Hi there,
Some of my kids are moving back home and I need to put my stash in another place - probably in the shed in my backyard. I can see summertime temperatures reaching 120 degrees F at times in the shed - is this going to be too hot? Will I end up with a bunch of wilted twisted parts?
Thanks for your help,
Paul
Well how big is your stash?[?] If it’s not that big, make room in a closet or something. If you have a basement, find room in there.
At that temperature, decals will suffer, especially if humidity is also high. While 120°F will not melt, or even significantly soften styrene, prolonged exposure to such temperatures will cause it to become progressively more brittle, especially clear parts.
There are ways to help keep them cooler: Make sure that the shed has adequate bottom to top venting. Cooler air comes in at the bottom and hot air exits at the top. Don’t store the kits near (3 feet) the roof. Stack the kits on a pallet or something like it to promote air circulation around them. If possible, put them in an insulating container, even just surrounding them with sheet styrofoam will help considerably.
The biggest problem may be humidity and it’s effect on the cardboard boxes. Cardboard is great at absorbing and holding atmospheric moisture—and growing mildew and mold. Some molds will grow on the plasticizers slowly migrating from the styrene, too. This can occur even in relatively arid environments, since enclosed structures, especially with slabs-on-grade, gravel, or tamped earth floors, tend to draw and concentrate humidity. (See comment on venting, above.)
Lastly, don’t store any petroleum product, or machinery that uses it, in the shed. Gasoline, even in vapor form, is hard on styrene, especially in a closed, hot environment.
You would be better off selling them than trying to store them in those conditions. You will ruin the decals at best and at worst, ruin the kits.
Something just occurred to me: Near where I live, there is a storage facility that has “conditioned” storage. The temperature and humidity are controlled within limits that would certainly be safe for your kits. You might want to look into something like that.
Insert a ventilation fan, a heat duct booster will work. You just need to keep the air temp from building up. Add a little insulation to the shed, some of the pink foamboard. Spray for insects and add a couple of those Decon for mice paks. As long as the shed is dry you shouldn’t have any problems.
I have over 3500 kits stored in a freight trailer outside my house. I removed and store the decals in sealed plastic containers and keep these inside the house. I have not seen any problems with the kits due to the heat - it probably gets around 120-130 in there in the NC summer.
3500? [wow] [bow]
Hey Paul,
Not sure if anyone has offered or not, but you can store 'em at my house if you want… [angel] Fees are negotiable (depending on what is in your stash)! [8D]
Hey - thanks for all of the nice responses - but I’ve made up my mind - bbrownii if you give me you address I’ll ship them all to you.
Just kidding - I don’t have any problem with dampness in the San Francisco Bay area where I live. I think I’ll try and improve some of the circulation in the shed and put the decals in the house in zip lock bags. I don’t have any gasolene in the shed so that isn’t a problem. I also think I’ll put a remote temperature sensor in there to track the heat. I only have about 50 kits so it isn’t a lot.
Thanks again for all of the help,
Paul
Why not put the kids in the shed? [;)]
Yeah, actually 3543, more than all of us put together will ever probably build!
you said some of your kids how many and how many do you have total?
what ever happened to the days when if you could not make it in the real world you still never went back you joined the military
What difference does how many kids or why they are coming home matter to you? How would you knowing this help him to decide where to store his kits? Pretty dumb comment to make without knowing the person’s situation.