Display/Storage and Spring loaded features.

Started by Antron007, March 22, 2015, 11:44:29 AM

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Antron007

Hey everyone,
I was messing with my collection earlier today and noticed, in regards to spring loaded features and weapons and such, that some of them I have "cocked" and ready to fire (Spring compressed) and others I just had the projectiles in the barrels loosely (springs uncompressed). I'd like to hear some others thoughts on how they keep their springs. Is it better for them to be kept in a compressed or uncompressed state? Which way is best for the lifespan and longevity of the toy/part? I want to say it's best to keep them uncompressed but I'm just not sure.  Can anyone share their thoughts or knowledge on this?

Tripredacus

For what concern would you have if the missile launchers did not fire, if you never play with the toys to begin with? :D

I never considered it myself. I know you can get the missile in without being "ready to fire" but this can damage the spring inside. I have some that now they do not actually shoot anymore because of this. Anyways, what is the concern, that it will shoot out by itself?

Antron007

It's mostly the concern of preservation. If, god forbid, i'm ever forced to sell a toy, it will be worth more if it's on working condition. Kind of like a classic car. Sure a 65 Chevy is collectible and worth some money but, if it runs it's worth more. I guess it really doesn't matter at the end of the day but, I just think it's cooler to have a toy that is 100% functional. :)

triKlops

Uncompressed is the way to go, from what i understand.
The pressure on the springs will eventually deform the springs themselves.
Store em in a baggie and you can keep track of them with no ill effects.

Antron007

Thanks triKlops. AMOF when I first started collecting as an adult, I did do just that. (I loved TFs and G.I. Joes as a kid. And If I could afford it I'd collect Joes too but alas it is not in my budget. And I'll admit I had a gang of Go-Bots too. I loved that walker base they had and it got taken over by my dinobots pretty quickly.)  I even still have those first couple few parts in baggies, filed away in a filing cabinet. And not just spring loaded but, everything besides the core figures themselves. But then, I acquired some decent display options so they had a defined home so, I started displaying them in their entirety.

I started in 2005, I saw the Market Six Arcee (Universe/Energon) at a Family Dollar and it was the first Fembot I had ever seen so 2 dts later I spent the $5.00 and it started from there. Cyberton/Galaxy Force was just starting and it resparked my TF interests. I did watch Beast Wars but was all but squatting in L.A. at the time so collecting wasn't an option. One of the dudes I was crashing with had a bunch of the original Beast Wars toys and I enjoyed playing with them.

Armada as a cartoon didn't really grab my attention then and I completely missed out on Energon somehow. I've since collected those shows and have watched them all just to play catch up. That and I've watched most of the Japanese TF series as well. Especially the G1 continuation series like Head Masters and the like. I still need to watch the Japanese Beast Wars ones though. I have them (thank you internet) but just haven't made it to them yet.

But, I dug Cybertron and was glad that I got to get some of those Armada molds they reissued. The whole cyber key thing was cool and I went out and bought Vector Prime on Thanksgiving that year and with his accessory basically being a Minicon, I was "forced" to start keeping the extra parts out with the rest of the figures. That spurred me into getting a decent display shelf.

I now proudly have literally a wall of TF's on display. I still have 2-3 big boxes of figures I just never got around to opening on top of that. (I'm currently 508 in the rankings, just a few behind Shmax himself ;) ) I primarily collect by mold but, I'm totally loving the Combiner Wars which is going to force/forcing me  into buying some redecos/remolds. I can't wait for that Powerglide repaint to come out. I'm just glad it's a legends class. Geek people problems, I know. LOL. 

Anyway, I just thought it odd that I had some figures cocked and loaded and some just loaded and wanted to figure out what the "best practice" would be in dealing with the whole spring loaded issue. I do kind of like the pressure fit weapons with the balls but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of them. At least in my collection.

Thanks for reading my small novella and thanks for your input. :)

triKlops

Always love hearing from ya Antron.
Especially with some GoGoGoBot talk. ;)

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