paints sci-fi British.
I don't think of myself as a collector... but sometimes, there are deals on eBay that I just can't resist!
Star Frontiers is a long-gone roleplaying game from TSR. It came out with great fanfare in the mid '80's, and a lot of fans hoped that finally there would be a definitive science-fiction RPG. But, alas, the rules were poor, the sample adventures played like "dungeons in space," and the game system is long forgotten.
About the only redeeming feature about Star Frontiers is that it had some cool ideas for aliens - some of which became miniatures. Which is why I couldn't resist bidding when four still-in-the-shrinkwrap boxed figure sets showed up for auction.
I ended up with two matching sets of Player Characters, and two identical sets of Spacefarers. All were indeed still in the original wrapping, although one of the boxes showed signs of water damage.
I was disappointed to discover that the water-damaged box set did, in fact, contain some corroded figures. I was surprised when the matching set of Spacefarers - the one that looked pristine - also had figures with some kind of encrustation process going on!
And on further inspection... some of the Player Characters also have patches of blue-grey powder on them. Could this be incipient corrosion?
Can these figures be saved?
Well, OK, the ones with missing limbs obviously can't be brought back to full health... but can the damage be stopped?
And is this the dreaded lead rot - or could it be something to do with the packing materials (which are a light-blue colored foam)?