[Frank Richards]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phwalalabah

Thanks for your response! Since I'm moving I have plenty of standard cardboard boxes. Is this kind of cardboard acid free? I was thinking I could just line the sides of the box with it. Would I have to worry about paint rub? They're going to be moved once into storage and then left for a couple of years (although I intend to buy some acid free bags once I'm settled and then come back to them to bag them properly) so do I have to worry about paint rub? If they were left touching each other will the paint start to stick to each other or something?

I've got a small tub that I keep a bunch of accessories (i.e. second heads, hands, force lightning and lightsaber hilts) and they've been in there for a couple of years and look fine. Is thick storage container plastic generally more friendly to paint and toy plastic?

Hmmm... concerning the acidity of the cardboard, I honestly don't know the answer to that question. I used cardboard moving boxes, purchased from a local home improvement store, that seemed to be fairly high quality. They didn't release anything that damaged my figures, and they were stored in them for approximately two years.

With the issue of paint rub, to be on the safe side, it would probably be best to have no contact whatsoever among the figures. If they are going to be stored for years, it's hard to predict what could happen. Frankly, when I display my figures, there is typically a lot of contact (example: Colossus preparing to launch Wolverine into one of their "fastball specials"), and I've had no problems, but then again, I am able to observe them and frequently rearrange them for dusting. It would probably be best not to take any chances by having the figures touch while in storage, since sticking is likely to occur, especially if the storage facility isn't climate controlled.
One of my friends actually damaged two DC Direct Flash figures by storing them too closely. The emblems on their chests stuck to other figures and partially peeled off. I would assume that if you wanted to pack them together tightly, that the acid-free bags would mostly eliminate the threat of paint rub, but I honestly can not speak from personal experience. I was just too paranoid to attempt storing mine like that, and kept them at a safe distance from other figures.

And, concerning the thicker plastics, I honestly don't know if thicker plastic is better or not. Since most thin plastic bags (like the typical plastic sandwich bag) are manufactured to be used once and then either dumped in a landfill or recycled, they tend to quickly break down, in order to expedite either the recycling process, or their decomposition in a landfill. Plastic storage bins are intended to last much longer, so I would assume that the better, higher quality storage bins are manufactured in a way that prevents them from "breaking down" (and resultantly damaging/softening your figures and accessories) quite as quickly. But, like I said, that's just an assumption. I honestly don't know if the average plastic storage bin has any sort of serious long-term affect on its contents.
However, when I researched the Plano bins, one of their selling points was the emphasis that they would not release any chemicals that would damage the contents of the bin. I guess fishermen with large collections of expensive lures are just as cautious as we action figure collectors, lol!

Whew... sorry for my verbosity, lol. I hope that you found at least some of this info to be helpful.