Hey all, I’ve searched high and dry on the forums and haven’t been able to find very much regarding storage systems. My father is a top notch woodworker and has offered to build me a storage solution to organize my paints and glues. I’d like to be able to store a dozen or so 3oz spray cans and the only paints I use are Testors 1/4 squares and Model Masters 1/2 bottles. if anyone is willing to share what they have so I can give him an idea of what to build I’d greatly appreciate any and all info
You can look on YouTube or Google it.
This is the thing that goes inside a silverware drawer,got it at Bed Bath and Beyond,also used their 20% coupon
I use those stackable plastic drawers to store my paints and tools. I picked up a set of 5 from Walmart for just a few dollars. Each drawer is just a little deeper than the Model Master jars. I use one drawer for tools, one for clamps, rubber bands, masking tape…etc. The rest are used for paint storage. Once I get more room, I’m thinking on a small, rolling tool box like the ones at Harbor Freight.
Check out hobbyzone
https://www.hobbyzone.biz/modules.shtml
I’ve added a few more modules since this pic
There are several threads for us to share photos of our benches or work areas, and some of those posts include info specifically about storage. In fact, it’s a perennial-someone always starts a new thread for the question, every couple of years. But yeah, I don’t think we have a thread specifically for storage solutions.
I’ve gone through a couple solutions over the years.
I first bought myself this wooden toolbox, from Richard Blick (the nannyware doesn’t like the company’s real name):
I originally used this to store the artist’s oils I have, all my Testor’s paints, and some of my Model Master jars. But the inventory quickly outgrew this; I had a couple cookie tins full of paint jars. Every time I wanted a jar of paint, it was in the tin on the bottom.
So I upgraded and bought this little Rubbermaid chest of drawers to store paints and some tools:
It fits under my bench, and it was within handy reach. To tell which jars where which, without seeing the labels, I put small labels on the lids-a common solution:
That didn’t work for the eyedropper bottles that Andrea and Vallejo use. I had to pick up the bottles and look at them:
Eventually, I made a little rack from some scrap luan, to store them at an angle so I could read the labels:
This system served me pretty well, but, since I also travel to meetups, it proved cumbersome to transport. It fit on the front seat of my truck, and I’d secure it with the seat belt. But it was clumsy to carry around.
So I bought myself this toolbox (on sale):
It has a tray that lifts out, and the rack I made for eyedropper bottles fits. My round jars just sit on the bottom, and I use a 9"x9" baking pan as another lift-out tray:
This is more practical for traveling. And I have a smaller bench adjacent to my main bench, where I rest this toolbox when I’m home. Or, on the kitchen floor, when I work in the kitchen during the winter.
A sidebar advertiser here on the FSM site is GameCraft Miniatures. They manufacture & sell some tool & paint racks
Paint Racks and Workbench Accesories (mybigcommerce.com)
You may want to go through some of these items to get an idea what your father can make for/with you. Don’t know if your father has a laser cutter for MDF, but many of these ideas can be reworked with shop tools and quarter-inch plywood. Design your own to fit your space & needs.
I have their tool & brush stand
The larger sized holes fit Xacto handles. The smaller fit paint brushes. I carved out one of the oval holes in the front to accept MicroSol/Set bottles. I also keep a ready supply of toothpicks & QTips in cut-down Vallejo bottles in the other oval.
I hadn’t thought about showing paintbrush storage.
For years, I used a block of wood with holes drilled into it, and I still use this on my bench. I also have an old toothbrush caddy that a previous owner left behind in this house. Those are on the bench. But for my good brushes, which I use for fine painting, I have this dentist’s tray:
A buddy of mine is a dentist, and he had a bunch of tool trays like this, in various styles. They’re made of milk glass. When he switched to plastic, or stainless steel, or whatever the heck is used, he handed these out to guys in our club. I got a couple. One of them, I actually use for the dentist’s tools I have for sculpting, too.
I’m looking for something to carry in my mobile kit, though, to protect the brushes I have in there. Right now, I just have them in drinking straws, which provides some protection, but they can still rutsch around and damage the bristles. If I could find an old-timey pencil box, like I had when I was a kid, I’d use that.
Hi;
I found out that a Box 12"x12" works for Sprue cutters and such it has sides 4" high. Paints, Well, I found an old drawer. and I measured it. When I got done I cut P.V.C. piping into little Rings three quarters of the paint bottles heighth and glued as many together as would fit in the drawer. This stores my paint on the workbench. NOT the drawer but the rings with a Styrene .060 sheet on as the bottom.
Paint Brushes go in tubes from the same pipes glued to the back edge of the ring group. And I use different sized tubing as bristle protectors on the brushes which do fit handle first in the tubes.
Micro Mark sells a lot of paint storage products. Send for a Micro Mark flyer, and show it to your dad for ideas.
I use nailpolish display racks , cheap as chips on ebay .
Whatever you do, buy or make it about 4x bigger than you think you need. That way, it might be 2 or 3 years before you realize it’s not enough storage space.