Cleaning your troops and dioramas (1 Viewer)

[Currahee Chris]

Hey Gang

Just curious how many of you have attempted to clean your collection? I have five dioramas on permanent display in my basement. I cover them with blankets and sheets to keep them protected and then uncover them when I have friends over, new troops to display or simply want to look at them in the peace and quiet of my home. Yet, I have found that inevitably, dust and the occasional cobweb will make it's way onto the dioramas.

One of the oldest sets I have is KC's Normandy Village from like 2000/01. I had it painted a little over a decade ago and it looks great on my WW2 table. Still, it could use a cleaning. I have had some excellent results with a damp warm cloth and gently running water over it. I haven't tried that with my troops yet. Nor have I tried dusting them with pledge or something like that.

Just curious if anyone else has taken a moment to clean parts of their collection. I collect mostly matte figures from FL, TGM, and Britains. The glossies seems to be ok with just some warm water and done. Curious what you guys have tried and recommend.

Thanks
CC

 

[mikemiller1955]

Chris...

if you display your figures...
like you and I both do...
they will eventually get dust on them...
it's unavoidable...

I once deep cleaned my JJD Snow Shoes collection a few years ago...
pretty much the same as you do...
while they looked good to the naked eye...
I had taken some pictures and wouldn't post them because they had dust on the bases...
probably everywhere...
but the bases looked the worst...

I used warm tap water and a very soft bristle paintbrush...
maybe 1-3 inches wide...
I rinsed them gently...
while brushing them softly...
long enough to get into all the cracks and crevices...
then rinsed them off thoroughly and blotted them gently with a soft cloth towel...
I placed them in front of a fan on high...for an hour or so to completely dry them...
they came out perfect...
all the dust was removed...

I have also spot cleaned some figures using only a soft bristle paint brush...
which effectively removed all the dust...

again...if you display them on dioramas without a cover...
they will eventually get dust on them...
it's a given...

 

[Currahee Chris]

Thanks Mike

Sounds like we are in the same boat. I have used some warm water as well and have had good success with that. Definitely seems to me that glossies are much easier to maintain than matte!

 

[jazzeum]

I keep about 90% of my figures in cases but I have about 20 wooden warbirds and those definitely gather dust, not to mention the top of the cabinet(s) on which they sit. I follow the above practices: blow off what you can by blowing and gently use a damp cloth to clean off the remaining dust. Even when you display cases, a little dust seeps in.

 

[mikemiller1955]

Brad...
it's just one of the nuances of collecting toy soldiers...
there is some maintenance involved...
the bigger the collection...
the more work...^&grin

 

[theBaron]

Yeah, for dust, I use air blown at low pressure. Cans of compressed air sold for cleaning keyboards, etc. I'll even use my airbrush at low psi.

Prost!
Brad

 

[marco55]

I also use compressed air but I try to blow them off every week,2 weeks top.
Mark

 

[ucla1967]

The earthquake that hit my collection a few years ago forced me to clean several thousand figures that had been knocked down. I tried at first with compressed air and wet tap water Q-Tips, all to no avail. I finally dunked them completely in distilled water and let them air dry. Voila, it worked! You have to continually change the distilled water though, since you won't believe how dusty they really are and how dirty the water gets. I now have almost all of my collection protected by acrylic cases or doors which greatly reduces the dust problem.