Cleaning your collection.

[Grif]

I do not know about you guys but the only thing I don't like about collecting Star Wars is cleaning ( dusting ) it. When I first started collecting I cleaned it about once a month, but now that my collection has grown I really hate cleaning it all. The loose stuff is horrible but the boxed things are not too much of a bother. One day I plan on getting a couple glass cases for my collection.

[SWAFMAN]

We have a set of those duster brushes that I guess use static electricity to pick the dust up off of things. They work great for the boxed display items.

My loose items are on a dresser top, a few book shelves, and the top shelf of my computer table. If we have family staying at our house from out of town, and there are young kids or anyone I don't trust to respect (read as NOT TOUCH) the collection, I store everything in a couple big boxes until they leave.

I don't know where I fall in the scheme of collection cleanliness, but the only time I dust my loose items is when I put them back on the shelves after one of those occasions.

Not very long ago, I discovered a couple of my figures missing that had been in/on loose display vehicles. It looked like my girlfriend had knocked them to the carpet while dusting, then vacuumed them up. I found one that bounced and was still underneath the shelves, where the vacuum couldn't run it over, but the other figure was sucked up. She went through the bag o' dust & found the little guy. Unlike a Vader I vacuumed up many years ago, this one was undamaged. But I wonder how many figures were lost over the past few years to the same fate, that I didn't notice. I've removed most of my figures now, and keep them in a baggie in a safe place.

What ticks me off about this is that she places the importance of not losing the figures lower than the importance of dusting a shelf. This is the same person who decided to dust my turntable platter one day, and snagged & broke off my record player needle with her dusting cloth in the process.

Are there any nice, available women out there who can either share my interests, or at least be caring enough to know to stay the hell away from what they've never bothered to fully understand?

[vulcantouch]

"i've learned a Great labor-saving secret: after the first four years, the dust doesn't get Any worse" :D
besides who doesn't enjoy a good sneeze? ah:stupid: -aah:o -Choo:p :happy:

[dr_evazan22]

I do pretty much what SWAFMAN does, only really cleaning them when they get moved b/c it can be a real hassle. The only real exception to that is the fig's I have in front of my monitor, and on a shelf in the living room. I'll occasionally dust off their bases and blow any dust that I can see of the fig's.

As I write this I stop my cats from playing w/ a section that came off my LEGO Blockade Runner.

[sergiurusu]

I keep most of my collections in drawers but even so they become dusty.

From time to time I use a dust brush and alsways keep the pilots inside the ships, but other minifigs are in a special box. So I don't lose them.

[JediTricks]

I do what VT suggested. That way, if an earthquake knocks anything down behind the shelf, I can see where it goes. ;)