Practical Tips in Organizing your Model Kit Collection

As many areas in PH are put into community quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies have either implemented a work from home arrangement for their employees or have temporarily suspended work altogether for the duration of the quarantine.

Many people suddenly find themselves with a lot of time in their hands, time that can be put into really good, productive use. In my case, I have started inventory check of my model kit collection. Here are my Tips in Organizing my Model Kit Collection which I would like to share to other model kit collectors who would like to organize their collection, be it model kits or figures.

  1. Dust them off!

    Even when put in a display cabinet covered with glass panels, unless it is a hermetically sealed space, model kits WILL still accumulate dust over time.
    Use a soft-tipped brush to dust off your model kits or figures on display. A wide brush should be good for removing dust on large surfaces, while a smaller tipped brush and/or Q-tips works well for those hard to reach nooks and crannies (joints, surface panels, verniers/thrusters, etc).
    Tips Organizing Model Kit Collection
    If you have access to compressed air cleaners that also works, but make sure the pressure is not too high to avoid damaging small parts on the models’ surface.
    Tips Organizing Model Kit Collection
    You can also safely clean with mild soap in water using sponge, but for painted kits/figures, keep an eye out on the the finish.

  2. Fold the boxes

    Model kits come in boxes that are a lot bigger than the completed model itself. As such, they can eat up a lot of space over time as your collection accumulates.
    Tips Organizing Model Kit CollectionTips Organizing Model Kit Collection
    During recent years, I started discarding a lot of model kit boxes, throwing away the bottom of the box that contains the sprues themselves, but keeping the top cover portion that has the box art. The ones with really nice artwork can be framed up at a later time to be decorated in my room.
  3. Throw away the empty sprues

    My estimate is that for a standard GunPla kit, the sprues (that plastic framework that the actual kit parts are connected to) comprise at least 50% of the total weight of the unbuilt kit. So for storage purposes, if you must really keep the box the kit came with, at least throw the empty sprues away.
    Tips Organizing Model Kit Collection
    Junk yard collectors usually buy them by weight, to be brought to recycling centers. Tamiya PH used to have a recycling drive for empty sprues (they have a plant in Cebu), though I’m not sure if this is still going on right now.
  4. Organize by kit variant

    Bandai loves to make variants of their GunPla kits. It could be a pure color variant, additional weapon variant, or a very drastic variation from the base kit. Whatever the case may be, there will always be accessories or extra parts that come with each kit. Hence it is easier to put these together in one box for future use.
    For example, I own several variants of the HGAC Leo from the Gundam Wing line – Standard Leo, Space Type Leo, Flight Type Leo. What I did was remove all the extra/unused parts from their sprues, and I stored them all in the box of the Standard Leo, then folded up the other variant boxes. That way, it will be easier to look for the Leo parts later on.
  5. Re-position kits/figures or their cabinets

    This will also be a good time to reposition the kits or figures on display, especially if you got bored or tired of their current poses. Make sure you have lots of stand accessories for this!
    Also, as most of you will be at home right now, you can check if your kits/figures are not exposed to sunlight during different times of the day while on display. Direct sunlight can affect the coloration of the plastic that the kits/figures are made from. You may want to move the display cabinets away from direct sunlight to protect your collection that are on display.

I hope these tips for organizing model kit collection will help you as you clean up and organize your collection during this quarantine period. Feel free to comment other practical tips that can help one organize their model kits / figures collections.

Stay safe and healthy folks!

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