Mac128, I went with the 3% Oxydol over-the-counter stuff with "basic stabilizers." I determined that those stabilizers were pretty much the same as what are found in the US grade 3% bottles of peroxide which LumpyDog successfully used, so what did I really have to fear? But it is confusing over here in Japan because there are various grades of Oxydol, some with expensive pain killers that we clearly do not need when deyellowing plastics.
To answer your other question, my use of corn starch came from the mention of it on the RetroBright Wiki itself:
http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/Retr0Bright+Gel
They simply state that no one has tried corn starch as a gelling agent before. But I did see from that same web page that someone used Arrow Root, which isn't much different from corn starch when it comes to thickening liquids, so I gave the corn starch a try. Heck, I had a bag of it right in my home, so I didn't need to trouble myself with purchasing any other ingredients, above and beyond the hydrogen peroxide.
Lastly, I did not experience any streaking whatsoever. But here are my two keys to success in avoiding that:
1) Clean the plastics with a strong dishwashing liquid and allow them to dry.
2) Use 3% (i.e., low concentrations) of H202.
3) When using the gel form of RetroBright, reapply it at least once an hour during the entire time you have the plastic under UV light. And brush the plastic surface good when you do the reapplication because the previous application will have solidified a bit and you want to brush that away and apply the fresh gel to the plastic surface.
The only other thing I should add is that I made small amounts of the gel throughout the day, as opposed to making a single large batch. I don't know if this helped or not, I am just stating it for the record. Perhaps heating the H202 causes it to break down faster? And so by making small batches as I needed it, I always had the strongest form of the gel possible? Again, I don't know, but I wish to mention exactly what I did so anyone following in my footsteps can get the same results as you see in my photos.
To answer your other question, my use of corn starch came from the mention of it on the RetroBright Wiki itself:
http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/Retr0Bright+Gel
They simply state that no one has tried corn starch as a gelling agent before. But I did see from that same web page that someone used Arrow Root, which isn't much different from corn starch when it comes to thickening liquids, so I gave the corn starch a try. Heck, I had a bag of it right in my home, so I didn't need to trouble myself with purchasing any other ingredients, above and beyond the hydrogen peroxide.
Lastly, I did not experience any streaking whatsoever. But here are my two keys to success in avoiding that:
1) Clean the plastics with a strong dishwashing liquid and allow them to dry.
2) Use 3% (i.e., low concentrations) of H202.
3) When using the gel form of RetroBright, reapply it at least once an hour during the entire time you have the plastic under UV light. And brush the plastic surface good when you do the reapplication because the previous application will have solidified a bit and you want to brush that away and apply the fresh gel to the plastic surface.
The only other thing I should add is that I made small amounts of the gel throughout the day, as opposed to making a single large batch. I don't know if this helped or not, I am just stating it for the record. Perhaps heating the H202 causes it to break down faster? And so by making small batches as I needed it, I always had the strongest form of the gel possible? Again, I don't know, but I wish to mention exactly what I did so anyone following in my footsteps can get the same results as you see in my photos.