I need advice & recovery of kits expertise

[THE DC]

Well, my Irish luck is holding...

As some of you know, I had heart failure, despite my age and good health, and spent Thanksgiving and the week after in the ICU under observation. My tests for a cause is ongoing but I usually celebrate my birthday in several pubs; this year was in recovery.

This slowed down my move into the new home I bought, as I now have to hire help, check by check.

Now I'm not whining, I'm still better off than most people, but tonight ended 2019 with a low blow. I was moving some small, light items over to the new house from the old rental, when my special lass heard a sound emanating from my office closet. When we opened the door we found water spraying out of the top of my hot water heater lead pipe. It flooded the closet where I was temporarily storing, you guessed it, much of my paper model collection. Storing them in the plastic salesman cases and on the shelves was no help. I'ver never seen a hot water heater top blow like a geyser before.

Its a total loss.

I'm beginning to determine the lost kits:

I had several McLoughin kits [2 space shuttle, 4 space freighter, 2 space battleship],

several Hathaway kits [4 foil-paper version Macon, 1 regular paper Macon, and 3 foil Hindenburgs],

several Rose kits [3 Hindenburgs, Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler Building, 2 Empire State Buildings, Japanese Pagoda, Tower Bridge & Tower of London, Sears Tower, 2 Vatican, US Capital, Titanic, Eiffel Tower, and St. Peters],

several Schreiber-Bogens [Roman Merchant, LZ- No7 Zepplelin NT, 2 Montgolfier, Western Locomotive, LZ127 Graf Zepplin, JF Schreiber Lenk-luftschiff Express Airship, Motorized Fishing Vessel 'Gustav Dahrendorf', Graf Zeppelin [1/200], Graf Zeppelin (metal foil), Temple in Jerusalem, 3 Blue-Star, Ulmer Schachtel, and Sirius],

several Smith kits [2 Early American Seaports, Mayflower, couple of Dinosaurs (covers stuck together!), Victorian Seaside Resort, 2 Victorian Village, old FASHIONED farm, Totem Pole, Pueblo Village, New York Harbor, Victorian Cottage, and 2 Early American Village],

New York's Most Iconic Skyscrapers set, LZ-10 airship, Build R2D2, USS Enterprise, Romulan Bird of Prey, 3 Enterprise with Lights & sound in box, 1980 movie Enterprise punch out, Enterprise bridge book, New Orleans' model of The Cabildo, Build a Viking ship,

EDMUND V. GILLON JR [Build Guilloteen and BUILD YOUR OWN SAWMILL, and 2 BUILD YOUR OWN WINDMILL],

Build a Titanic box set, Smock Windmill, Notre Dame Paris, Wickware's Steam Engine, 3 MaBstab LZ-26 Los Angeles kits, Nano's White House, Hall's Famous Balloons Mobiles, 2 WWI L-59 Zeppelins, Make Your Own Robot book, PMI Lockhead P-38, Prin's Paper Galaxy, Paper oats book, SCI Voyager Model, a Rudolph Make your own Paper Clock, A Make a Paper Camera, Wrebbit paper clock, Make Your Space Racers, and my present-to-be-built-for-my Lass [George Withe house] (she loved Williamsburg...).

All waterlogged and shriveled up; many water-logged bricks that won't peal apart.


This is just what I cleared out of several water-logged boxes and salesman cases. I have a few more, and a number of cherished hardbacks (don't ask about my first edition Damon Runon), but have not been able to separate the bricked kits, so stuck together, are they. Even my precaution of placing many in plastic bags was futile. All lost.

So here's my appeal for your expertise; is there anyway to press flat those kits I could peel apart but are wrinkled from water damage? Some foil kits don't look water stained but are shriveled.

Is there a place to get a value what I lost, IF (?) my new home-owner's insurance policy will cover them, and are there any places to find replacements? I bought many of these from the International Modeler's Convention vendors or members, so I don't have receipts.


Yes, this is a first-world problem, and many have it worse than me, but I do feel the loss and I hope someone out there has salvage tips, or at least, suggestions where I might find old kits like this to being the long process of recovery.

Now, I have to prepare for my call to my home owner's insurance about the water heater and pipe damage...

And my cardiologist told me to avoid stress!!!

[Rubenandres77]

That sounds like a horrible scenario for any collector. Sad to hear that. Very sad.

For the less-damaged kits, you can try let them dry flat on an open place. Preferably where sunlight helps to get the moisture out of the paper. After they're dry (a couple of days to a week) you can iron the pages by placing them between two sheets of cardstock to avoid direct contact between the iron and the model. This requires some time and patience, but it can be done. And if you are careful with the heat, you can get the pages flat again without deformations. But ironing each page can take up to 10 minutes... how many pages in total are we talking about?

Sometimes the costs of restoring water-damaged documents like books, files, or (as is your case) paper models, surpass the cost of getting them new. A good treatment as used in museums and restoration projects usually involve vacuum chambers and slow-drying ovens to get all the water out of the paper (plus an additional treatment in heated tables to flatten the paper). It is very effective, but it requires access to that technology.

A philosopher may say that this is a good opportunity to re-evaluate some aspects of your life etc. etc. And a psychologist may say that you need to go through a duel for the lost kits, because the attached sentimental value is just as strong as with a person, and the objects also deserve grief and duel.

I don't know if that can help. But is the only advice I can give.

Regards.

[Miles Linnabery]

Dear DC:
Shoot a PM to Annscombs in this forum She works for the Smithsonian Museum and will have the best ideas on this problem.
Miles

[Kevin WS]

Also, go speak to your local library - while they may or may not know, they can perhaps direct you to people who may know.

I read through your list of kits and my heart dropped. I am so sorry for the loss/damage.

But your health is more important.

Insurance wise, perhaps you could list value, as you would for ordinary books etc..

If you mention collector's item, insurance will, probably repudiate as you should have specified them (and paid an additional premium).

Good luck for the New Year.

[rickstef]

As for purchasing new or replacement versions, check on Amazon and Ebay, even Abe Books and Alibris are good sources.

there are some kits you have listed, like the Alan Rose kits, you can still find deals on ebay and at times on Amazon. and some of the boxed kits you might be able to find on Ebay as well

just search, and you should be able to rebuild some of your collection

[Rubenandres77]

Here's a link to some more useful tips:
https://www.loc.gov/preservation/emergprep/dry.html

[Amccombs3]

I’ll check with our paper conservators on Thursday, but I’d start by layering them flat between whatever towels I had available — bath towels, paper towels, kitchen towels, whatever. Might be worth getting dehydrating crystals if you can but this is a holiday right now, so good luck. Gentle heat, like setting things near a register, might help dry things, but I’d be wary of too much — you don’t want to artificially age the paper.

Wrote the above before checking the very useful reference that Ruben Andres suggested. Follow that to the extent possible. Add air circulation (fans) and placing the sheets on rigid screens to what I already wrote.

And my sympathies as well.

[THE DC]

Thanks for the ideas and kind sympathies.

Ironically, several of the kits I had does of were intended for builds over the next month. Those of you who regularly chat with me knew I was moving into this new house which would have the same for storing new kits and a room for hobby efforts.

I had moved the kits over a week before the hot water heater blew [which can't be replaced for three days; not a good time to sit, given the shower limits...].

I'll start hunting down replacements on Amazon and eBay; I haven't seen anything near the zeppelin & airships out there and I was just about to start a thread-series on these, using Getters macon interior for the Macon, Akron, and Shenandoah...

[gotham]

Just read your post, DC. Ouch !! Hope you can recover what you can. Great thing with this forum is there will be people out there with the knowledge to help.

[nebeltex]

You could try ironing some of the pages flat, with some cotton on top. Picture framing places often use a large heat press for mounting images to foam core. It might be possible to recover some pages that way as well.