The A/C broke in my model room. The heat is a steady 85 degrees at the moment. Repair person is coming tomorrow. What's the worst that'll happen to my models? Will anything happen to them, or would it require higher temps or longer exposure?

mjl

Approx 75 percent of my collection is and has been displayed for several years in a room that is NOT air conditioned. So far, I have not noticed any problems compared with that part of the collection that is n the living room, which is air conditioned. Temperatures in the un-air conditioned room are in the high 80's to 90 degree range all summer long.

They only long term adverse effects I could imagine would be possibly the rubber tires. I have bought older Corgi models that had melted and flat tires that were attributed to excessive heat. A day or two probably won't matter, and maybe even long term won't bother them, but it would be something I'd keep an eye on.

Hot/Cold hasn't been an issue, but sunlight....that's another story.....luckily it was only my Road Champ models, but the DCFD set--the striping/painting/door decal, faded almost nearly out of sight......

In the current (Sept) issue of Model Truck World, editor Peter White tells a story of his collection, displayed outside, at the recent Gaydon model show. He writes that part of the collection "was housed in a glass case, and being perhaps the hottest day of the year, I might have realized what would happen. The glass magnified the sun's heat, and my collection was slowly reduced to a heap of melted plastic! Resin seemed to be less affected by the heat, but plastic cabs, mudguards, fuel tanks and chassis all succumbed to some degree, either by warping, distorting or sagging."

On the other hand, the temp in my hobby room is often 90 plus during California summers -- I only turn on the air conditioner when I'm working out there -- and I have seen no bad effects other than dried/cracked tires on some old A. Smith kits (and Alan sent me replacement tires several years ago).

In the past two years we've had two of the many hurricanes that hit Florida, come through Miami and both times our power was out for two weeks. The temp in the display room was up around 100 and I didn't see any damage to any of the models, but the owner of the the models sure had some problems!!