Getting rid of an unpleasant funky smell on some game carts

Does anyone have any tips on getting a funky smell out of some carts? I have a handful of Atari 2600 carts that have been sitting in a Atari cart storage container thingo for many, many years and the funky smell has leeched likely from the faux-woodgrain plastic coating on the unit or on the plastic slider trays and onto the carts.

I swear I've heard of putting all the offending articles inside an enclosed space (like a cardboard box) with a couple of bowls of stuff like vinegar or bicarb soda that, over time (a couple of days), will leech the smell from the offending items.

I've done a little research online and most of the discussion is around washing things with vinegar and baking soda or submersing them in various liquids, and I'm reluctant to subject the A2600 carts to that kind of abuse this late in their lives.

Any thoughts?? The smell is hard to describe - it isn't the crazy plasticy smell you get from opening something cheap and nasty from the factory, it's a bit more of a funky kind of smell that I remember noticing on some stuff in the early-mid 80s, possibly on cheaply manufactured stuff.

 

[h=3]Isopropyl alcohol- I found cleans most items up really well just avoid the labels if at all possible[/h]

 

Follow the leads here - http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?21538-Smoke-smell

Suggested was things like storage in containers next to kitty litter, polystyrene balls etc

 

Thanks for the responses guys - I've iso'd the carts without much luck, but the baking soda/kitty litter ideas sound like what I was after. I'll give it a whirl to see how it turns out!

 

The downside to the kitty litter method is that cats will try to defecate on whatever you fix up.

 

I usually let them air out outside for a few days.

 

But which Kitty Litter? The compressed paper stuff, the crystals or the small rock stuff?