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Your Anime-related Figure Maintenance




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Darksorrow29



Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 412
Location: United States
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2011 11:43 am Reply with quote
Hey guys, I know this is lightly touched upon in the official merchandise/figure thread, but I think there could be some good discussion from this.

As the title suggests, this thread is about figure maintenance. That being how do you clean your figures, how often, do you case them, how you store them... essentially how you take care of them. Feel free to add anything else.

Here’s a great guide for cleaning figures.
http://www.hobbyfanatics.com/index.php?/topic/15736-how-to-take-care-of-your-pvc-figure-must-read/

Ever since I read this guide online about how fragile PVC can be with fading and yellow oozing I’ve been semi-paranoid about some things such as direct sunlight and heat in the room. Ever sense I've moved to a new state my figures are still in boxes right now due to this heat wave on the east coast >>.

1) How many figures do you own?

Anyway I own about 5-6 PVC figures right now, luckily not too many as I'm sure it would get tedious to maintain.

2) How do you display them?

Mine are just on an empty book shelf facing away from the sunlight. Since I only have 5 it's not hard at all to space them away from each other.

3) How do you clean your figures? How often? For people with a large collection, do you clean them all?

When I got my FIRST figure I used to clean it every day. Now I do it maybe every 3-4 weeks or sooner depending if think about it. I clean them by using a hair dryer with a cold setting to blow the dust off of them. After I’ll take the figure off the stand and clean the base. As I’ve said earlier, my collection is small so cleaning them is simple.

4) Do you perform any other ways of maintenance (Freezer trick)?

I’ve heard about a method of sticking your figure in a freezer for about 20-30 minutes. Never tried it but I’m curious if any of you have and how it went.

5) Are you sensitive to heat with your figures? Do you use your A/C more as a result?

I think I’ve heard some people mention this before but I guess it depends how hot the area is around you. Maybe only a handful of times I’ve turned the A/C for my figures, but I’m definitely conscious of the heat in the room.

6) Ever have any of your PVC figures ever faded or oozed?

I believe the causes of this are dust/direct sunlight/heat. I have never experienced this yet.

7) Where do you buy your figures?

I pretty much buy all my figures online. Import from AmiAmi or just straight through Rightstuf.

8) Any words of advice for prospective figure collectors?

Make sure you know what you’re getting into. Figures are very expensive and are highly addictive in my experience. If you can avoid it all together do so… otherwise try to have some moderation Very Happy. Also try to maintain them properly Anime hyper.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2011 12:49 pm Reply with quote
Gah. They should be the ones taking care of me. Lazy bums.

The two worse everyday things is probably cigarette smoke and pets, so keep them away. I don't have any pets but I smoke here occasionally.
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Alan45
Village Elder



Joined: 25 Aug 2010
Posts: 9835
Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Tue May 31, 2011 7:55 pm Reply with quote
1. Damn if I know, a couple three hundred or so.

2.Three large glass cases and two small ones. Also on end tables, book cases, in front of the television. Basically anywhere my wife hasn't already displayed her dolls.

3. Dust cloth, small paint brush. Whenever the dust gets thick enough to annoy me, which is seldom. I tend to see dust as a preserative.

4. #1 Maintenance tip: Don't drop them, they will break. This means avoid handling them as much as possible and try to keep the cat off the shelf.

5. The house is already airconditioned. Heat and direct sunlight are bad for anything you want to keep and should be avoided.

6. No

7. Initially, local stores, now all out of business. The local comic shop by special order from Diamond Previews. This is not as good a source as it was. RACS mostly now. I've had to slow down due to current prices.

8. Have a lot of money, you'll need it.
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Echo_City



Joined: 03 Apr 2011
Posts: 1236
PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 2:41 am Reply with quote
1. 10 PVC 1/8th figures, 4 1/8th resin figures. If you count the "trading arts" figures, I have dozens.

2. Bookshelves. Those old empty bookends are the perfect spot to sub in some adornment.

3. Dust cloth, it's designed for the job and doesn't adversely affect the statue materials.

4. Definitely don't handle them, my first statue incurred some minor chipping when I would transport it, even though it was in its case.

5. I like to keep the figure room at in the low 70s, but that's because I despise heat personally, the health of the figures hasn't ever really weighed into that decision.

6. Nope, my statues haven't bubbled and/or oozed like something out of a B-rate movie yet, and I hope they never will.

7. The internet, mostly eBay though occasionally Amazon had a cheap PVC figure. Some of the rarer stuff I've acquired through contacts I have online. I never had the luxury of local stores, and cons haven't been a place for these purchases IME.

8. Be persistent and proactive in getting statues. If your show isn't currently airing, finding statues can be very difficult. If your show is several years old (mine are, largely) then if you keep an eye out the figures start to come back to the market. Most importantly, if you see a figure pre-order that interests you, place the pre-order because odds are you'll be waiting a long while to get that figure if you don't pre-order it. Also, I second the have a lot of money.
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stuckinfresno



Joined: 21 Aug 2007
Posts: 223
Location: Fresno, CA
PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 5:03 pm Reply with quote
1) How many figures do you own?

A whole lotta Nendoroids, 5 1/8th PVC figures, do petit nendoroid count cause that makes it higher.

2) How do you display them?

Currently most are kept safely in their boxes and stored since I'm still figuring out living situations. The few I have out are on bookshelves and not in direct sunlight.

3) How do you clean your figures? How often? For people with a large collection, do you clean them all?

I use a compressed air canister to dust them. No stratches. I do this whenever I notice the dust piling too high. There is no regular maintence.

4) Do you perform any other ways of maintenance (Freezer trick)?

Nope and never heard of it.

5) Are you sensitive to heat with your figures? Do you use your A/C more as a result?

No, and I live in CA where the approaching summer will hit a low of 110 in a two story building.

6) Ever have any of your PVC figures ever faded or oozed?

Nope.

7) Where do you buy your figures?

HLJ mostly.

8) Any words of advice for prospective figure collectors?

Learn to love pre-orders - it is sometimes the only way you'll get it. That and . . . have a lucrative job you'll need it. Laughing
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victor viper



Joined: 18 Jun 2011
Posts: 630
Location: The deep south
PostPosted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:09 pm Reply with quote
1) About thirty 1/6 to 1/8 PVC figures, plus a few Figmas and Revoltechs and assorted prize/trading figures.

2) Mainly a couple of Detolf cabinets from IKEA, but I keep some smaller figures (like some of my Negima figumates) along with the corresponding DVD's on my media shelves.

3) I've found that dusting larger PVC's with compressed air (although caution is needed with very fragile parts) followed by a slightly-damp microfiber cloth works well enough. As far as how often I clean them, probably not often enough, but the cabinets do a pretty good job of keeping things dust free.

4) No.

5) Where I live, the A/C pretty much has to go on in about April and stays on until about October, so the house stays at 80 degrees or less. I know one time, I got home to find a package of figures left by the delivery person on my doorstep in the sun in 100 degree heat. I feared the worst, but remarkably the figures inside seemed no worse for wear, although I shudder to think what would have happened if they sat there for too much longer.

6) No, but the room where they're displayed has heavy curtains, so they seldom get exposed to direct sunlight.

7) My sources of choice are HLJ for imports and Robert's Anime Corner Store, Circle Red, Entertainment Earth, and Amazon for domestic releases.

8) When you find something you want, you never know how long it'll be available, so if you want it and can afford it, don't hesitate. There's nothing worse than saying "I'll get that in a few weeks", only to see the item disappear forever (I still rue not getting some of the 1/4 Freeing figures from Haruhi Suzumiya when I had the chance).
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