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Tips & Tricks to Keep Your Figures Dust-free - TalkingHead#3 - 08-10-2024
Many collectors have shared tips on the Internet to keep anime figures clean or repair scuffs in the paintwork. For collectors joining the hobby, it's good to offer some guidance in maintaining these precious pieces of "painted plastic." Helping each other is the goal of the AnimeFigure Club. If you have any tips of your own, feel free to share them as well!
Prevention
Let me preface the guide with the simplest piece of advice: Prevention is better than cure. That means don't keep your figures in open-air area. Even though it looks cool, that means no desks, shelves above your bed or not, tables, and certainly not near any window. Although out-of-scope, unless coated, you want to avoid windows because of UV rays from the sun. Dust will be the least of your problems. Of course everybody has different circumstances whether it be financial or space-related, not everyone can have those tall, backlit glass cabinets with a mahogany finish.
Obvious solutions like dusting your shelf and changing your underwear won't be listed. Okay that was a lie. Feather dusters move dust around. Get a microfiber cloth wet or otherwise to wipe to remove the dust from the display surface and not send it into the air. A good brand of furniture spray will prevent dust from settling soon after.
No cabinet, no problem. Make your own!
Jars
If you're the type that is into crafts or woodwork, you can repurpose a glass coffee or jam jar. For smaller figures like Nendoroids, you can use the jar as a makeshift snow globe. That would mean the jar will be places upside down. Some caveats, not all jars are the same. Jacobs Kronung looks really cool and can be used, but depending on where you reside, Nescafé not so much. It depends on your taste. Aesthetically, using a plastic container is going a bit far in my humble opinion. A thick glass could also help and not smash into millions of pieces if it falls from an okay height, perhaps saving the figure inside. Plastic won't break at all, so there's that. It goes without saying, you don't want a coffee smell in there either. Craft-wise, you can go all out with decorating the base. You can put a name tag on there or add weight to the base to make it heavy and less-prone to wobbling. Also, on the inside, one could print a scene from the source material and use to create a mini diorama.
This is a simple project and you may have all the things you need at home without spending money. If they don't look good, you may have to turn to a store for cheap empty jars.
Fish Tank
This is mostly the same as the coffee jar one, just on a bigger scale. I'd go for a square one, but a round bowl could be cool if you want the snow globe effect with multiple figures. Unlike with the jars which may be scarce if you don't have them laying around, thrift stores always sell fish tanks. The beauty of them is that you can get them in different shapes and sizes to accommodate your space and budget. If you go for a pre-owned one, make sure to thoroughly clean them.
These are only two simple ideas, but there are many ways to obtain makeshift display cases. Ultimately, it's up to you or a friend to make it kitschy or tie it into the series and make it Instagram-enviable.
"But my figures are already dusty!"
Your figures are dusty, now what? Some things laying around the house or a trip to the shop can help.
Cotton buddies
A way to get rid of dust without water is by using cotton swabs, clean ones. They can get around the base and in-between the strands of the character's hair and clothing. You can pull the cotton of the thick cotton swab to get some more slack and get a somewhat more invasive clean. Cotton on a roll and cotton face pads can also help wider areas. Be sure to confirm that there are no chemicals or anything on the pads that can damage your figures.
Spectacle Cloth
A dedicated spectacle cleaning cloth can also do wonders. It's really soft so it can avoid damaging the figure or scratching the paint. Also, you can fold it several times to wipe hard-to-reach places. Like with the cotton, no water is needed.
Compressed Air
This one needs no further explanation. Blast the dust with canned air! If you don't know what you're doing, a can of compressed air like the kind used to clean computers will be safer than using an air compressor with adjustable pressure. Use your discretion for the pressure and distance.
Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline.
As with the spectacle cleaning cloth, a dedicated makeup kit will help nicely. A cheap set with a few brushes will be sufficient. The brushes will be or *should be* soft as they were made for applying makeup to the delicate skin of girls. Even if you can't use all of the brushes, soft artistic paintbrushes are likely more expensive than a small makeup kit with several brushes.
Warm water and a cloth.
Kept it for the finale, if all else fails, a bowl of warm water and two microfiber cloths, one for cleaning and one for drying, will be up next. The water shouldn't be too warm and certainly not boiling. The baby elbow trick (dip your elbow into the water) can help you gauge the temperature. While the paintwork could be fine, decals like the eyes can be damaged if it's too hot. Once ready, dip the cloth in water, dab the area, and pat it dry. This seems arduous because it is. You're playing with kid gloves. For all intents and purposes, all damage is irreversible.
Avoid
So those were the things you can try to get rid of settled dust. If you're antsy, avoid the following.
- Blowing Don't blow on your figures to clean them.
- Your finger Destructive oils.
- Coarse brushes Coarse brushes whether they be makeup or artistic can scratch the figure's paintwork.
- Pressing too hard You can obviously break something if you press too hard. But you can also damage the coating when drying with the cloth. The "P" in DDP is Page... I mean, the "P" is to pat the area dry.
- Mr. Clean Magic Eraser If you're a newbie, avoid the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (or similar) for now. Many suggest it to get rid of scuffs and other marks. It's obviously better than acetone, but if you're not careful, while getting rid of the dust, you can easily strip the coating off your figures.
- Chemicals Anything chemical-based like soap or dishwashing liquid should be avoided for a similar reason to Mr. Clean.
Other Guides
Good Smile Company has a few guides of their own. I'm listing them as a reference not a suggestion or endorsement. If you're comfortable with anything shown here, go for it (at your own risk)!
For older Nendoroids stuck in their boxes for a prolonged period, Good Smile Company recommended submerging them. Here's the archived version of their guide. There's a second part focusing on cleaning and scuffs.
Nendoroids with rubber coating.
Conclusion
That's it for now. I hope you find this guide useful. Again, if there's anything that you've tried and want to share, go for it.