[chewie420]

nice platform. someday i'll have room to set mine up. someday...

[jlw515]

I've been watching G.I. Joe Season 2 on Netflix. I'm sure most of you already know this (and I had read bits and pieces about it); but in the episode "Computer Complications" the U.S.S. Flagg is featured in it. They never refer to it as the Flagg, but when the carrier sinks into the ocean the "99" or "66" is clearly seen at the front end of the flight deck. I've read some debate on this where some have said it wasn't the U.S.S. Flagg but the U.S.S. Montana. That is incorrect. The U.S.S. Montana was a battleship featured in the next episode "Sink the Montana."

Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool. I don't really remember any of the Season 2 episodes as a kid except maybe the "Arise Serpentor Arise" mini-series. The colors of Season 2 are not as vibrant as Season 1, and in a lot of the episodes the Joes look like a bunch of dupes rather than an elite fighting force. Also seems like they focused a lot on Deep Six, Wet Suit, Shipwreck, and Mainframe. Wonder if that was to promote the water toys that were available such as the Killer Whale, U.S.S. Flagg, and Tactical Battle Platform?

Jason

[GerjurdKing]

Flagg #2. At some point Flagg #1 will have to go but damn if these things don't look great set up. I'm going to have to find a permanent place for it some day. I still need one radar antenna, fantail deck railing, and Keel Haul's pistol.

[chebosto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlw515

Yeah, I know the feeling. Got my Flagg in Friday. Man that box was heavy! The middle deck piece alone is pretty heavy for a toy. Plus the control tower itself is as big if not bigger than the GIJoe HQ.

Has anyone done the whole (x-tra strength) Peroxide, mixed with corn starch & oxyclean paste to whiten their Flagg? Just wonder how that mixture affects the plastic.

Also, who was the guy who makes(made) the repro back rail? Thanks.

Jason

Hi Jason.

I did the Peroxide cleaning of my ebay Flagg a couple years ago. still going strong and not brittle..

here is a thread i did on another website..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chebosto

Always wanted one as a kid. so decided to impulse buy on eBay last month.. It's a good thing i'm already married.. lolz.

here she is first put together... needs work... Charlie doesn't like it cuz no Skystrikers on it yet.



some closer shots of the pieces. notice the yellowing on the 30yr old plastic..

before...








The trick is, back in the 80s/90s, for ABS plastic there was a chemical added for flame resistance/retardant called Bromine... which is brown.. well, if the plastic is exposed to UV light, the Bromine comes out to the surface.. the good thing is, you can reverse it if you use Hydrogen Peroxide for the extra oxygen molecule for the Bromine to bond to.. well. i'm an engineer, not a chemist. here's the theory.

http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/Ultra+Violet+Energy/

so i put all the pieces in this:



eventually put in 2gal of 20Vol H202 + 6gal distilled water + 4 scoops of Oxy clean... and got this only after a few hours of exposure.. the larger pieces took two days.











this also works on like tennis shoes, old computer cases, telephones, etc.


so I still need to:
1) get new stickers for the ones that got destroyed by the peroxide bath
2) fix that crack (via remold) on the superstructure top where the Mast goes (maybe get an unbroken one and do the de-yellowing again.. the top part is like $35 if i get lucky on ebay...)
3) fix the discoloration of the flight deck pieces where they are a mis-mash of grey.. not quite sure how to do this yet but i might try like a back-to-black type wipe.. i dunno yet.
4) finish the cleaning up of the rest of the pieces.

i got quite a few aircraft to put on this sucker when it's done.. but at a size of 7 feet long, 4 feet tall... i'll need to find a place to put it. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chebosto

superstructure cleaned and assembled...mostly (didn't populate the mast...)

test fit prior to painting the deck and new stickers...











Team America. F yea!

i ended up getting the Repro stickers for the Flagg from Cobrastickers. They applied really well.

[Scoop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chebosto

Hi Jason.

I did the Peroxide cleaning of my ebay Flagg a couple years ago. still going strong and not brittle..

here is a thread i did on another website..







i ended up getting the Repro stickers for the Flagg from Cobrastickers. They applied really well.

Did you completely submerge your parts in the fluid, or did you use the "fumes" technique?

[jlw515]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoop

Did you completely submerge your parts in the fluid, or did you use the "fumes" technique?

His total solution was 8 gals, so I'm gonna say he submerged it.

Jason

[Scoop]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlw515

His total solution was 8 gals, so I'm gonna say he submerged it.

Jason

It's weird because from this picture it only looks as if there is only about 2 inches of fluid at the bottom of that storage bin...

[chebosto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scoop

Did you completely submerge your parts in the fluid, or did you use the "fumes" technique?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlw515

His total solution was 8 gals, so I'm gonna say he submerged it.

Jason

when i started, there was alot more fluid. most of the parts were submerged. only the super structure was too large to fully submerge, so what i would do is let one side sit in the solution and then flip. and flip sideways etc so equal time under the solution as possible for every side. as the days went on the fluid evaporated a little and i had to add more mixture.

overall was happy. did not get a half line or anything on the larger pieces... the old stickers did however come off... so if you dont want to get the reproduction stickers. remove them first.

[Zenith27]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jlw515

Yeah, I know the feeling. Got my Flagg in Friday. Man that box was heavy! The middle deck piece alone is pretty heavy for a toy. Plus the control tower itself is as big if not bigger than the GIJoe HQ.

Has anyone done the whole (x-tra strength) Peroxide, mixed with corn starch & oxyclean paste to whiten their Flagg? Just wonder how that mixture affects the plastic.

Also, who was the guy who makes(made) the repro back rail? Thanks.

Jason

This post has been answered before but I thought I'd post my pics. I used the retr0bright method where you mix a paste and paint it on the parts and put them under a UV light. It's a lot cheaper since you only need a couple cups of peroxide for a whole Flagg and you don't need a sunny day.

I used 2 standard fluorescent tube blacklights for 12h per treatment. The really bad parts needed 2 treatments. You need to keep the paste wet so no fans or they'll dry out.

At the end I had to soak the parts in water for an hour or so to loosen the paste up and scrubbed it off with a paint brush.

I did this in October and haven't seen any problems. Word is the colour can change back over time but less with each treatment. It somewhat depends on how warm the parts get apparently.

[jlw515]

Thanks for all the info! My Flagg only had like 4 or 5 stickers attached to the tower. When I removed the stickers it was only then that I could see a difference in the plastic. The areas where the stickers once were are a bright white. However, the rest of the tower isn't yellow at all, it's more of an off-white/very light grey color. So, I don't think I'm going to try whiting the bridge at all. Now the Admiral's Launch boat has turned a dirty white/yellow, so I might try the peroxide method on that or just paint it with a flat white. Thanks again for the info.

I'm waiting to order repro crane engine cover & fan tail rail and then I will be done with my missing parts (well except the mic/speaker - which I don't care about)!! Got a table to set up in my garage, so I will be working on this thing soon!! Oh, and I bit the bullet and bought the FSS Keel Haul figure.

Jason