Product issues

Aviah102 · Post by **Aviah102** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 6:27 pm

Soon i'm going to be receiving some nice, though handled castle lego sets from ebay. I was wondering if there was anything to look out for, with products coming from someone you do not know. Is there anything particular to look out for? Any damage to lego products that could even be detrimental to the legos you already have? I'm just wondering. Any feedback or personal stories would be interesting to hear about. Thanks.

Post by **JoshWedin** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 8:57 pm

The main problem I have run into was that smoke smell. Several lots I bought smelled very bad and the seller never said that the Lego came from a smoking household. But a good scrubbing usually takes care of the problem.

Josh

Post by **architect** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 9:13 pm

For the smoke damage problem, just let the bricks soak in water with a bit of bleach and it will get rid of the smell. For instructions with smoke smell, place dryer sheets in between the pages overnight and it will help get rid of the smell. I discovered this method because of my college residents using detergent and dryer sheets to hide smoke from illegal substances

Ben

Bloody Jay · Post by **Bloody Jay** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 11:24 pm

Along the same lines, anyone know how to un-dirty white pieces?

Post by **architect** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 1:29 am

Ive heard, although not tried this, from Tony that you soak them in hydrogen peroxide for several weeks and it takes out the yellow. This makes sense because that takes out blood stains. So this would have to be in a cool dark place (no light whatsoever) for a while. It would be interesting to see how well it works.

Ben

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 2:43 am

architect wrote:Ive heard, although not tried this, from Tony that you soak them in hydrogen peroxide for several weeks and it takes out the yellow. This makes sense because that takes out blood stains. So this would have to be in a cool dark place (no light whatsoever) for a while. It would be interesting to see how well it works.

Ben

I am currently running an experiment on it. I have a (poorly taken) before picture, and in a few days it'll have been a month, and I'll take an after picture. I'd be happy to publish my results if anyone was interested.

--Anthony

ottoatm · Post by **ottoatm** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 2:59 am

I would be interested to see how the hydrogen peroxide experiment works... although I wonder, does it take out the dirt, or does it take off a layer of plastic, kind of like bleach?

Other than discoloration and smell, any set I buy from e-bay is instantly assembled for two reasons:

1 - It's fun and I can't wait

2 - Piece Count! It seems there is often a few pieces missing from these "perfect" sets.

Congrats on the win~

Post by **Athos** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 3:24 am

Ive heard, although not tried this, from Tony that you soak them in hydrogen peroxide for several weeks and it takes out the yellow. This makes sense because that takes out blood stains.

For instructions with smoke smell, place dryer sheets in between the pages overnight and it will help get rid of the smell. I discovered this method because of my college residents using detergent and dryer sheets to hide smoke from illegal substances

Sounds like you've got some stories to tell...

Steve

Drucifer · Post by **Drucifer** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 4:52 pm

Bloody Jay wrote:Along the same lines, anyone know how to un-dirty white pieces?

I couldn't find it with a quick search, but there is an older thread on LUGNET discussing some ways to remove the yellowish color from white bricks. The two main methods were to soak them in a mixture of water and bleach (with differing measurements for the mixture discussed) or to use Brasso.

The basic theory of the yellowing is that it is caused by exposure to UV light and the aging of the plastic. The Brasso method simply is removing a thin amount of aged plastic to reveal fresh unaged plastic underneath. The bleach method tends to work great with white, but can cause some of the other colors that yellow to end up a little lighter than they were originally.

I'd definitely like to hear how the hydrogen peroxide experiment comes out. I've tried the Brasso solution and it does work, but it's a lot of hard work.

Sir Vincent · Post by **Sir Vincent** » Mon Jun 27, 2005 4:54 pm

I bought some of those Egyptian adventurers sets...I think they were actually in a tomb...

Aviah102 · Post by **Aviah102** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:00 am

Thanks for all of the interesting replies. Also, ottoatm congratulated me on the win, but I can't say I necessarily "won" them. Well, I recently(and finally) persuaded my cousin to sell the lego sets he has that he bought from ebay. He suprisingly has almost every castle set up to the royal knights line(and after the yellow castle type line or whatever) from ebay, which he received MISB. He opened each one assembled them and put them back into the box and has not opened them since then(about two years ago). Only a few were not MISB when he got them so I was curious about things to look out for. Thanks again and keep posting!

eNiGMa · Post by **eNiGMa** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:09 am

Aviah, you have got to be the luckiest son of a gun I have ever known! Does your cousin have any classic town?

Bloody Jay · Post by **Bloody Jay** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:23 am

eNiGMa, seeing as you're just about the same age as me, you might find this a good technique for getting free sets. Just ask other high-schoolers! The popular crowd is best for this... LEGO isn't a hot topic with them.

I was able to score Fort Legoredo, Railway Express, and a huge track pack for $20 once.

venvorskar · Post by **venvorskar** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 1:26 am

I have never gotten smoke smelling items, and I buy on Ebay quite frequently. But I once won an auction that said. "This set apears to be complete, but I have not checked the boxes." This was the Mos Espa Podrace set and it was being shipped from England. It cost about $30 for the auction and $70 for the shipping. I waited about five months and a a few weeks before Christmas it arrived. I opened it, expecting to see the complete 100 dollar Mos Espa Podrace, but instead saw a looted version of that set. Every podracer except Anakin's was missing a lot of pieces and Gasgano was not there either. Anakin, Padmae, R2-D2 and Gasgano's racer was missing. So the moral of the story is: make sure they saw that it is one hundred % complete before even considering buying.

Post by **architect** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:06 am

I think it depends on the set to see if it is complete. If you can locate a rare set that is not complete, but has all the rare pieces, buy it cheap. I got a 6060 Knight's Challenge missing about 10 basic bricks for $20. Those extra bricks I had in my collection so I saved 20-30 from buying a complete version. Assembling sets is a great way to save but you do need a picture to see which bricks you are getting.

Ben

Classic-Castle.com

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