Maintenance of UCS sets

[hallonsylt]

Hi forum,

I'm a UCS collector. I collect to build and display, not to have MISB sets. Therefore I need tips to keep my collection nice and tidy.

Do you have your sets with or without stickers? I'm concidering peeling of all stickers that I've applied, especially the older used sets I've bought, since they simply look worse and worse every year.

How do clean off dust? I bring them outside every once in a while to blow the dust of with compressed air. Problem is that some of the dust does not come off.

 

All tips are welcome.

[KevinMD]

A makeup brush is a good tool for dislodging dust.  Unfortunately, if you can afford some sort of sealed storage you’re going to be stuck with the dust.  Stickers, some sets require them to look proper. I haven’t found a perfect replacement set but there are plenty of people selling them on eBay to restore the look. 

[Hold0511]

Yup agree with KevinMD on both his points, a decent make up brush works wonders (buy new though...may seem obvious but just in case), I've a mix of sets with and without stickers (I've never been able to bring myself to attempt the x-wing canopy sticker) but where I can I've tried to either bricklink a spare set of genuine stickers for those sets I have out permanently for any potential replacement need or as KevinMD comments bought replacements from other sellers (or where I have BL'd an older UCS I've had to use those anyway).  

I rotate all my sets in terms of placement and any impact of light - I try to keep sets out of direct sunlight but even so I move them around every few months - some of the older sets stickers are now starting to look a bit aged, but I prefer to leave them be - if they get that bad then Ill probably break the set down, give the bricks a gentle wash and then use the replacement stickers on the rebuild (I've done the same process on BL'ing older UCS sets).

[hallonsylt]

Thanks for the great tips!

Sealed storage is unfortunately not an option right now. Planning to get it eventually.

[AfolFree]

For recent UCS sets, consider printed bricks (https://www.steindrucker.com/lego-set-buendel for exemple).

I've replaced all stickers with printed bricks on my UCS Falcon, UCS Snowspeeder and my UCS Slave I (for this one, the windshield is not available in printed form, but I left the sticker off) and I am quite happy with the result.

[neoconagenda]

Cleaning options above are all great. I used the soap and water technique for the canopy decal. 

[hallonsylt]

Thanks people!