Packing away the minis….

[avien 2024xp 1]

I am packing up all of my miniatures for storage as my hobby room is soon to be transformed into our second childs bedroom. I am taking over a corner of our master bedroom with the essentials (the wife loves the idea of bringing my hobby into the bedroom let me tell you that :P)  and everything else is going into storage

I spent two weeks putting down flooring and hanging shelfs in the attic so that I could easily access anything I need, but I was up there this morning in this lovely May heat at 21 degrees Celsius outside and couldn’t believe how hot it was in the attic. It felt at least 10 degrees hotter up there!

I’m now very concerned about storing resin in that heat, particularly the stuff that is already painted….. has anyone any experience with storing resin in uninsulated attic spaces? Am I dooming my resin minis to bendy paint destroying hell?

 

For context I live in Ireland where EXTREME temperatures rarely go above 25 degrees C, you might get the odd scorcher but really our average summer time temperatures are between 11 and 16 degrees with some hotter days and some colder.

Winter temperatures can go down to 2 degrees overnight and -3, -4 on really cold nights but thats less common.

 

Cheers

[irredeemable 3742xp 1]

I don’t know the warping point for resin but I would assume its much higher than that. Otherwise it wouldn’t be usable at all in hotter countries.

I know when I put it into hot water to fix bent pieces I physically have to bend the resin, it doesn’t just start warping.

[silverfox8 3936xp 0]

For me I would not store resin in the attic.  I have found it just does not do well.   Warps  easily or totally melts.   Granted i live in NC where attics get much hotter but i think my attic is at least 15-20 degrees hotter than outside temps.  Since ive spent a lot of time in Ireland though (my wife was born and raised there) i think you will be fine. My nephew stores his stuff up there in the attic.  If its packed in foam that will help too.  Id just recommend all your resin models be in one or two containers that you can easily remove if you get a forecast of consistent temps above 20 degrees.

[goggs 1144xp 1]

Hey dude, I’m living in Ireland too and store most of my stockpile/pile of potential in the attic. I’ve been doing that for years and haven’t come across any issues with it. You’ll know a lot about how hot your attic gets if the weather is as predicted for today and tomorrow but even during that heatwave we had two years ago I haven’t noticed any issues with items stored up there. I think the most important factor is to keep everything boxed away and sealed correctly so dust doesn’t become your enemy and nothing is thrown down on top of your pieces.
Anyway take care and not sure if your second is a new arrival or not but best of luck with all that. I similarly lost the hobby room to our 3rd and it’s now a confined corner of the living room, hence the attic requirement ?!

[totsuzenheniParticipant 5651xp 0]

Perhaps you could build some ventilated cubboards cum larders into your attic or elsewhere? Not that i’ve ever done it; it’s a suggestion, not a recommendation, but i’ve been in plenty of attics with cupboards along the lower corners and i suppose those could be ventilated and insulated as required.

[lloydKeymaster 17731xp 0]

If it’s a worry, you could try insulating the boxes.

If it keeps heat in, it will also keep heat out.

So I think they would be at a more stable temp. I THINK.

Just wrap the stuff up in a load on news paper etc I guess would do the trick.

[kronosthetravelerParticipant 5967xp 1]

Congratulations to you and your wife, by the way!

I’ve never had a problem with resin warping too much, but I’d recommend investing a portable air conditioner for when you’re working up there so that the models don’t bend. If you’re going to store them, I’d suggest wrapping them in newspaper – I’ve done this with my stored models, and it works decently for keeping the heat out and keeping them in shape. Otherwise, if you have a basement, storing them on a shelf down there would work well.

[tankkommanderParticipant 6411xp 1]

In the UK your loft is, on average, about 4 degrees warmer than the rest of your house. Having worked in lofts and on roofs during the summer it can get unpleasantly hot. My advice…don’t demolish a chimney on the hottest day of the year :p

[rasmusParticipant 8879xp 0]

I did ship a load of minis transatlantic isolated – and some types of resin made it without issues and other types got destroyed – Resin is many different things, if you have any bits I would advice testing it in water warmed to roughly 30-35C and you can see how it react

[avien 2024xp 0]

Cheers for the advice guys. I think I am going to play it safe with the more expensive pieces and store them under the stairs, but I’d be comfortable enough with the smaller things staying up there.

I’ve ordered a portable cooler for myself for when I’m working up there because my 3D printer and airbrush will be kept up there too.

I may have to look at having a window installed in the future

[m30wm1x 2318xp 0]

@avien Congratualtions.

The only thing I can think to add is that heat doesn’t inherently make things move, it makes thermo-forming plastics, and resin, more ductile and flexible. For the painted mini’s if they aren’t packed with anything pressing on them they should be fine, I’ve not had a resin mini flex under it’s own weight. If there’s a heavy metal gun/turret, they might want lying flat on a shelf. I’m in Lancashire, so similar sunny climate, I have had painted mini’s in the loft that were touching seemingly have the varnish on them get soft when warm and stick to a neighbour, but I put that to humidity not temp and had packed them too close.

[marsniper27Participant 1006xp 0]

With those temps ranges I wouldn’t be too worried here we get days above 30° during the summer ( had a couple days at 28° this week I’m scared to see our high this year) and winter can get down to -30° though my minis are exposed to 5-10° minimum temp but I have never had any issues with anything warping.

[holly 12044xp 1]

You mentioned using your airbrush and 3d printer up in the attic. Do really think about ventilation up there with both of those bits of kit

[avien 2024xp 0]

@carlospictor – I am planning to vent both of them through the roof. I have a spray booth for the airbrush and the resin printer has a connection point for a vent too

[Author]

Posts