All of my pen making stuff as well as my collection of vintage fountains were packaged up and placed in moving boxes approx 12 years ago as I moved back to MS from Ohio. They were kept in the house, in a storage area on an enclosed front porch. Then moved to East Texas, then to Cincinnati, then to Chicago (actually Naperville then to Wheaton), then back to MS, returning to MS in 2013. Stored back in same storage area as before. Exposed to heat, maybe; extreme heat, no; cold, maybe, extreme cold, no. I had about 50 or so finished FlatTop Double twists and refills exploded in every one of them. However, not ALL of the HongKong refills exploded in some of the other kits, just about 1/2 to 2/3s of them did.
The reason for the post was just as a warning for those who store or don't use ballpoints for some time. Just like batteries - don't keep them in whatever they are in for more than a year. As for the unfinished kits, as in the photos, it's just a major nuisance to go through and clean the dried ink off whatever it got on. As for finished pens, that's a whole different beast. Kits had to be completely dis-assembled, cleaned and salvaged if possible. Most transmissions in the effected pens were useless.
The vintage fountain pens that were properly cleaned and stored were ok; those that weren't, well I'm old and can't take them with me anyway.
Back to Ed's comment - I vote for kit refills to either be eliminated or stored in separate zip lock baggies.