Preventing LEGO sunlight damage

[Capt. Stabbin]

I have my sets in a room with black out curtains. As for dust, when they become too dusty, I just take them apart, clean the bricks. Then I pull out the instructions and rebuild them. Good as new, and fun! (the rebuilding part, not the cleaning part)

Edited January 3, 2013 by Capt. Stabbin

[Ape Fight]

Hmm.

All my Lego was in the loft for a number of years, and before that as a kid it was all over my floor (in direct sunlight for about 8 years).

The discolouration I saw on a few pieces seemed as much to do with air exposure and the slight variances in the manufacture as it did sunlight.

For example, a 4 stud long 'white' plate may have gone beige on two studs if those were exposed, and remain pristine on the other four hidden studs, but its counterpart on the other side of the model didn't go beige at all.

For me, more importantly than any of this, is that I had great fun with my Lego, and on the occasions where I still buy it, I continue to. I leave my pieces in sunlight, in a freezing/boiling loft, chuck the boxes away etc., but most of all, I enjoy it. That's why it was made.

I expect I might incur the wrath of collectors on here, but surely Lego is for playing with, not sealing away in an airtight container and worrying if a bit of it might go slightly yellow? But hey, we're all free to do as we please with our own bricks. Mine however, are going to get used : )

[Dazmundo]

I don't have many sets on display mainly as I only got back into Lego a couple of years ago. The sets I do have out, MMV, emerald night, the modular buildings are all on display on a high window ledge in our conservatory. In direct sunlight for about three quarters of the day. I know i have a high chance that some of the pieces will discolour but i don't see the point in spending all this money to have the sets hidden away in cupboards. With regard to playing with them... My 3 year old daughter loves playing with daddys Lego :-)

[Kristel]

I expect I might incur the wrath of collectors on here, but surely Lego is for playing with, not sealing away in an airtight container and worrying if a bit of it might go slightly yellow? But hey, we're all free to do as we please with our own bricks. Mine however, are going to get used : )

I know i have a high chance that some of the pieces will discolour but i don't see the point in spending all this money to have the sets hidden away in cupboards. With regard to playing with them... My 3 year old daughter loves playing with daddys Lego :-)

My thoughts exactly. Each to their own, but my view is that Lego is meant to be built with, played with and displayed proudly. I cringe when my almost 6.y.o daughter pulls out the sand green, sand blue, dark orange, dark blue, etc, boxes, but I can't tell her not to play with them. I want her to enjoy them as much as I do, and explore her creative side. Further, I haven't been out of my dark ages all that long, but have noticed some yellowing on my white bricks and that's with very little direct sunlight. Unless they go totally off-colour, I think a little of variation in colour adds to the texture of a building.

[Gatekeeper]

I like to play with mine too, I wish I could say that it was with kids but no sadly it's just me and a wife who looks at me funny all the time.

However, I'm restricted to a dark corner room in the basement so sunlight and heat aren't really an issue. I've found the most problem with just the plastic discoloring over time due to quality. Some of my collection is well over 30 years old and some looks good and some doesn't I don't know what can be done about it but I have quite a few white bricks that are now much closer to tan than white.

[LegoDad]

Light definitely does play a factor, though there are so many variables at work. I have a lot of old sets with white parts that got yellowed. With these sets in particular, it was only the sides of the bricks facing the light that got discoloured. This was the case for about 90% of my sets that got discoloured.

With the other 10%, parts became discoloured whether they were directly facing the sun or not. And even with those sets, the pieces of the same colour must have come from different batches as some of the parts were discoloured, and some weren't.

All I know for certain is that within the past 10ish years (ever since I seriously starting trying to protect my Lego), I haven't had any more problems with discolouration.

This is what I found with my older '80s sets. I had the original Kings Castle 6080? and could have probably put it back together exactly how it was when I was a kid because the only sides that were faded were those that had been subjected to sunlight since I kept some sets right beneath a window.

[ShaydDeGrai]

I have some older bricks (1960's and '70's Samsonite) that I've pretty much retired because of clouding of clear pieces and yellowing of white, but overall I don't worry too much about fading and such, at the end of the day LEGO is somewhere between a toy and an art medium, not the original copy of the Magna Carta or anything so if it fades a bit I don't worry too much about it. I've never really gone out of my way to keep things out of direct sunlight and don't dust nearly as often as I should (I figured the dust would help block the UV ).

That said, about 8 years ago I replaced the old wooden windows in my house with modern (high-tech, thin film, low-e, argon filled, double glazed, fill-in marketing buzz word of your choice here) replacement windows and I really haven't noticed any fading issues since (in my LEGO or my drapes). I won't say it's eliminated the issue, but it's certainly slowed down the process while maintaining access to cat-approved sunbeams in the room.

[Faefrost]

I have been told, by people who should know what they're talking about, that you can protect your LEGO pieces against sunlight as much as you want, but it won't necessarily help against discolouring. Apparently the plastic needs a day/night cycle to stay fresh.

How well the pieces keep their colour also depends on what batch they originally came from. Two days ago I dug out some old pieces for a set from my childhood - there was a white pair of car doors in there, and I know for a fact that they're from the same set, and they've been kept together at all time since the set was new more than 30 years ago - yet one is white and the other looks much more like tan. This is probably because they were molded from plastic from different sources, that have stood the test of time differently.

There are two things going on with the fading. UV rays and their effect on plastic is one. And yes lots of direct UV exposure will bleach and deteriorate plastics. But avoiding that will not always prevent color shifts. Some bricks, especially whites will discolor over time. It comes from the fire retardant that is mixed into the plastics. Newer plastics have gotten a lot better about this, but it will still vary over time how bad it is.

I'm lucky my office / man cave gets no direct sunlight. And all of my Lego has been banished errrr... Restricted to that room.

[Grimmbeard]

I keep mine in a room with no windows. Dust is still an issue, but at least I don't have to worry about UV rays .

[Archer]

I've recently started to collect the modular buildings. UV isn't a problem but dust is. Does anyone know is using canned air (like the kind for keyboards) on lego has any negative effects of the bricks?

[ShaydDeGrai]

I've recently started to collect the modular buildings. UV isn't a problem but dust is. Does anyone know is using canned air (like the kind for keyboards) on lego has any negative effects of the bricks?

The compressed air, in general, should be fine. The one gotcha to watch out for is combining it with certain 'types' of dust, particularly those containing silica. The time when you DON'T want to blast the dust off with compressed air is when the dust is harder than the ABS of the part itself. For most dust (pet dander, fur, pollen, shed skin cells, etc.) this isn't a problem, but using high pressure air to remove things like fine sand and plaster dust could abrade the surface of the bricks. For those cases, you're better off vacuuming and washing the brick (or just learning to live with the fact your bricks won't stay mint forever).

[moop]

My cats make it difficult, but as long as there are no loose pieces they do fine

[Zaterdag]

This thread has me scared. I recently put some sets in the basement and there are a few directly under a window. It's been like that for 2 days and there's only been minimal sunlight due to the season so they shouldn't be damaged. Right?

[kermit]

As mentioned already light would be a bigger problem than dust as dust doesnt damage bricks. I use a simple curtain in my rooms that allows at least some light in. My biggest problem is space and dust which is something we all have to live with.

Edited January 14, 2013 by kermit

[Ape Fight]

This thread has me scared. I recently put some sets in the basement and there are a few directly under a window. It's been like that for 2 days and there's only been minimal sunlight due to the season so they shouldn't be damaged. Right?

Lol

I think I might dig out my rarest / most valuable set and put it on the windowsill, just for kicks.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Ape Fight

[Rook]

Nice about having a room completely devoted to Lego is being able to close the door when you don't want anyone in there. ;)

[Vindicare]

This thread has me scared. I recently put some sets in the basement and there are a few directly under a window. It's been like that for 2 days and there's only been minimal sunlight due to the season so they shouldn't be damaged. Right?

Just get an old towel or piece of cardboard and stick it in the window. Since it's the basement, I don't think anyone would really care that the window is covered.

[CP5670]

I keep the blinds partly down in my Lego rooms, although I believe the windows in my current apartment have an anti-UV coating so it may not be necessary. The real problem is the oxygen-sensitive bricks in many sets from the early 90s. These pieces discolor just as fast in a dark room, and it's hard to do much about them. This is really noticeable on some models where only certain white pieces are affected, and others still look perfect.

[Wimee]

Who has long term experience of placing LEGO behind plexiglass (acrylic) in order to prevent sunlight damage?

[Wimee]

I used plexiglass to avoid dust and hopefully it will reduce sunlight damage.

20200225_133352 by Wimee Home, on Flickr