Hot Toys rubber deterioration

[quiggle]

Polystone is not immune to breakdown. I have old model kits made from resin that have turned yellow with age, just like cheap plastic toys. Granted, they will probably last longer than say, a rubber action figure. But the paint will eventually peel and the resin may start to discolor or crumble. How long will it take? Who knows. But if you buy these statues in your twenties, I would not plan on retiring with a set of mint condition statues. But I am paranoid so who knows.

when you refer to paint peeling, if it's a cold cast bronze also in the same field.

this is the Helloboy I'd like to buy in the future and want to know if cold cast bronze will wear and tear over time?

https://www.mindzeyestudios.com/hellboy/

 

[Kamandi]

Bronze will oxidize over time and take on a patina.

 

[slipknotpredator]

its inevitable

 

[quiggle]

Bronze will oxidize over time and take on a patina.

gaulee, usually how long does it take for patina to go into effect? maybe I should go back to collecting worn movie clothing if collectibles don't have much of a durable life.

 

[Kamandi]

its inevitable

lol:

gaulee, usually how long does it take for patina to go into effect?

I'm not an expert on that one. I don't know if you can clearcoat bronze or what that would do over time.

maybe I should go back to collecting worn movie clothing if collectibles don't have much of a durable life.

Moths will eat your costumes.

NOTHING lasts forever, you can only enjoy it while you can, in the moment. You do some common sense things like keep your collectible out of harms way, but after that time marches on.

 

[quiggle]

lol:




Moths will eat your costumes.

NOTHING lasts forever, you can only enjoy it while you can, in the moment. You do some common sense things like keep your collectible out of harms way, but after that time marches on.

thanks Kamandi, unfortunately I live in a very hot and humid area that I can't control and damage to the figures would probably come prematurely than most.

 

[Kamandi]

Everything plastic or vinyl is just a big chemistry experiment. How long will it last? What kind of mold release agent was used in the casting process? What's the formulation for the plastic/vinyl? What chemicals are in the paint? How do all of these things interact? What environmental variables (heat/cold/humidity/light) has the piece been exposed to? etc, etc...

 

[xkage824]

reading all of this makes a person want to stop collecting anything

 

[Kamandi]

"Hey, even the Mona Lisa's falling apart." - Tyler Durden

 

[lerath666]

This is going to make some of you upset, and for that I apologize in advance. But you need to know the hard truth now.

If it bothers you that your figures may not last a lifetime, sell them right now.

There is no spray, powder, humidity level, light level or temperature that will stop the breakdown of rubber, plastic, wood, metal or cloth. It doesn't exist. I will repeat that for those of you who didn't hear me. YOU CANNOT STOP THE DETERIORATION OF PLASTIC AND RUBBER WITH ANY KNOWN PROCESS OR ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITION. You can possibly slow down the process, but probably not unless you have a museum type budget for a custom display case. All the tape and cups of water in the world won't solve your problem.

I worked for ten years in a museum, curating and cataloging a collection of rare documents and artifacts. I have been involved in climate control conferences, talks on molecular stability of chemical compounds and all sorts of other yawn-inducing topics. Paper stored in absolutely ideal temperature and humidity controlled vaults still continues to turn yellow. Time marches on for all things.

Even museums have a hard time keeping stuff from rotting away. Take a look...

https://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/08/24/pvc.toy.danger/

https://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/2000/158-24/15824-19.pdf

For those of you too lazy to click, check out this snippet: "Some of the most vulnerable new materials are plastics. Museums display them as toys, medical equipment, footwear, inflatable furniture, and more, says Yvonne Shashoua of the National Museum of Denmark. “They’re found in every museum in the world,” she says. Yet many plastics exhibited in museums can change so much chemically that within a decade they start to feel tacky. Many such objects must be taken out of a collection after just 20 years, says Shashoua."

So, what choices do we have?

1. Enjoy the figures. Take them out of the box, look at them, pose them and put them on a shelf where you can see them. Show them to your friends. If you are not to hot, or cold, or humid or dry then your figures are not as well. When they really start to melt, leak, crack and peel don't be shocked.

2. Sell them.

reading all of this makes a person want to stop collecting anything

see the above post i quoted.

 

[Kamandi]

reading all of this makes a person want to stop collecting anything

Things your figures will last longer than (but you buy anyway):

• Just about any PC. Parents and grandparents might try to milk 10 or more years out of a PC, but most younger people understand there's about 4 or 5 useful years in any PC before it's outdated. Maybe as few as 3 if you're a gamer.
  
• Your cell phone will be an outdated piece of crap within 3 years. Smart Phones are evolving faster than PCs at this time.
  
• Your flatscreen TV. Televisions are prone to back-lights burning out and other component failure within 10 years. Speakers and sound systems will deteriorate from foam failure or speaker perforation. LEDs are prone to dead pixels or dead lines. Plasmas can get screen burn in.
  
• Your car has components that are prone to wear and tear, yet everyone still buys a car. It's most people's single biggest money hole.
  
• Do you own a suit? nice clothes? How long will you be able to wear it? Maybe your weight will change. You still buy clothes.
  
  People buy stuff everyday that will need upgrading and replacing eventually.
  
  Most of these collectibles will lose their luster anyhow when some newer vendor puts them to shame somehow. I remember when the Playmates Star Trek props were considered to be pretty good. Then Master Replicas came along...

 

[quiggle]

yeah unlike phones, computers, cars I was thinking about buying the T-800 because I felt that is the best of the best of the best that won't be matched in the future by other sculpts and need upgrading but I'm worried about the leather jacket and pants cracking.

 

[xkage824]

yeah unlike phones, computers, cars I was thinking about buying the T-800 because I felt that is the best of the best of the best that won't be matched in the future by other sculpts and need upgrading but I'm worried about the leather jacket and pants cracking.

well i guess then it would be the battle damaged version
jokes aside, would the rubber last 10 years without showing any signs of deterioration?

 

[Studio49]

yeah unlike phones, computers, cars I was thinking about buying the T-800 because I felt that is the best of the best of the best that won't be matched in the future by other sculpts and need upgrading but I'm worried about the leather jacket and pants cracking.

Buy it and enjoy it. Or don't, and spend the money on something else. As much as I "doom and gloom" about these figures, it doesn't stop me from buying them. But I know they won't last as long as my other collections (fossils and guns).

Hell, I still buy DVD's and Blu-rays but those won't last until I retire either.

well i guess then it would be the battle damaged version
jokes aside, would the rubber last 10 years without showing any signs of deterioration?

It could last 20 years. Or it could be cracking in 2 years. I personally don't own any of the rubber body figures, but I would if I could. I just know that they won't last as long as the standard plastic bodies.

 

[SpaceCrawler]

deterioration is the nightmare we are all waiting to happen
but how do we prevent it?
i only just started collecting hot toys a few months ago and I soon became aware of the risks of buying hot toys and suffering the dreaded rubber deterioration. now i am looking for a solution to this problem to prevent any damage before it happens.
i learned about how UV rays damage the colors on them so i blacked out my windows and got LED lights.
I learned how dust can also discolor collectibles so i bought display cases for them. (good old detolfs)
now i am in search of the solution to the third and what i believe to be final problem.
I read somewhere that hot toys was working on a solution to this issue but does anybody know if they succeeded?
does silicone spray really work?
what other solutions do people know of?

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do, unless you have an oxygen-free environment to display your figures in. Most rubber degradation is a reaction with molecular oxygen. Light also plays a role, and you've taken care of that, but the oxygen is going to be impossible to solve.

About sealing your Detlof, here's what I did:
I bought some thick clear plastic tubing at the hardware store, cut it to the length of each of the four sides of the door, then slit it down the middle so I can fit the tubing over the edges of the glass door. With a little adjusting after you close the door, this extends the door to touch the sides making a seal", blocking out any dust that might drift in to those cracks (after sealing the edges I found that a lot of dust had been entering by those small gaps in the sides). It works pretty good and is clear, too.

Here you can see the plastic tubing as it wraps around the edge of the glass door. It's large enough so that, when the door is closed, it creates a seal where there's a gap between the glass walls of the case and the door.

It's completely cut down on dust entering the case, which was a problem before. And it's basically invisible. This was the first case I did and the tubing was cut a little jagged, but that is easily remedied with more patience than I have.

Sean

 

[dominishin]

What if sunlight is entering your room but not shining on your figures?

 

[xkage824]

What if sunlight is entering your room but not shining on your figures?

i think this still effects but not as much
light bounces off surfaces and can still get to them
this is why i blocked out the edges of my blinds so that the light bouncing off the wall would not reach the room.
there is still enough light entering the room through small holes but they do not reach my collectibles.

 

[quiggle]

once you notice the figure starting to break down, what do you do? just leave it, buy a new one, throw it out?

 

[DiFabio]

You know, when I was younger I used to "seal off" my blinds/shades because I thought the small amounts of sunlight would ruin my collectibles.

But you know how paranoid that is? I'm one messed up OCD mother____er when it comes to these things but even I understand they won't last forever. I keep them as new as I can but I'm not going to resort to letting the figures control the aesthetics of my house.

A little bit of sunlight coming in isn't going to damage anything. That isn't direct sunlight. Now if you had the windows open, had your room facing the direction of the sun with direct sunlight shining into you're room, then yeah, you'd have a problem. Especially fading.

But to close everything off by taping, binding etc.? That's excessive.

In fact. A little sun might be good for the room (not for the figures themselves) unless you want your room to be damp and mushroom infested. I'd rather wake up one day and find that my figures cracked apart then find some weird green living ____ all over them.

 

[kl241]

Some of you guys sound like John Travolta in "The Boy In The Plastic Bubble."