models and age

QUOTE: Originally posted by spongya77 I was wondering: how do plastic models age? I have only 15 years old ones, which are in great shape, but I heard a guy mentioning at the local IPMS meeting that his 20-plus year old kits were falling apart, so he's using only CA from now on... What can you expect? Paints, decals, glues? How do they hold up against time?

perhaps the modeler you heard meant paint fading decals peeling
to some that May mean falling apart
but as far as major parts on models i have models built in the 70's
they look tired but the main components are still intact
the glue melts the plastic so that both pcs become one
as an aside fsm did at least one article on refurbishing old models
i cant remember but maybe there is some info on this very area you (we) are discussing.

After having gotten reacquainted with tube glue when I helped my daughter build her first plastic ship, I think I'm sticking to CA from now on simply because once something is glued, it STAYS glued. Of course, there is the mounting horror if you realize that what you just glued on doesn't ... go ... quite ... there ...

Would the decals not yellow if they were clearcoated? I have a few of my beginning models from about 10 years ago built with Testors cement and they are faling apart. I will only use CA simply because on models that are years old it has stood the test of time. I try to keep as many models as possible in asemi- climate controlled enviroment like a display case out of direct sun and they look alright after a few years.

I have quite a few models that are over 20 years old. In fact, more than 100 of them are older than twenty with quite a few older than thirty. So far, I have had very little issues with parts falling off. Occasionally I'll knock off a machine gun or antenna or something, but I've only had one model 'fall apart' on me. It was only 10!

Cig smoke is murder on model finishes. I've noticed a marked improvement in my shelf queens since I quit.

If he was talking about completed kits dropping parts, I can believe it. Certain types of glue welds, particularly tube glue, can deteriorate over time causig parts to drop off if jostled. Don't know much about styrene deterioration though.

Yellowing decals can indeed be a problem.
But not only decals can yellow, paint can fade, laquaer coat can yellow, so don't store your models in the sun light.

Plastic can turn britle, I believe this can be lessend by painting the whole model (also on the inside!)

I think the things that go bad the most are decals. They have a bad habit of going yellow or cracking up after a few years. I haven't heard of the plastic in the kits falling apart, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I've got a few 25 year old kits, and they are fine, but the decals are a bit past it. The only reason I can think of the kits falling apart are from them being stored under bad conditions (???).