It seems to me that I remember an article, some years ago, in FSM dealing with the deteriation of the plastic in older model kits. I think that this condition was called “plastic virus”. [:(] Does anyone remember this? Was it real? If so, how was it fixed?
I am still building kits that I bought back in the '70s and '80s, that were old at that time, and haven’t yet had a problem with the plastic. [^]
Pete
Plastic virus? Can’t say that i remember reading anything about that… Does it happen to models that are built and painted? this may be the SARS of the modeling world…
I’ve heard of plastic virus. it’s were a modeler can’t get enough kits to satisfy himself/herself[:P][;)]
Chris is right. Collecting is a disease… and I caught it. I’m out of control!!!
-Mark
“Hello. I’m Ed and I’m a carrier.”
Very funny Chris. I do believe I have it to.
mark956
[#ditto][#ditto][#ditto] me too.
I just realized I’ve got it too!!! Are we doomed, cursed, or blessed?
In a protect enivornment plastic is not supposed to be degraded for a few hundred years…So unles you are Highlander you wont see your kits die away…unless something horrible happens to them…
My wife believes I am cursed LOL.
mark956
Tim…yes!! [;)] [:D]
Eric
This is one virus I loved to have.[}:)][;)][:D]
Pete,
I think the plastic virus thingie was an article printed in an April issue of FSM about a guy who looked at the kits that had been stored in his attic for many years. Apparently he found the old plastic eaten away like termites eat wood.
At least that’s what I remember. Happy April Fool’s Day.
Polystyrene is actually rather stable and unaffected by much of anything (except ultraviolet and solvents). And files and glue and sandpaper and having too many thumbs on one hand. Guess I’ve got the virus, too.
Cheers
LeeTree
LeeTree -
I guess you’re right, it must have been an April Fools joke. Although I read it at the time, I don’t recall the details. They say the mind is the second thing to go! [V]
Pete
Perhaps you could call it “Mad Kit Disease?”[:D] (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)[:)]
The only time I’ve ever seen a reference to a “plastic virus” (other than the mental one most of us seem to be afflicted with) was in an FSM article sometime in the mid 80s on the 1/72 black plastic ID models the government had made during WW II. Seems that occasionally areas of some of the models would react strangely, turning soft, shrinking and/or swelling. Apparently the only thing which would stop it was to put the model in a freezer. I don’t know what the plastic was but it wasn’t styrene - the only thing that styrene seems to do when it ages is to get brittle.
Quincy - When I was a kid, during WW2, I had a couple of those ID models that I got from my cousin who was a Naval Aviator who flew an OS2U. [:p] I always thought that those models were made of solid black hard rubber. The same stuff that pre-war steering wheels were made of.
So far, I’ve received two plausible answers to my original question, an April Fools joke and yours. I would really like to hear from someone on the FSM staff, they could certainly find that article in their archives. [;)]
Pete
Styrene, as it ages, tends to de-polymerise (the polymer chains start to break down) this happens when the material is stored under conditions of UV exposure or raised temperatures. This is usually shown by discolouring of the plastic (or fogging if clear) and serious embrittlement.
A problem discovered by collectors of vinyl dolls (including GI Joe/Action Man was that the plasticiser started to leach out, leaving the plastic unstable
Pete
Seems that a lot of us who grew up and the 40s and 50s had 2 or 3 of those things. I had a P-61, an HE 177 and a clipped wing Spitfire. My grandmother gave them to me (think she got them from my uncle who was a Seabee). Sure wish I had them now.
Weren’t earlier models made from ABS plastic rather than from the polystyrene used now.
I think some of the early Aurora kits were also made in that material.