Sun

[Flashman14]

How protective should we be concerning the sun and miniatures.

Occasionally a game gets left up for a week or two at a time and the sun shines in as it is wont to do and I swear it looks like there is some fading of color on some minis.

Is the sun a real threat? Should figures be even stored in glass cases (open to sunlight)?

Would it be better if they were stored in closed (and dry) drawers or cabinets?

Any horror stories or experiences anyone wants to share regarding that?

 

[Corvus]

I keep my minis safely locked up in a closet because of another horrors: mothers or girlfriends that obsessively want to clean everything dusting rag

I can still remember the days when I was into military aircraft modelling: every week there was some kind of rocket, bomb or propellor ripped of by my mom\'s frantic cleaning lol

As for the sun: I would place them in direct sunlight for days and days, this could fade the color or weaken the protective finish, let alone the varnish turning yellow.

I think the best way to know this for sure (without trying it) is trying to contact the manufacturer of your paint with the same question.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Old trick learnt from photography:

Paint some plasticard Red, Allow to dry Cover half with newspaper and leave in sun for a month. With Red being a Fugitive Dye type you should see a difference between the two halves.

Hope it helps (have to try this myself.Hang on this is the UK. What\'s sun?)

 

[Beelzebrush]

Originally posted by Dragonsreach
Hang on this is the UK. What\'s sun?)

Gah! It\'s that faint hazy glow that appears behind the low clouds every day...

I\'m pretty sure that it will fade your paint sooner or later. (Even in the UK)

 

[Sand Rat]

Havent seen Mini paint jobs fade yet, but I live in Texas, which in the summer time is about 3 feet from the sun, so I have seen paint on everything else (cars, buildings, people, dogs, art, books, you name it ) fade. So, I don\'t leave my minis where the sun can get to them. The mother/wife/girlfriend or dog danger still exists, however (you\'d be surprised how much damage two 45 lb dogs can do chasing each other around the house)

 

[AAvH-Darkblade]

Originally posted by steelcult
Havent seen Mini paint jobs fade yet, but I live in Texas, which in the summer time is about 3 feet from the sun, ...

Good one, my sides are still hurting lol

Originally posted by steelcult
...so I have seen paint on everything else (cars, buildings, people, dogs, art, books, you name it ) fade. So, I don\'t leave my minis where the sun can get to them. The mother/wife/girlfriend or dog danger still exists, however (you\'d be surprised how much damage two 45 lb dogs can do chasing each other around the house)

That\'s good advice...keep them out of the sun, away from people with dusters, and all small creatures (kids and pets). lol

Darkblade

 

[dauber22]

Originally posted by steelcult
I have seen paint on everything else (cars, buildings, people, dogs, art, books, you name it ) fade.

Fade!?!?! Melt\'s more like it!! I lived there for over a dozen years and before I wised up I lost numerous pens, a couple of floppies, one or two cd\'s, and a few small kid\'s toys because I left them either on my dashboard or under the rear window of my car.

 

[Sand Rat]

Well, I was trying to practice a very foriegn concept to a Texan - understatement. lol I\'ve actually lost Ice Cream in the car on the way home from the store - it becomes sweet milk soup.

 

[finn17]

How the other half live....

It\'s always fascinating to read other people\'s stories about where they live. (I am not going to go OT for too long..) As a Brit, it is hard to imagine that sort of prolonged sunshine. We once had a Summer, I think it was in 1976. Some people actually unbuttoned their cardigans!:bouncy:

I think the original question is a very interesting one. I don\'t know the answer but I would bet large amounts of money that few if any of the pigments we use are lightfast.

As I understand it, lightfastness in a pigment is a fairly rare commodity and will vary mightily between different colours.
This is probably not too much of a problem with playing pieces but if I ever acquired a mini from one of my painting heroes I would keep it in a dark room and only look at it with a torch.lol

 

[Sand Rat]

Way off topic but . . . . .

I\'d always heard horror stories about the English weather, but figured no one could be that wet without growing moss lol

 

[finn17]

So what the flip is wrong with moss!!!

Originally posted by steelcult
I\'d always heard horror stories about the English weather, but figured no one could be that wet without growing moss lol

Hey pal! Just let me tell you that I am proud of my moss.

We could do without mossist comments!:flame:

 

[finn17]

Never mind the moss it\'s the mushrooms!!!

Steelcult, you just reminded me. I used to live (fairly recently) in a cottage in a river valley in Hampshire.

That place was so damp that the walls used to grow mushrooms overnight.

I used to leave the bracket fungus in the kitchen alone because it was useful as shelving.

That is not an exageration!

 

[Sand Rat]

Ahh, to live somewhere where the ground doesnt bake to the consistency of concrete in the summer and turn to slimy clinging muck in the 3 weeks of winter we get - thats the part that most people dont get about Texas the summers are hellish and the winters are cold because there is nothing between us and the north pole but the occasional buffalo lol

 

[Flashman14]

heh . . I was gonna joke about the lack of sun in Britain but thought it might seem cheeky coming from a yank! (since I can\'t do better, what right do I have to criticize the weather!! lol) - see recent NMM post.

I\'ve been to London twice for a little less than a week each and I still think it\'s pretty damn close to being my favorite world capital - tied with NYC.

I really love the English . . my best friend growing up was from Hartlepool and I miss him beyond measure (a suicide about 5 years ago). He would have loved this site, the internet . . .

But truthfully I think a case can be made for mothers being a singular danger to miniatures. I used to have a small paint set up at her house when I was in college and on display on a shelf were about a division of painted 15mm Confederate infantry (maybe 3-400 figs) - All highlighted, based, my usual 5\'clock shadow on random figs, unique blanket rolls, different color hats, trousers, etc etc.
I don\'t recall what caused the need for \"clean up\" but I found the shelf swept clean as if with an angry forearm into the bottom of a shopping bag, an easy drop of 2 feet if she was careful and as I suspect she wasn\'t, I imagine half didn\'t make it into the bag on the first swipe and those, thus, fell an extra 2 feet to the floor.

Some mothers one can push around. Mine is the type that is as likely to behead me in broad daylight with sufficient provocation. She recieved a half hearted rebuke and I took my stuff and never set it up there again . . .

A sad mix of melancholy and humor . . . well, that\'s life innit?

 

[smokey]

All hail the sky ball!!

I live in Seattle, the 2nd cloudiest place on earth. We get about 3 months of 70-100 degree weather (July-early September) and the rest of the time it rains. I\'ve never really worried about minis fading with sunlight, but I don\'t leave \'em on window sills, either.

 

[Sand Rat]

Ok, I got an Idea - I\'ll go through my figures tonight and find two that are identical and paint them in the same pattern - probably the base color wheel, then set one on my back balcony (it gets sun in the after noon) and leave one inside and then post a report on the damage done to the paint jobs after 30 days in the Texas sun - and yes, I will take before and after shots for comparison.

 

[UncleHex]

With the weather you\'re getting at the moment take care you dont end up with little puddles of pewter

 

[Sand Rat]

Actually, where I\'m at the big threat is rain right now - its been threatening to do so on and off for the last couple of days and the barametric pressure is reminding me I played way to much football (both American and European) injured.

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by dauber22
[Fade!?!?! Melt\'s more like it!!

Oklahoma is only slightly cooler than Texas. An uncle of mine who lives in Oklahoma once bought a car with an aluminum body. Yes, one summer it began to melt! Same thing happened to my next door neighbor\'s house after he put alluminum siding on it...I could see the lines of his house visibly drooping!

 

[vincegamer]

sunburn = fading

The problem of fading (just like sunburn) is caused by the ultraviolet light wavelength (UV radiation).
A mini that is left in direct sunlight will fade pretty quickly. Since it\'s the UV that does it, the same will happen if you leave it out under fluorescent lamps for a long time. The sun produces more UV than the lamp (duh) so the sun does the job quicker, but the end result is the same.
Also, the damage continues even after the light has been removed - sort of a UV half-life in the irradiated paint. Museums rotate their paintings because if they left the same painting up for years on end it would fade away. The basic rule they use is for every month on display it gets 6 months in total darkness. Otherwise the fade rate increases.
So, solutions:
1- keep your minis in darkness such as in a storage box/carrying case.
2- rotate your minis on display - reduces the rate of fading so you won\'t likely notice it.
3- buy UV protective screening. You can get plastic to coat windows (or glass display cases) and tubes to cover fluorescent lamps that block most UV. Places such as lightimpressionsdirect.com and other similar sellers have plenty to choose from.

Personally I plan on getting a glass display case and just not putting it where the sun can get to it and we have hardly any fluorescent bulbs in the house.