Protecting your investment

[Stevo309]

Maybe this one has been covered before but I've not found such a subject. The other day I found an old Tamiya rubber bag and it had literally disintegrated with age. So it got me thinking, would all my precious and valuable shelf queens suffer from age in the end and if so what could i do to slow the aging process down? Does anyone have any tips to help with the following:

Aging and dry rot of rubber

Effects of uV on plastics, paint and decals

Increased brittleness of plastics

Also what would be the best way to dust them down, using a soft paintbrush seems ok but it will be leaving minute scratches, i thought about trying aerosols of compressed air used for cleaning PC components, anyone tried this?

Finally, has anyone got experience of adding their collection to the contents insurance of their home as i'm sure most collections as a whole would exceed the specified items value limit and should be declared to the underwriters.

[cant_get_right2005]

hello Steve most of mine i keep i plastic bags only because i smoke......my runner i leave out.and i use my compressor to dust it off once in awhile

[Tamiya1/10]

I use silicone spray on the rubber parts;

If possilbe keep them behind glass (enclosde) cabinets and if have lighting inside cabinet place a small glass of, 1-2 oz, water(use shot glass)inside the cabinet.

Keep them out of the sun, away from direct air vent duct, heaters etc...

Buy softest paint brush or use lady's makeup brush (your airbrush suggestion should work, if you are in the States or Canada, you can buy an air tank, instead of an air compressor, and fill it at your local gas station for free, you can even fill your car tire at home)

Use stand like spray paint caps to support the car, no flat spot on tire on strain on the suspension.

End of the day think of the RC like your skin too hot, too cold, too dry or to humid is not too good.

To handle your priceless shelf queen I would wear clean cotton glove.

Insurance, your broker will have tell you and you will have to decide if worth the extra preimium. I've never thought about the specific coverage and I think it could be expensive.

If you run your car, clean it up after finish running for the day. Dirt, mud, sand, dust will wear away your RC and look like ****.

[rotor]

Have never thought about insurance for my cars, there is quite a lot at my girlfriends house atm.

At this stage as i dont have anywhere to display them, they all get put back into their boxes ( where possible - mammoth dump etc excluded ) with the wheels off and they get shrinkwrapped up and stored ready for when i get a place big enough to display them all.

Have used compressed air ( PC cleaning stuff ) to clean them and that works quite well, but the can doesnt last all that long at all which is an issues at $16AU each can.

Chris

[DJTheo]

This topic has been covered quite few times before, some good search terms are "UV light" and "glycerine"

Cheers

[jonny_bravo]

Use Glycerin for tyres,. dirt cheap from the chemists (£1.10 from Superdrug),.you only need a little on your finger and work it into the tyre,. I then leave them to dry off for 2-3 days so that some of the stickiness can wear off.

[mcovalsk]

I would like to share with the group the following thinking. This is a hobby and all our stuffs are part of our hobby and whole life. I used to think about all these matters some years ago, however I realized that life is so short, and we should care our own life.... having life we will be able to recover all the tyres or lost kits...always.

I've been modelling since 45 years now, I'm 51 and I have 1/12th pieces which I needed 200 plus hours to build, nowaday I can see the deterioration in some of them after 10 years, in spite of all my effort to protect them.... also I can see my onw deterioration... LOL LOL, so now I enjoy the hobby, plastic or RC and don't care much about what will be of my kits or models.... within 20 years ahead.

Cheers

Mario Covalski

Editor Modeler Site

http://www.modelersite.com

[tokens]

mcov,i agree with ya,its a hobby,many here are addicted lol,can anyone tell me who in the club has the most nib kits?thanks

[DJTheo]

quote:Originally posted by mcovalsk

I would like to share with the group the following thinking. This is a hobby and all our stuffs are part of our hobby and whole life. I used to think about all these matters some years ago, however I realized that life is so short, and we should care our own life.... having life we will be able to recover all the tyres or lost kits...always.

I've been modelling since 45 years now, I'm 51 and I have 1/12th pieces which I needed 200 plus hours to build, nowaday I can see the deterioration in some of them after 10 years, in spite of all my effort to protect them.... also I can see my onw deterioration... LOL LOL, so now I enjoy the hobby, plastic or RC and don't care much about what will be of my kits or models.... within 20 years ahead.

Cheers

Mario Covalski

Editor Modeler Site

http://www.modelersite.com

---

id="quote">id="quote">

[^]

Totally agree, life is too short and precious to worry about anything material so much.

Cheers