I have a problem with my International Space Station 21321 set, all the blue clips that hold the panels to the main beams are crumbling, and weakened enough that I wake up to panels on the floor. I have no idea why this is happening, but hoping someone can help? Ideas I can do different to prevent it after I replace these parts? It seems to effect all the blue clips not just the big ones, even the little pod lost one of its solar panels :(

Some details, it’s probably 4 years old now. I keep it on display but not under glass, in a 72f room. I have difficulty keeping it totally dust free as it’s very fragile to begin with, but it’s never really been touched otherwise.

Thanks for any ideas

Edit: not the technic connectors, the blue solar panel pattern tiles are the problem

  • @[email protected]OPEnglish
    3•5 months ago

    It does get a few hours of sunlight in the morning, and I do have a portable air conditioner in the room to keep the temps stable. I suspect that could have the same effect? Hmm… thank you for the leads I very much appreciate it

    • @[email protected]English
      3•5 months ago

      The air conditioner wouldn’t be an issue unless it happens to have a built-in ozone air purifier and pointed directly at the model. Ozone will dissipate and react fairly quick, so it’s generally not an issue. (There is a huge difference between an ozone generator and an AC unit that might happen to generate a bit of ozone.)

      The sunlight would have to be as direct as UV doesn’t reflect very well off of walls and such. (~75%-90% loss) If you model wasn’t directly in a sunbeam, it likely wasn’t the problem.

      Thanks for tolerating my troubleshooting for a bit. It would just suck if you had something you wanted to display disintegrate again. While we can’t fix a factory problem, we can possibly eliminate other problems, is my thinking.

      With plastics, it’s UV exposure, specific chemical fumes or gasses that cause fast degradation so its easy to troubleshoot. ( … unless it was an underlying plastic formula problem or the nature of the type of plastic.)