I was now looking at my GI Joe collection after a year roughly, and much to my dismay, many of my figures have yellowed . This has happened to me before, when I kept them in cardboard boxes, separated by paper layers, in a hot flat over the summer while I was on holiday.

The thing is that now, every GI joe was in ziplock bags, inside a big bag, inside a cardboard box, between boxes, covered with a sheet over a bed (yes, not the best place but anyway ).

Where I live the summer is hot, so I might reach 32ºc inside home, and the humidity is always high. The rest of my collectables seem to be more or less ok, but some joes have been very affected, for example, all Astro Vipers v2 are now awful to look at, from their bright turquoise to a dark, mucky greenish colour.

So, how do you keep your collection? is there any trick, like placing them in foil bags or some kind of insulation, or I must simply go to buy a sort of museum level climate control machine that keep always a sort of never above 28ºc, 75 % humidity? cause the ARAH is getting more expensive by the day, and I cannot go buying all the collection with white/bright colours every summer . Worst of all, even some customs where I didn't repaint flesh etc have been affected.

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I wish I could help, but I don't know.

The museum machine sounds like a humidor or if that's not big enough a wine fridge. I suppose a large refrigerator set on low might keep heat and humidity down.

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Not in baggies, in a climate controlled room between 68-75 degrees year round. I keep them in drawers grouped by environment/role.

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Thanks for the replies . The question is that I've got a huge amount of GI Joes and collectables, and ti is hard to me to get them in one room, let alone anything smaller!

Pluv, how do you keep your room climatized? a sort of very modern air conditioning? or is a free moving machine, like a dehumidifier?

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Its very humid here in the southern US. We have central ac but it struggles on 110 degree days. That's F* not C*. If our trailer was better insulated it would help some. As is we have a tin roof and single pane windows. It would be like an oven w/no ac. I get bad humidity on inside of the windows.

Mostly I get light white mold on unsealed acrylic paint. I got a "bloom" of fungi one day in my toy room that I thought was an alien creature. It was hundreds of ear shaped nodules in a mass the size of a pie plate.

Your local will dictate what you need specifically. Light,heat,and time are the enemy. If you can reduce those two things it will prolong but not stop time. Those plastics might crumble or gas out soon after they start changing color.

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I lived before in Spain, and only if I left something in the full sun it would yellow. I moved to Malta, and leaving all my GI Joes in boxes, and a big part of them yellowed . I moved from house in Malta, and in the new one, keeping them in bags inside bags was enough (even it was very hot).

But I moved home again, and here even if it is much cooler, (I hardly need to open the AC on summer as there is a nice breeze) the humidity is crazy strong, and mould grows on everything in a flash. I thought my joes were ok, but it seems not.

I'll have to contact the local people and see how I can keep continuously a good temperature and humidity. Here, I've spoken with other collectors, and they swear humidity is another factor to the equation.

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here in mississipi almost no one has a basement. up north though lots of people have basements and cellars. if insulated well and not damp any under ground room should be cooler with less humidity. i think thats why people keep wine in cellars.

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Light, heat and moisture will destroy almost everything.

Keep it cool, in the dark and dry.

I know that whole home air conditioning systems are far less common in Europe but you could run a window unit nonstop to keep a room cool but that's going to cost you a lot more than if you just had a good efficient whole house system (window units are less efficient but any AC will help keep both temperature and humidity under control). If you don't already have whole-home AC then getting it just for a collection would many times more than most collections are worth plus ongoing energy costs in perpetuity. There are rented climate controlled storage spaces but those are also expensive - it would be like a yearly fee for the privilege of having a collection and I never recommend avoidable recurring fees, better to just sell off enough of the collection so that you have a manageable amount. The "easiest" solution is to get some insulation and a window AC unit and make at least one climate controlled room.. There really no secret trick. It's just keep them in a cool dry place and air conditioning not only cools the air but also keeps it moving and prevents the buildup of moisture.

Thanks for the replies . I will consider everything, and act on May, so I have a month to prepare as June the heat starts getting on. My collection is quite valuable, as on top of Joes I have vehicles, 6 inch figures, model kits, diecast cars, ww2 model kits, I collect nearly everything .

I've been half the morning cleaning figures full of mould , and definitely I have to do something.

Darkness I have it in check, as everything is in boxes, or in a very dark room, or in draws. But certainly humidity is much more to blame than one might think, as narrowing it down, it was hotter where I was before but got most deterioration very very limited, and here cooler but with much more humidity everything is going to pieces .

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i have two modern mainframe figures in a tote that are yellowing. i got them at different times from separate sellers. one might have been barely noticeable when i got it. now one is way yellow and the other is halfway there. it must be the plastic leeching through or the gray paint aging poorly.

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