Hello, I, like many of the forum, I am a modeler and collector. Recently I raised a big problem, the poor quality of raw material used by Revell Germany in its editions of Matchbox kits. I have been handling my AFV kits in 1/76 and the tracks are with the hard and brittle plastic, also the plastic of the kits is brittle and the paper of instructions is in awful condition. These kits I have kept them in safe environment for 25 years and now that I handle them they are in a bad state, I have kits that have been assembled and perfect for almost 40 years, I have never seen a quality of material as low as these manufactured by Germany Revell in end of the 1980s.
The point is that there is no spare for the AFV tracks and all the kits are lost with them, what can I do to replace them?
I dont know much about “preserving” kit’s in storage, but brittle plastic does appear to be a common problem. I have heard of people putting old kit’s in the refridgerator, in an effort to “re-hydrate” them. I have no idea how, or if, this work’s.
If your instruction sheet’s are in bad shape, the decal’s are probably not usable either.
I keep my decal’s separate from the kit’s. I have a plastik toolbox “FULL” of decal’s that I keep cool and dry at all time’s. ( I have about 200 decal sheet’s in there and their all still like new… some are over 30 year’s old ! )
Hope this help’s. Dont worry, someone on this forum will have better answer’s for you.
I can’t help you with the “plastic problem”, but I can give you my [2cnts] on the other two items. First, there are sites that you can go to to download copies of the instructions and there are members who have copies and can e-mail them to you and help you with them. I don’t remember the sites but I’m sure someone on here can help you with that. As for the decals, when I get a kit, I take the decals out and place them in a zip-lock bag and put them in a file in my file cabinet. If they are old, the first thing to do when you are ready to use them is to spray a couple of light coats of Testors Decal Bonder on the sheet. What it does is to seal the decals and any cracks that they may have. It will turn the sheet into one whole decal, so you will have to cut out each individual decal before using. This has worked well for me over the years and saved many decal sheets. If the decals have yellowed, put them in a zip lock bag and tape them, good side out, to a window that gets a lot of sun. Leave them there for about 3 or 4 days and you will notice the yellow disappearing.
I would say that you could use the old brittle kits as learning experiences. If they turn out OK that’s a plus. If they don’t, it’s still a lesson learned to help you as you build the better kits.
Ask your question about the AFV tracks in the Armour section of these forums. Someone there might be able to help you find replacements.
Sit back and enjoy this great hobby. We’ll be here if you need help.
Thanks to my modeling colleagues, I sent an email to Revell AG, who declined the problem and say that he produces his produts locally and with quality material, but in the tree itself it is printed “Made in China” over the old “Made in England”
For the decal sheets I do the following: I pass a wet cloth with a silicone solution and place the sheet inside a thick plastic envelope avoiding contact with the oxygen of the air …
The brittleness problem can be dealt with Gently .As far as the tracks , you could try Fruilmodel or some of the others .I have some Old Monogram kits where the tracks got brittle and when handled almost turned to powder .
I always , Now, when buying any kind of kit , pack the decals between two pieces of cardstock and wax paper in ZipLoc Bags , Immediately upon opening the kit .Same with the flexible tracks now .Some are now better than ten years old in a temp. controlled environment and are doing fine . Welcome too ! T.B.
