What is best way to store decals

[TimEwers]

I have a few decals left over from my builds and was wondering what is the best way to keep them from going bad.

Would throwing them in a box work? or do I need to do more than that first.

Thanks.

 

[Matt308]

Keep them out of sunlight and humidity swings. I have found that decals will last 30-40yrs if of good quality. Those that are poorly made, will be the first to disentegrate. If your household has lots of smokers, this too will cause them to yellow. But mostly keep them in the model box and stored preferably in the house. Especially if you live in an area where summer vs winter causes huge changes in humidity. I live a relative steady climate and the garage doesn't seem to have affected 30-40yr old decal sets.

And whatever you do, don't let them age.

 

[T Bolt]

I keep them in zip-lock bags with as much of the air squeezed out as I can, then stored in a drawer. When I open up a kit, if the decals aren't in a separate sealed bag I put them in a zip-lock also before putting the kit back in my stash. I've been doing it for almost 15 years and it's worked so far.

 

[Airframes]

I have to admit that many of my spare decals are still in a large envelope. But, I normally store them in a file which has individual, polythene pockets, with one sheet of decals per pocket. This ensures they don't stick together, and are protected from moisture,humidity and light, and away from the effects of smoke and dust.
I've recently used forty-year old decals without problem, taken from these files.

 

[stona]

A freezer bag (I'm guessing similar to the zip lock bag mentioned above) in a box file stored in the top of a cupboard. You've got to avoid direct sunlight,moisture and temperature swings. I used some twenty plus year old decals recently with no problem.
Steve

 

[fubar57]

I keep mine in a tupperware container with some desiccants thrown in.

Geo

 

[Spherical]

Mine are stored all together in a clear zip lock bag, with each sheet of decals being seperated by whatever the sheet is that came with them.

 

[A4K]

Mine are stored in ziplock bags too, according to subject (Luftwaffe, RNZAF, etc), and all stored together in metal biscuit tins in a drawer.

 

[Wurger]

It is said that the best way for storing delcas is to keep them in a stamp-album.

 

[Crimea_River]

I finally got around to organizing all mine and putting them in a binder. Ziploc bags make sense but I have so many bits and pieces that, if thrown into a bag, have the risk of sticking together. Where already in a bag, I've left them there. Where not, I've pasted bits and pieces to scrap letter-sized pieces of paper (front and back) with a glue stick, sorted by country, pinched that betwenn a folded piece of wax paper, and slid the lot into clear plastic binder pockets:

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

That's exactly how I store mine - although yours are a little more organised than mine Andy!!

 

[mikewint]

Andy what a fantastic way to organize. I usually use almost all decals provided in the kit. The few I have left over go in zip-lock bags stored in a small plastic file drawer. there are 3 drawers total and I use 2 for decals US and German.

 

[Crimea_River]

That's exactly how I store mine - although yours are a little more organised than mine Andy!!

I picked the best pages for the pictures

 

[Wayne Little]

I'll have this one....and that one, thanks Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Be my guest! Maybe another thread? "Post your spare decals"?