Dust collection.. an odd conclusion!

[spanner]

ok so this may sound a bit weird but this morning whilst the house was empty I took the chance to give my display cabinets a good clean.

I do usually give them a quick going over with the duster but I noticed something a little odd regarding which displays had collected the more dust than the other..

From what I can see its the Yamato & Arcadia Valks which seem to have the most dust settling around them compared to the Bandai Frontier Valks!

With my current setup I have one whole Klingsbo with just all my Yamato VF-1 which also includes a VF-4 and an Arcadia VF-1 which is the same anyway..

My other Klingsbo has one shelf with my 4x VF-19 and another shelf with my VF-11 & YF-19. Both these shelves have noticeably more dust settling on them than the other shelves with the Bandai Frontier Valks!

Could it be that the material the Yamato / Arcadia Valks are made of attracts more dust than the more diecast built Bandai's!? Its quite bizarre!

Even my other two Klingsbo with my cars and bikes on display also have much left dust settling around them! All the cars & bikes are mostly diecast apart from plastic interiors and rubber tires etc etc..

So my conclusion is that the more diecast something has in its construction the less it will attract dust! Seeing all the Yamato / Arcadia stuff is 95%+ plastic it then naturally attracts more dust!?

The Ikea Klingsbo cabinets aren't the most dust proof design out there but I rarely have the doors open other than to clean or make display adjustments so I don't think dust blowing in that way is much of a factor..

So has anyone else noticed this? How often are you guys de-dusting your collection and what have you noticed? I might try better sealing up the two Macross displays somehow to try reduce the dust from entering..

Edited July 12, 2014 by spanner76

[Mommar]

Different plastics are going to have different amounts of static cling. Just a natural property. Living in New Mexico EVERYTHING I own gets covered in dust so I haven't really noticed a difference in the amount around a Yammie versus a Bandai.

[Saburo]

Frontier Valks have pin point barrier systems to block the dust.

[spanner]

Frontier Valks have pin point barrier systems to block the dust.

ohhhh! that explains it! Thanks mate!

[F360]

I think it's also due to the surface of the material too. The bandai ones are mostly glossy surface , is more smooth so less traction for dust to grab on to, but the Yamato ones are more flat/ rough , so it's easier for the dust to stick. Kind of like wax on cars,

[Silverstreak]

Different plastics are going to have different amounts of static cling.

I think it's also due to the surface of the material too. The bandai ones are mostly glossy surface , is more smooth so less traction for dust to grab on to, but the Yamato ones are more flat/ rough , so it's easier for the dust to stick. Kind of like wax on cars,

I'd say it's most likely a combination of these 2. Static and the friction properties of the plastic.

[spanner]

not even half a day later after dust removal I can already see a faint fine layer of dust settling on the glass shelves.. yes I'd say the non glossy plastic surface probably generates more static which dust will be drawn.. oh well looks like I just gotta live with it.

[Mommar]

yeah, I badly need to find some sealed cases for my Valks so they don't become jammed/broken from all of the dust we get around here. Just so damn pricey....

[spanner]

yeah, I badly need to find some sealed cases for my Valks so they don't become jammed/broken from all of the dust we get around here. Just so damn pricey....

Yeah the IKEA cabinets are reasonable, I have 4 klingsbo which cost me $250 (Aussie$) each which is pricey for what you get.. I did get a quote for a custom built 4mL x .5mD x 1.8mH Glass cabinet from a place in Sydney and they wanted $5,000 for it! Would have been perfectly sized for Valks but at that price was never gonna happen..

[Mommar]

I've looked at the IKEA cabinets. Like I said, it's DUSTY in New Mexico. I would need something with far better coverage to make any sort of difference. It doesn't help my house is cooled via Swamp Cooler, which adds additional moisture to the air making the dust cling worse.

[spanner]

There ain't much out there with good dust sealing at reasonable prices unfortunately. That custom design cabinet I got quoted had properly sealed doors and joins so no dust could get it.

I have been thinking of making a cabinet myself somehow.. like cut & weld up a frame but its the glass and getting it all cut to size which is the super expensive part..

A swamp cooler!? That like one of those evaporative water cooler things eh? yeah would add a lot of moisture indeed..

[Mommar]

I never considered looking into a custom cabinet before. I found a few cabinets online that were $3K+ and they were sealed pretty good but not perfect. What were the dimensions of the custom you were looking at? I would need something roughly 114x226x48cm. That's pretty big.

Yeah, I guess "evaporative cooler" is the term for it. Between how dry it is in NM and a regular Air Conditioning unit my hands would be constantly split and bleeding. I need that bit of moisture from the cooler. Plus it feels more comfortable to me, minus the times the humidity passes 15% which is only a week out of the year at most.

[spanner]

well that was the one thing I "specifically" specified to them was it had to be dust pretty much 100% dust proof. Maybe I was a little ignorant at the time regarding what I was asking for without knowing the scale of the costs involved but it was an eye opener!

I wanted to completely cover one of our walls in our old bedroom which is now my collections and pc room.. it was just over 4 meters long so I wanted to allow room for a power socket for lighting.

The cabinet was going to be 4m in length, 1.8m tall and .5m deep with 4 usable levels (3 shelves and the base) at about 45cm shelf height. With 7 vertical partitions making each display section about 50cm wide.

It would have been epic but the price made it somewhat prohibitive. It wasn't just gonna be for my Macross stuff but also my cars, bikes and some planes.. I just wanted to do it right from the beginning..

$5000 was the price which did include delivery and setup. No lighting or base, meaning it would have to sit directly on the carpet floor. I didn't really like that idea though.. I would have had to come up with a wooden base or something to elevate it slightly.

or put down wooden floor boards..

We had a few of those water coolers in our old place but found with too much use it would attract mould so we binned them.. sadly still no A/C even where we live now..

Edited July 13, 2014 by spanner76

[Mommar]

Holy! That thing was going to be LONG. Though not quite as tall as I'd like mine (I have high ceilings) as I wanted at least five levels but they would have been closer to 30cm each. Actually, just re-measuring now, I would have to assemble the thing myself as it would be too tall for the doorways.

It's too bad you never had it made, that would have been a sight to see.

For that size and the fact it was supposed to be 100% dust proof plus delivery and assembly it's possibly a really good deal. I'm looking at some online that aren't nearly as wide, maybe a bit taller with similar depth that aren't 100% dust proof and they're hitting $2500 or $2600. Maybe $5000 is worth it? Was this place you were looking into local? I looked into some places online and found a British company that advertises custom cabinets but I live in the US and was frightened of just shipping costs, to say nothing of what the actual estimate would be.

If you live someplace that is remotely humid you'll always have mold. It also depends on the kind of pads you use. Typically the synthetic blue pads will last all summer here. I like the straw pads, personally, as I can double them up and get better cooling. However, I have to switch them out every month and a half to two months or else they will start to mold.

[spanner]

Yeah it would have made a crazy setup! But would also have cost me even more to finish having to build a stand and do lighting etc..

I just googled a few furniture and display places and found them. Italian company if I remember correctly.

But now considering I have four IKEA cabinets I'll probably just buy a few more of em and rearrange things around so I can line them all up in a row. I'll need another soon as I've run out of space and don't know where I'm gonna fit in the Chonos as the yf-21 will take the last bit of space I have left.. Im sure I could squeeze more in but I'll start looking too crowded and obstruct the view of other Valks..

Our old evap coolers had the straw and yes they did get moldy.. We had to always air them out after each use.. Then spray them with glen20.. It just got too painful so we turfed them.

The other reason I didn't get the display cabinet was that we could have got full ducted air con for tha same money which made it hard to justify the cost of the cabinet.. And I don't think my misses would ever forgive me for that! Lol!

Edited July 14, 2014 by spanner76

[jenius]

This is why I always tell people that their toys need to be kept in a vacuum. It's the only way to be safe! It also reduces yellowing from oxidation.

[Gakken85]

Dust depends on you and your living situation.

If you have hardwood floors and a fairly clean living space you'll have a lot less dust. Anything you can do to reduce allergens will help.

Also if your toys are away from where you generally sit or live, less of your skin and dust will collect near them.

Get a static free cloth and some compressed air and you should be fine with a detolf. Wipe things down and use the compressed air every month or so.

I'd also suggest you get UV filter film for your windows in your rooms. Light is light, but the UV does the yellowing.

Eventually everything decays, in a box or out of a box.

I bet some people have things that are sealed and the styrofoam is leaching the paint, or it's yellowing anyway from bad plastic composition. They may never know haha.

I say do your best and put effort into maintaining your collection, but definitely enjoy it.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Gakken85

[CrazyDude]

Have you tried an antistatic duster brush for photo lenses?

[spanner]

Dust depends on you and your living situation.

If you have hardwood floors and a fairly clean living space you'll have a lot less dust. Anything you can do to reduce allergens will help.

Also if your toys are away from where you generally sit or live, less of your skin and dust will collect near them.

Get a static free cloth and some compressed air and you should be fine with a detolf. Wipe things down and use the compressed air every month or so.

I'd also suggest you get UV filter film for your windows in your rooms. Light is light, but the UV does the yellowing.

Eventually everything decays, in a box or out of a box.

" I bet some people have things that are sealed and the styrofoam is leaching the paint, or it's yellowing anyway from bad plastic composition. They may never know haha."

My cousin seriously needs to read this line in particular!

I say do your best and put effort into maintaining your collection, but definitely enjoy it. That's one of the things I love about my growing collection.. its the time and love I put into looking after them! At times I can just spend hours gazing through the glass at them in admiration!

Edited July 14, 2014 by spanner76