I am starting to collect leftover parts and spare sprue from various models I build, what is your best ideas for keeping or storing and categorizing these extras for potential future use?
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I use plastic storage organizers that I’ve gotten from hardware stores.
But if there’s parts or sprues that are very large, then I’ll just put them in a large plastic tub or bin that I can purchase from Walmart.
I try to organize my spare parts whenever possible such as engine parts, weapons, ship parts, etc. But more often than not, things tend to get mixed up and disorganized.
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As a newer builder/return builder, I don’t have alot of spares in general. Because most of what I have are spare aircraft ordnance I keep the 1/32 in a 1/32 kit box, 1/48 in a 1/48 kit box. The only spares I tend to keep other than that are pilots. Those are in a separate box.
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I wish I did,I just toss them in a big box,and then root thru it when I’m looking for something.
I do have all of my AM leftover tracks and Figures in seperate boxes.
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I used to have much more than I do currently. What I have left is generally broken down into ordinance in one tool box drawer, props and tires in another, and then I keep pilot/ground crew figures in a separate Ziplock bag. But there’s no organization among eras, scale, etc; it’s just a jumbled mess.
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Call me crazy, but I was going to put all extra parts from each kit in a ziplock with instructions, little bags in bigger bag if needed. Then put in some kind of container. We will see if that keeps going or not. Thanks for all the ideas.
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I’m terrible. I have a box of car parts and a couple kits I"ve pirated/kitbashed out in the garage. And some airplane bits here and there in drawers. No organization lol
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Using similar containers to ones already posted. I just got back into the hobby a few years ago, so I don’t have a huge stockpile of spare parts. For now everything fits into a few small cases.
And I have this plastic bin full of the kits i had to buy a 2nd copy of to replace parts I either broke or lost.
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I went out and bought a large plastic tote to put all my leftover sprues in that still had some parts left on them. I really needed to make space in my apartment and decided to ditch the boxes that the leftover sprues were in.
I’m thinking maybe I’ll take the bin to my next model club meeting and have a spare part/sprue swap meet. All the club members bring their spare sprues in and their sprue nippers and we all just go through each other’s leftovers and see what we all want.
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Dang, this is a wonderful idea. Im going to have to do this on my first visit to my local club meeting. Good way to warm myself up to everyone haha
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I have a few of those drawer set ups, small and large. I tend to separate items by categories: German small arms, US small arms, aircraft engines & exhausts, aircraft drop tanks. The items that I have in larger quantities tend to get subdivided into smaller categories- aircraft ordnance by nationality and era, etc.
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Seeing your collection of parts, especially wheels and tires, makes me a bit envious. So easy at that point to do some fast swaps and change the whole look of a car.
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Some of them are from random kits I bought the wheels for. Most of those wheels have a specific car they are made for. THe kits have jsut not been built yet. There is probably only a few sets of wheels that do not have specific need for as of yet haha. The parts are mostly from tamiya race car kits, they always seem to come with extra parts that are most likely intended for other kits, and are jsut part of the same mold. The resin engine kits and seats are random and not for any specific purpose yet!
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I have limited space in my closet that I have converted into a build area. My wife is always picking up containers for me to store my spare parts in. These containers can be found at either Office Depot, or Walmart. I purchased a brother P touch label maker. It came with a few cartridges. It cost around $70. When I have finished a Model kit, the large parts from the kit are placed in boxes in my workshop. Any leftover decals, photo edge or aftermarket resin is kept in my build area.
I will occasionally donate a lot of my spare parts/bombs to a guy in our club that scratch builds a lot of sci-fi models.
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@Cbowling . Now THAT’S a good idea right there Christopher.
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I’m just getting started, so the ideas are all great! Thanks!
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I build aircraft models. Almost all the spares I have are bombs, rockets, missiles, etc. I just tend to leave them on the sprue and keep them in a 1/32 scale Tamiya box.
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That’s good, I had to laugh at that one. I find myself looking for the spares I put in an empty box along with various sprues of other accessory kits, and put that box in a tub with other model kits. When I go searching for the spares I end up looking for something else along the way or even starting a new project because I found something interesting 
I NEED to organize my spare parts!
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