Seafire Mini Ha Ha blue and Blue Green together

[slicc64]

This post is purely for comparison for those of you who may have different shades.

[vetrad]

I like interior/plastic variations like this, but I think a lot of them are due to aging changes with the plastics. Definitely worth picking up when you see them but I do not think they should be considered factory variants.

[slicc64]

Thanks for the input.
I not so sure about aging. If it is due to aging then it has done so in a perfectly uniform way.
I would also wonder why it is only the blue plastic and not the figure or the helmet.
The colours of those are as per normal.

If it is aging then that would probably also account for all the subtle paint variations we see. Some models being on display for decades and others in their box!
Regards,
Steve

[ChFalkensteiner]

I have mentioned this on previous occasions, but it is perhaps worth repeating here: when I once picked up a Seafire with a blue-green hull at a swapmeet and removed the pricetag which was attached to the hull, the part of the hull which had been covered by the pricetag was perfectly blue. (The pricetag must have stuck there for years.)

That incident finally convinced me that all those blue-green plastic parts were blue originally (same with cream and white, brown and grey, orange and red).

I suppose that some batches of plastic are more prone to discolouration than others, which may explain why on the same model one part may have suffered discolouration while another has not.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

I have found this very interesting having instigated the 'Sun Fade' thread elsewhere on the forum. I looked on Ebay and found these pictures...

Base 1.JPG (46.89 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

Base 2.JPG (39.72 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

Base 3.jpg (49.19 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

Base 4.JPG (45.24 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

Base 5.JPG (59.14 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

Base 6.JPG (41.33 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

Base 7.JPG (46.3 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

Base 8.JPG (59.22 KiB) Viewed 2226 times

...and it seems what Christian says has value, because looking at base 1, it appears something was attached to the base and has protected the small area.

Other bases do show sections where the rich Blue is turning to a Dusty-Blue (my term for the odd Bue-ish Green), and other bases are showing a hint of the Dusty-Blue.

One base (base 4), in particular clearly has been played with in a dirty environment as deposits of dirt has stuck around the base text and this has suffered the transition from rich Blue to Dusty-Blue.

Base 6 is showing small areas of Dusty-Blue but also an area of stress relief between the rear wheels and this is showing signs of the Dusty-Blue.

In my view, the Blue plastic particles used to mold the base for this model does have an issue in long term stability where it does seem to change colour due to certain airborne properties and a level of oxidization.

GHOSTHUNTER.

[Pierkemimi]

Have also a green one of the mini ha ha. I think it's real of the model because the red color of the model is not sunfaded.
My model was years in box, without sunlight and it is also with a green windscreen.
Of the boat I agree.
That's my opinion.

[slicc64]

Unfortunately Sun Fade is not a feasible explanation. It is simply too perfectly evenly coloured in both open and protected areas, top sides and undersides, front and back.
As with many examples exhibiting 'Sun Fade' the discoloration is uneven and remains the original colour in protected areas just like the pictures above prove.
This is simply not the case with these 2 models unless they were dismantled and sun baked perfectly evenly on BOTH sides then reassembled without trace.

A more reasonable explanation than Sun Fade would be as Ghosty said, oxidization or maybe Heat. If particular batches of plastic were exposed to high temps such as we experience in Australia then it is feasible that plastic would be effected and it would be evenly effected.
How much heat would it require to change the colour but not warp the plastic???? Who knows!

My humble opinion is it's how they left the factory so perhaps the lorry carrying that batch of plastic to be molded was parked in the sun on a hot day in sunny England.
Maybe the plastic was heat affected at some other point in the manufacturing process including when it was molded in the factory or maybe it is oxidization of a particular batch of plastic.

[slicc64]

This is a picture of a cabinet I used to sell models from at a boot sale.
Models were being taken [stolen] so I screwed a piece of perspex to the front and hinged the back for access before the next boot sale.

Next boot sale saw the afternoon sun shining on my display.
By the time I realised it was too late.

The reason I'm showing these pic's is because it clearly shows the effects of Sun fade and Heat on some of the plastic parts.

The heat was intense enough to melt/shrink/deform the plastic hulls and windows. The only area faded to green on the seafire hull was the side exposed to direct sunlight and as you can see the rest on the hull even after being heated in the cabinet remains blue. The 52 police launch colour was unaffected but plastic shrank considerably.

Therefore to me heat is also not responsible for the green blue as per my previous post suggested.

That leaves only the prospects of; 1] oxidisation as suggested by Ghosty,
2] original factory plastic colour or
3] some other cause not yet known

PS Originally the seafire was in the cabinet sideways. I put the effected models back into the cabinet today wherever the gaps were for the sake of these photo's.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

I have a similar situation with a 16 inch transportable colour television. It was purchased brand new as part of my huge SONY collection, but of the Two colour options available, only White units were left in stock, everybody before me brought the Balck version. This was a a big purchase for me at the time with money saved from work.

It was my pride and joy being my first 'Trinitron' TV from SONY, the inventor of single gun technology in domestic colour televisions. It was used on a regular basis first as a main TV then moved into a bedroom as a secondary TV, at no time was this subjected to bright Sunlight, but Today when I look at it in clean dry storage, every part of the plastic moulding is now in a rich Cream and I had witnessed this process taking place over the Years I had the TV in use...!

GHOSTHUNTER.

[ford_a_30]

I believe there is more then one action effecting these and many other models. Sun fade for sure but also "environmental factors" leading to the results found here. Those factors include things like temperature, smoking, exposure to cleaners, etc. all of which may effect a model over the long term.