Last weekend was our IPMS Chapter annual fundraising “distressed kit auction”. This year, many of the kits up for sale looked to have come from somebody’s water damaged storage area. I pick up a nice kit for on $1. The downside was that: the instructions and decals were destroyed by moisture damage (I have that covered); and there is mold on parts on several sprues. I have the sprues airing out and this is helping a bit. But how can I kill and remove all the mold off of the parts? And without damaging or destroying the plastic? Bleach? Vinegar? Something else?
Any advice or experience in this would be greatly appreciated!
Or Easy-Off oven cleaner. it’s safe to rinse down the drain. Ditto on chrome as Timmy says, but I would guess there’s either no chrome, or no mold on it.
When I sold my house,there was a mold problem on the inside of the roof due to HVAC in attic.Servpro charged 10K to remediate and seal.What a nightmare.
Yup, when sold my parent’s house, rats were all over. I was in a bit of a rush to settle the estate, so I accepted a bid. Multiple thousands, the guy shows up and sets five traps. WTF?
He says, well our bait is a special product. Very expensive material.
I say, guess what, I’ll settle for $ 300 on account of the several hours you were out there, if you want your expensive bait back.
Regular laundry bleach is fine, but no need for full strength. A mixture of 10:1, water to bleach, is fine. Rinse with plain water. I used to work in mold remdiationand this is what we used.
If my humidifiers don’t kick in during the humid season, my models will develope a white mildew on them along with everything else in my basement. I use Clorax Cleanup spray and it clears them up.
Thanks for all the great suggestions guys! I’ll start simple and go with the bleach and water route for starters. And let you good people know how that works out!
I have found that household mildew remover works better than bleach; it really kills the stuff! It’s safe on plastics, as I use it on my kitchen sink food waste strainer basket and shower hair trap.
Place parts in a zip lock bag, douse with the cleaner, seal the bag and get the cleaner all over the parts, let sit per the cleaner instructions, then rinse with cold water. Observe all safety precautions, as the stuff is nasty!
Wow, moldy plastic parts! I cannot begin to imagine what kind of environment would cause that!
Well, so far I have just had the sprues airing out in my garage where they get a few hours of direct sunlight thru windows every day. That has had some effect upon the mold, shrinking it down visibly.
My best guess as to how the kits were mold damaged in the first place is that the stash was stored near some plumbing area that suffered a leak and minor flooding. And then those were not aired out properly afterwards.