Tips and Tricks for Maintaining and Selling Sets

Tips and Tricks
◾ When you go to pull joints and pieces apart, try letting the pieces sit in warm water(13.7°C[100°F] to 48.8°C[120°F]) for a few minutes, then pull them apart; you see, the warmth loosens the molecular bonds of the atoms, causing the material to expand, and become malleable. It's all very, "scientifical."
 * Here's a tip for maintaining rubber bands. Before you use them on your set, freeze them for 24 hours, just by putting them in the freezer(if you put the in water the rubber bands will become water logged and disintegrate upon stretching), then after the 24 hours are up, take them out of the freezer, and allow them to sit at room temperature(Usually 18°C[64°F] to 23°C[73°F],) from any length of time from 7 - 48 hours; then you may put them on your sets, and enjoy not having to change rubber bands for a while.

◾ Try putting a drop of lubricant on a joint, to allow the joint to glide smoothly, but be warned, depending on how much lubricant you put, the joint will not be able to hold a pose, and depending on what type of lubricant, the plastic can loose what moisture it has, become uber brittle and snap like a twig.

◾ Before you sell a set with brittle, broken, or mismatched pieces(i.e. a blue socket where a green should be), buy replacement pieces from a place such as BrickLink(beings that they are only like 4 cents a piece) and replace the necessary pieces. What would have been a $4 set will quickly become a $40 set.