In this hobby, we talk a lot about buying figures, basing figures, painting figures, and even storing figures, but we don't talk a lot about maintaining figures.
These are some Mage Knight Rattletails which have just emerged from my workbench after refurbishing.
I picked these up cheap years ago when the Mage Knight game tanked. They are pre-painted fantasy figures made of a bendy plastic.
Years ago, I ripped these models off their clicky-bases and rebased them on steel disks. I did some minor touch-ups to the paint jobs, and over-painted the colorful yellow, blue and red 'strength' colors. I used some texturizing medium to add 'mud' to the bases.
Fast forward to 2021, and I'm looking at using these figures in a new campaign. But I now hate the bases, and the figures have turned into dust magnets. (Well, I do live in a Victorian home, lots of charm but dusty!)
First step is to wash the figures with mild detergent. The models are not sticky to the touch, but something about the plastic, the paint, or the sealer (or the combination) really holds onto dust. I tried to be gentle, because these figures can get brittle with age.
I refurbished the bases by painting them dark gray, and flocking them with black sand. That's a look that works in both dungeon and on the battlefield.
Then I gave the models another coat of sealer, which will hopefully make them less clingy to dust.
And that's the end!