Firstly, Hello to the Librarium online community and I hope you are all doing well.

To my question though...

I Now have a fair number of models that I have built and painted, and I begin wonder to "How can I keep these bad boys (and woman) in mint condition?".

At the moment they sit inside cupboard, but i fear they will fade in whether with dust and the effects of the environment. I know it is possible to buy a carry case from GW but that appears to be really expensive.

On another note that I find interesting, does anyone have models that is +20 years old and haven't been repainted/repaired. If so how are they shaping up these days.

Happy X-mas to you all.
Nick.

Hi and welcome to the LO large but quiet community and anyways i useally just store mines in my carry case or i use one my of 4 shelfs i dont use for anything to store on. They dont get much dust on them and it keeps them from breaking and there always in light since i keep my light on 75% of the day other when i am sleeping :P.

Oldest modal i have is a 2nd edtion space marine and he just like he was when i 1st painted him.

I've got some Orks that are a good 15 years old now and I can't say the paint appears to have faded any. Not that the paint jobs are all that much to admire from when I was 12 and 13.... nostalgia is better than flashy paintjobs anyway.

Do you put a coat of varnish on your models? Spray on gloss varnishes offer a lot of protection and if you don't like the look you can then add a matte on top.

I have some models that I painted 17 years ago with the lovely citadel paints that came in round bottles, apart from the damage that has resulted from inadequate storage they are all in perfectly good nick and when I compare them with models I painted last week it's not possible to tell which was painted when.

Well, unless of course youre aware that nearly all of the old models have been OOP for a while now... Hmm


As for storage, Maplins sell excellent hard cases for £15 and the GW carry case is really good at doing what they say it does.

Just my thoughts

I advise carry cases, I have one army in a carry case and another in pieces because it wasnt in a case.

GW is having a painting/modeling academy this month, and if you sign up you can buy a normal case for $30 reg $50.

Your first step is to varnish, which will really protect your models for years to come. GW sells some, either gloss varnish for shine, or matte varnish for dull colors. After that, keep your models reasonably safe (the cupboard is fine for storage), and you'll do great.

Tekore