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OK, my mom got me some Litko (here it comes) tokens for my birthday. I glued them at work and left them out for a while. Maybe an hour. Then I baggied them up and went home.

When I got home, they looked like the attached image. I'm wondering 2 things:

A.) What's the easiest way to clean them if you've experienced this? If I polish each one with super glue debonder, it does come off, but it's tedious. Is there a fast way to clean these off? No guesses please, since I don't want to make it worse or ruin them.

B.) How do I avoid this in the future? I'm guessing there is a special glue I should have used. Unfortunately Liktko's site is missing the page the recommended glue points to.

Thanks!

You could have used 'plasti-zap' (Zap superglue formulated for clear plastics).

Apart from that, perhaps you used a smidge too much glue on each of them (and you need a lot more ventilation).

OTOH the humidity could've done its own part (superglues, like spray paints, behave differently in humid and warm environments.).

before we go any further, I should point out that despite how it may appear, I did not use an excessive amount of glue. Each piece got approximately one nerd candy's worth of glue.

I don't know a more appropriate unit of measure then nerd candy. If you prefer, about half a BB.

It is very warm and humid at work. Swampy, even.

Swampy would explain it then.

I can recommend the plasti-zap for clear acetates (works well, no fogging) but at the time ambient humidity HERE was around 35% and the temperatures were in the low mid 20s (Celsius) - maybe 70-80*F.

I think you'd be pretty much stuck with topical application of the debonder and a bit of work due to climate issues.

Rubbing alcohol removes the fog on clear parts.

I had a friend explain it to me, because I was worried about this same issue on my Valkyrie bases.

The fog comes from moisture in the air reacting with the vapors. He said to use a hairdryer to "dry out" the air around the glue and you won't get the fog.

I had a hair dryer blowing on the bases/stem for about 5 minutes straight and had no fog whatsoever.

Worked for me, you could give that a shot.

Use PVA glue in the future. Dries clear

My guess is it has to do with you putting them in a closed bag before the glue was dry. The fumes/vapors were then concentrated in the bag and adhered to the plastic.

I will say though, it does look like fingerprints on some, are you sure you didn't have glue on your hands, even a small amount, and handle the rest with glue on your hands?

As previous posters have said, good ventilation+very little glue is key. The same issue happens on the clear glass they use for hatches on vehicles (I'm looking at you eldar falcon chassis and Valkyrie...)

Target has made a good point. Possibly there would have been little to no fogging if the pieces hadn't been put in a bag until the glue had completely cured and the fumes had stopped.

One thing to try in future is to try dunking clear parts in Jonson's Futur (Klear in Britain.)
Leave to dry for 24 hours in a covered container to stop the dust getting at the parts, and it will protect clear plastics from CA fumes.
Also provides a really good clarity to the clear plastics.

Will even restore clarity if for example a scratch needs to be polished out.

Hairdryer sounds interesting. Just be careful not to melt the plastic.

targetawg wrote:My guess is it has to do with you putting them in a closed bag before the glue was dry. The fumes/vapors were then concentrated in the bag and adhered to the plastic.

That is exactly it. The concentrated fumes caused the fogging even with only a little glue. Happened to my Wyches, which are grey plastic, becuase i put them in my acrylic paint bin with paper towels on top right after building them.

Testors makes a clear parts cement that works well, but it takes a very long time to dry, about an hour to set and more for full strength. Debonder and a cue tip is probably the most precise way to clean it.

The fumes from the superglue bonded with the oils in your finger prints. By putting them in the bag you trapped any lingering fumes. This is actually a forensic technique for finding finger prints. http://www.ehow.com/how_4860541_fingerprints-superglue.html

fraggrenade wrote:Rubbing alcohol removes the fog on clear parts.

Yeah, that didn't work at all. It actually made it a little worse, since the parts where glue had stuck to my fingerprints but stayed transparent now became bright white.

targetawg wrote:I will say though, it does look like fingerprints on some, are you sure you didn't have glue on your hands, even a small amount, and handle the rest with glue on your hands?

Those tokens are around 20mm apiece, and there is so much fogging my fingers would have been completely covered with superglue to have done that; I hope I would have noticed it. No, I put a tiny drop of glue in the corner, then pushed the other piece in. Depraved has it explained, I think. I think I saw that in beverly hills cop once - I guess I need to let them air out a lot longer before bagging them, or just use a more appropriate glue.

In the meantime, i've used simple green and rubbing alcohol, neither worked. I spray painted one of them with a high gloss clear spray, and that sort of worked, but wasn't perfect.

I cleaned most of them so far with debonder and q-tips, and that works perfectly, it's just very tedious. Thanks for the tips and hopefully this saves someone else a hassle in the future.

I'm reminded to get that bottle of Plasti-zap from my local model store.

Sand the contact surfaces as well (you won't see them anyway and it increases surface area for the superglue to work its magic).

Ensure good ventilation. Even with a small fan sitting next to them. Superglue does take a while to completely dry and evaporate, and if you have left ANY fingerprints behind, it WILL be attracted to the oils on it.