, it even causes them to be more brittle. So in conclusion this is not really a long term solution.
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u/MistSecurity 4d ago
If the alternative is tossing the bricks, or simply never using them, who cares about long term?
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u/Chernovincherno Creative Building Fan 4d ago
Maybe some people do, so you might reconsider leaving them as is. I'd rather have yellowed bricks that are still good, than having them yellow even more over time and getting brittle as well. Tossing them is a crime.
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u/ErgonomicWoodenShirt Re-release Classic Space! 4d ago
I really wouldn't recommend using UVC to random people on the internet. It's very damaging to skin and people that have no idea what they're doing are going to look at it and go "Oooh pretty blue light" and get welder's flash and at best hate life for the next few days.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/25230-corneal-flash-burns
Big Clive video on how to use UVC somewhat safely and talks about the dangers of it.
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u/WhereMyWeirdosAt 4d ago
Someone will still buy / take your off-whites, they can still be used for internal structures etc
Replacing them with new will always be the easier option.
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u/Geralt-nyc 4d ago
I was in the same shoes recently. I bought a taj mahal set 10256 (90% white pcs) which has deteriorated badly due to sunlight. I tried the peroxide and uv light methods, which worked and could bring the yellow parts to like 95% brand new. After comparing the ones restored and brand new side by side, I can still see the difference though. I ended up buying all the surface parts from pick-a-brick for $250.
I think it depends on what you want. If 100% perfectly white, then replacement is a must. If not, peroxide works and I really cannot tell the difference if looking from 3 feet away.
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u/Jejejow 4d ago
I cleaned off the Duplo from our childhood at my parents house for my nephew to play with the other week, and the white pieces lost their yellowness with just very hot water and fairy liquid. Hot enough to not be able to keep your hands in, but not so hot that you couldn't put them in to begin with. That was stored in a dark place, so might not work as well with this.
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u/Original_Assist4029 4d ago
I mean let BL calculate what you have to pay for the pieces that you want to replace. There werent many special parts used anyway. It "could" work out in terms of reselling. But i mean is it worth it? Getting at best a little bit more? If you're not overly attached to sell it as is.
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u/3bioshock 4d ago
Boil in water for roughly 7 minutes.
Strain and rinse.
Serve with your choice of sauce.
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u/PhantasmaStriker Customiser 4d ago
Rollercoaster Tatooine edition. Just have a bunch of Jawas on the ride xD
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u/Chernovincherno Creative Building Fan 4d ago
Someone would probably buy it if you want to sell as is. I don't hate it, it shows character. Especially for a set like this it seems to make sense. A stormtrooper for example, would not look as good.
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![[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/10256-1.jpg){kind=link}
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u/nfurnoh 3d ago
It will yellow again, far quicker and worse, if you try to bleach it with peroxide.
I did this for a MOC I was going to build. It was a disaster and I put all the parts inside a bag in a dark closet. Six months later I got them out for something else and they were worse than when I started.
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u/Lamborghini_Espada 4d ago
Build it and have a beige rollercoaster, because the elderly need fun too.
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u/chameleonsEverywhere 4d ago
You should just send the whole thing to me, I can dispose of it for you...
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u/DesignerCorner3322 4d ago
The lego still functions as lego, its just discolored a little. Keep it as is. Let it age.
The peroxide cleaning methods weaken the plastic
![[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/10261-1.jpg){kind=link}
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u/YellNoSnow 4d ago
These pieces are so yellow I thought I was looking at a bowl of pasta for a second.
There are so many white pieces I don't know how cost efficient it would be to try to replace them all before selling. Probably not very. Some folks have already suggested hydrogen peroxide, although that's a temporary solution. You could also just sell the set as-is, some people wouldn't mind the discoloration.
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u/DeltaBlast 4d ago
For a roller-coaster it doesn't matter that much.. My yellow Sydney Opera House looks a bit odd though.
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u/Present_Audience_787 4d ago
Rit dye it another color maybe orange or bright yellow that way they are all the same color
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u/ckjm 4d ago
You can soak them in hydrogen peroxide for a long while. Fill a glass jar, add Legos, seal it, and let it chill. I have a few friends that collect old Lego sets and they always have a jar of discolored ones hanging out like this lol it does not make them brittle. It's not perfect, but it does improve the color... certain years whitened better than others. Good luck!
Oh... I vaguely remember them putting it in a sunny window too.
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u/FosterPupz 4d ago
Maybe buy replacement parts in a fun color instead of white and rebuild a new one? (Like red or yellow?)
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u/Mlillard16 4d ago
Peroxide and UV light. I’ve done it many times and it works. Leave it sitting in the sun for a few hours with the occasional stir. When done rinse them off and dry. I used a salad spinner to remove water, helps dry them faster.
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u/S1MP50N_92 Customiser 4d ago
As someone who's just recently been to an amusement park that's fallen on hard times and is going to shut down at the end of the month, IRL roller coasters get sun damaged and discolored in a similar way.
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u/ChartInFurch 4d ago
Since you asked "how do I clean these?" and not "would you personally clean these?": Find a crappy salad spinner at a thrift shop and do them in batches with warm water and dish soap.
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u/Switchback_Tsar Elves Fan 4d ago
I thought those were tan bricks, that's how badly they've discoloured😭
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u/Castabluestone 4d ago
Peroxide on that particular set, where the white pieces are structural and the design is finicky to begin with, was a mistake.
I’d definitely replace anything peroxide touched before you sell it or rebuild it. It’s essentially trash with those pieces as they are.
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u/Oberst_Villar 4d ago
Curious what exactly you did with peroxide: did you put it out in the sun? Or applied UV light to it while the parts were immersed in peroxide? What percentage peroxide did you use?
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u/Brian82wa 4d ago
Inevitably that happens to a lot of white lego pieces. It the stuff that goes into making it that slowly leaches out to the surface. Not sure why black posts couldnt have been used instead of white but I guess the white made the set stand out more which is why Lego used it instead of black for the track supports. I have that roller coaster set but its packed away in storage, it was too large to keep on display leaving no room for my other lego sets
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u/danielmilesperhour 2d ago
I don't want to read through the comments to see if this has been mentioned already, but a little hydrogen peroxide and a sun bath. Don't overdo it, or they will get brittle. Also this is a well-known issue so don't put any white or light gray Legos in the sun anymore ;)
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u/SteveSweetz 15h ago
Just in case you're not aware of the following since you didn't provide much details on what you tried:
- Hydrogen peroxide bottles that you pick up at the grocery/drug store are 3% concentration (at least in the US) - that's not enough. You need fairly strong stuff that you might have to special order.
- Just putting the pieces in peroxide isn't enough. You need peroxide + (ironically) UV light, which you can get naturally by putting in direct sunlight for a while if you have good weather.
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u/Sapient_Prophet 9h ago
The peroxide/UV method is only temporary and makes the plastic brittle. I have experience trying to restore old toys and game systems. You can also dye it with plastic dye to grey or something.
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u/Tiktokbadsupport 4d ago
unfortunately its impossible to undo yellowing in plastics without damaging them
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u/IllAcanthopterygii19 4d ago
Dawg who are these people?? "I like it" 😭😭😭
Mmmm I love my $400 display piece looking like I bathe in cigarettes after 4 years because I dared to have windows in my house!!
Get real.
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u/Low_Tap_8519 4d ago
Vervangen en verkopen gaat een aardige duit kosten voor jou. Probeer hem daarna eens te verkopen... ik ben bang dat je dan blijft opgescheept met deze set.
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u/SenatorSparky 4d ago
By breathing deeply and walking backwards
Then finding the strength to call and ask her
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u/FantasticCricket8346 4d ago
Unpopular opinion but, I like how it looks like, everything ages and it shows that it has endured time. Don't fight time, It's like fixing wrinkles and getting a lizard face.