Ok, so you’ve finished months of work on your model.
It looks soooooo good with it’s camo scheme, upteen aftermarket bits, enough PE to start a shipyard etc, but how long will it look this good???
This mostly pertains to the paint job. Look at most cars these days, and 5 or so years the paint starts to go cruddy.
Yes I know auto paint is different to model paint, but the basics are the same.
Will it stand the test of time, like a lifetime, or will we turn around in 5 years time and see the paint flaking or looking rubbishy, and PE parts falling off cause the CA let go?
Not to mention decals turning yellow and peeling off [:(!]
I’ve got a Lotus F-1 car that I built about 10 years ago that still looks good. Dusty, and with a few loose parts, but all in all not bad.
I also have a clear “Phantom Mustang” I built about 25 years ago. The decals are pretty much gone, and it has shed a lot of small parts (which got tossed into the cockpit!).
Most of my other models got thrown away during a move about 30 years ago. When I built up a new stock about 15 years ago, I moved again and gave them to my nephew who nuked them with firecrackers. The only two “Old” ones I have left are the two I mentioned above.
I have some models that are over 20 years old that have held up very well. A lot depends on how you store them. One thing I have noticed is some yellowing of colors, especially noticeable on whites. Thats probably due to the flat top coating I used.
I’ve never been able to keep my finished models long enough to know. It seems like I’m moving about every 3 years (one of the joys of the military) so I pick and choose a few of my favorites to take and the rest, well, let’s not talk about that. Then, of the ones I want to keep, one or two are destroyed in the moving process. The few I took home to my parents house seem to have had a bad time, either from the cat, or the cleaning lady knocks them off the shelf to their doom. At least now I have a digi cam, so I can have reminders of my past works, course then you have to worry about a hard drive crash…I think I need to stop and go lie down…
Tweety1,
I have a couple of fiqures that I build over 10 years ago that are still in good condition, even though they been moved around Australia with me. I think one of the secrets for long life is how you store and/or display them, mine are keep in a display case and do not get any long exposure to direct sunlight. Direct sunlight over a period of time will effect the condition of the paint. Most of the damage to my models have been a result of moving. (no longer a problem not in RAAF anymore.[(-D][(-D][(-D]