Does anybody have any ideas for keeping my paint bottles organized so I can find them very quickly? Right now I have them stored in various boxes in my garage. I also have one of those big carousel racks that spins but I don’t think it makes a difference. Small bottles, small print on the bottles.
I just started thinking about organizing them by color or shade. So metallics would go into one small box, greens into a designated box just for greens and so on.
I purchased several nail polish racks that mount to the wall at eye level and organized them by vendor and color. Works great for me. Some people build their own racks.
Between MM enamels, Tamiya acrylics, Alclad and Model Air plus assorted primers I have nearly 200 bottles. I put up plenty of shelves, now store them brands first, colors from dark to light, primers last, brands seperated for easier spotting. Not perfect, but better.
I have a small metal drawer cabinet from IKEA where most of my paints reside.
I use a drawer for enamels and another for acrylics. I made labels from masking tape and mark the color on the label that I attach to the cap top so I can read the color without picking up the bottle. They are organized either by RLM or by FS #.
EDIT: here is a picture of my Ikea cabinet. Top drawer is all enamels. Second drawer has acrylics. the rest of the drawers have tools, KS tubing, etc.
The hanging brush is a survivor of my college days when I was taking drafting 43 years ago.
I put colored dots on caps and label them. Yellow are my acrylics, blue are my enamels. Hot pink are my VVS colors for Russian aircraft (Acrylics)
Gunze/Mr. Color are labeled by marker using Federal Standard code numbers.
Vallejo Model Color are left as is.
Tamiya bottles I don’t label. I’ve thought of making a rack and label each slot by number.
At the present, all my paint bottles are sorted in plastic storage containers by paint type and/or paint brand. (Acrylics in one, enamels in another, Tamiya and Gunze/Mr. Color in another, Vallejo, etc…)
I have a shelf on the wall and bought some spice rack shelves. They are 3-tier and expand to 15" wide. They are perfect for Tamiya and Testors paints. You can read all the labels/numbers easily and they have enough depth for two jars of the same color on each tier. Easy to find the color you want. I have the Tamiya paints in number order. One rack holds all the XF colors and half of the other holds the X colors. The other 1.5 racks hold my various Testors bottles and the top shelf holds thinners, cleaners, and glues.
You can find them at most stores like Target, Walmart, Amazon, etc…
Here is a link to the ones I bought:
You can see them in this picture:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203842857139320&l=8dac314afb
In the picture I have it just for the XF colors. I bought a wider shelf and more spice shelves since this picture was taken.
Crappy pic…butchya can see what’s goin on!
I built a rack to hang on the wall, by the bench…between book case and display shelves…
Also have a built in rack on the bench for the small Testors bottles.
I found these on amazon, i think they would work nicely for model paint storage.
They would be pretty easy to build but at ~$10/each not a bad solution as well.
I bought a couple to add some more storage to my wall.
Rob.
Just check eBay or Amazon and look for nail polish racks, I have 5 and they hold over 200 bottles, they are about 12" wide and 16" tall and say 2" deep.
I see a lot of great ideas and solutions here. I spent $15.00 and built these paint shelves above my bench and have each brand in numerical order. I found it easier to look for the number since it is slightly larger and in bold print.
Wolfman -
Really like this…great idea and use of a spice rack.
“Organize”? I seem to remember hearing that word somewhere before, but I just can’t remember where…
Hello Steve -
The word “organized” can have a very loose meaning…LOL [:D]
I like this. I ordered one after seeing it in your post for $8 off of Amazon w/ Prime shipping. Well worth the purchase. Thanks for the heads up.
I use 2 of these also and got them at Target for about $12 each. I lke them since it is a deep enough shelf so you can double, stagger the paint.
Hunter,
I’m sorry but your ‘cover story’ of just starting outin the hobby is no longer believable…that is a workbench worthy of someone who has been building for a very long time…I am supremely jealous!
Oraganization is not a word in the Hobbyist dictionary…
That clean bench will not last long. Ask anyone here. Heck, mine is never clean and neat.