What portions of the left-overs of a completed build do you keep? I’m thinking of armor and planes, but it pretty much applies to everything and anything.
Having decided on that, how do you store all this stuff (ex post facto stash), a) space-wise and b) so you can locate and retrieve morsels.
I’m envisioning a whole 'nother closet, but there must be a better method to this madness.
I use those plastic drawer-sets you can buy at Wal-Mart… I keep all kinds of parts, but not much sprue, unless it’s of an unusual thickness or has some interseting shapes…
Probaby better than half my spare parts aren’t even model parts, but bits & pieces of this & that that I find all over the place… Wires, electronic components, bits & pieces of toys, model railroad parts, interesting shapes from bubble packs, CD cases, garage sale signs, packing plastic, etc…
It depends on the kit. Sometimes I do not keep anything. Other times I keep neat optional parts I don’t use. So it really depends. I have a drawer unit with two sizes of drawers, about forty small drawers. Every drawer is crammed with stuff. I wish I had something like the TARDIS with unlimited space in a small footprint 
Thank you, Don and Hans.
I don’t know why I fixated on sprue, but I can see that only a limited amount of it would suffice and certainly simplifies the storage “challenge”. With that consideration aside, I can begin to see how to get organized using the cabinets that you mention. (Most of what I have for storage now is metal and doesn’t lend itself to keeping plastic bits handy or secure.)
I have a few old model boxes to store different types of parts in. When I finish a kit, I’ll pull off any little bits that could be used in a pit or gearbay(1 box), guns, bombs, missiles, fuel tanks in another box. Figures in another. And any other bits that look like they may come in handy someday get another box. The rest gets filed away under “G”.
I’ve got a whole bunch of those plastic “shoe-box” style storage boxes that will work perfectly (and put them to use, too).
Thanks, fermis.
I’ve found that a zip lock bag takes far less space to store.
With the big ones, and you can put your spare parts in there, as well as the instructions. Label it,
I usually cut one of the smaller images on the box and toss that in there too.
You can get 30-40 of those baggies in a tall ship box.
If you’re adamant about keeping the boxes (I’ve never been), the just fold them flat and slide 'em behind, under, or over something for storage.
I really don’t want to keep the boxes, but I was hesitant to toss them only to discover several compelling reasons why I shouldn’t have.
Your plastic bag idea is great! Thank you.
I cut off every part on the sprues and save them. I try to sort by where it may be useful in the future, cockpits, wheel bays. I’ve got props, pods, wheels, canopies, bombs, tanks, fiddly bits, arms, legs, and a pistol. I sort them in bins in one of those organizer boxes. This kind has the little trays that pull out in the front. You can label the trays to speed up your search for parts. Since I’ve began adding details to different parts of my aircraft, Ive been using the spare parts drawers more often. You never know when that unused part will become valuable. Rick
That makes sense. I’ve found that no matter how long I keep an item, it becomes urgently needed the day after I’ve thrown it out.
I think I’ll get a couple of cabinets this week.
Thanks, Wabash.
It’s not just whole parts either… Many, many times, I use a part of a part… Like shaving the lugnuts off a tank’s roadwheel to use for bolt-heads on a P-47’s engine-mount or firewall, a transfer case pulley from a halftrack to go on a radar set, a bomb-nose to replace a prop spinner, etc…
All the more reason.
Cabinets ordered.
I keep the box and all the left over parts…granted I have not used any of them but I keep them none the less. But as my family is quick to point out I can be a pack rat.
I have kept a few of my sturdier boxes & basically anything I can pull off for spare parts. I keep them in ziplock bags, labeled with the kit it is from. I also keep any pieces of sprue I can find that are long enough to bother with, I’ve only recently started using stretched sprue for anything. Pack-ratt-iness? Well, I’ve kept almost all of the instruction sheets from the kits I have built, but I’ve told myself those are supposed to accompany the spare decls anyway!
I can see keeping the old instructions.
I’m not sure why, but I can see keeping them.
I dont keep the boxes, I barely have room the kits let alone empty boxes. Sometimes I save instructions, sometimes I dont. I save extra decals and all parts off the sprues. Decals gonto a ziploc baggy, left over parts go into an old kit box. Sprues get cut up and tossed except for straight pieces that I save for paint stirrers.
Couldn’t resist these Akro-Mils cabinets for small parts storage.
I’ve got (quite literally) hundreds of corrugated boxes, many of which are new, same size for stacking and small enough to serve the purpose, so I think the boxes are toast.
I have a pretty good sense of what sort of sprue to keep, thanks to your suggestions, so I won’t be cluttering up with useless plastic.