Suggestions for Portable Storage Rack for Paint

I use those partitioned plastic boxes, they are the perfect size for my Humbrols, plus you can see the color and number through the top.

I just found a great thing. A plastic box with 3 drawers.
Sorta like tupperwear drawers.

Each drawer is 10" wide by 2 1/2" high by 11" deep.
Each drawer can hold 63 tinlets (Humbrol or WEM type)
of paint.

Or you can keep you PE in one drawer, and your airbrush
jars in another. Whatever.

Was only $9.00 at WalMart. I the kitchen section.

Works great. May go back for another.

James

To get the lid open there are two options. 1... wrap a rubber band around the lid several times. The rubber will give you enough of a grip to break it loose without too much trouble. If it's stuck really really really badly and that won't get it, run very hot tap water over the bottle for a couple of minutes, then try it with the rubber band again. That has gotten it 100% of the time for me. I very rarely have to use the hot water though.

The idea of storing the paint upside down or sideways is good, but I'm always afraid I'll have a big problem with Stuck Lid Syndrome. Long ago when I used to shake the paint, it would bleed between the cap liner and the lip of the bottle (no matter how tight the lid) and I often had a heck of a time getting the lid off next time! If you remember my "Shaken or stirred?" thread a few weeks back, stirring the paint reduces Stuck Lid Syndrome.

The lazy susan is a good idea. I use the plastic tackle boxes, to check for colors I brush a little of the color on the black caps. Helps when looking for color at glance.

I have the 30-drawer organizer for most of my supplies-- and there are 4 drawers that hold paint...I also have a tray that plugs into my pegboard that I use to store paint in. To take it a step further with the labeling mentioned above-- I use the multi-colored circle labels that I put on top of my paint caps....yellow labels are enamels, and green ones are acrylics.

I use tackle boxes. I lay the paint on their sides in order. I can easily see the color and the label through the clear plastic at a glance. Enamel in one. Acrylic in the other. They fit fairly snug(I use testors and MM). I can simply turn the boxes periodically to keep it mixed even if I'm not working. The seal of the box lessens the evaporation still. Some of the bottles are from the original color set I got at seven and it's as good as the newer bottles. I've never had a bottle go bad in 12 years. Spilled, yes. Cracked a bottle, yes. Went bad, no.

David,
not sure if this qualifies as 'portable'.
but perhaps someone will like the idea:

http://www.largescaleplanes.com/tips/ScottDunn/paint_jar_shelves/paint_jar_shelves.htm

ed.

David,
i use the extra bits of label sheet from my CD label pages.
since i use mostly Tamiya paint, i just write the numbers on the label and cut out a square. i use the Tamiya code since it matches the directions of their kits.
i suppose if i put the name on (like i do w/ MM & Testors it would shorten the search.
but i have a drawer of Tamiya flat, a drawer of Tamiya gloss, and a drawer of the others.
in a cheap 3 drawer plastic organizer thing i got at Dollar General for about $5
(much cheaper than identical item at K-mart!)
i cut scrap cardboard to make dividers, and put the jars in numerical order.

i double or triple stacked the organizers by removing the top of all but the 'top' unit.
(it pops right off)
then the others snap on.
some drawers have tools, some airbrush nozzles, some sandpaper, some metal foil.
if the darn drawers were an inch deeper, i could put my styrene strip, rod & tube in too!

ed.

LOL David...well the Warrington FD Asst Chief lives right behind my house...but I do have a fire extinguisher in the room...close by just in case. Actually we have 1 in there 1 in the kitchen and 2 in the garage....I highly recomend at least one ABC rated one in the house especially with the upcoming holiday season and all those overstuffed electrical outlets and lights on the Christmas tree!




edited for spelling!

That is very nice.

With all that paint do you have to register with the local fire department and display hazardous material signs outside the house?

That last one is rather unique! and Cheap too....heres what I use for now as well as boxes...tackle boxes and shimano tackle trays!

I keep my most used/common colors here....quick swivel of the chair from the work bench and I have what I need. I also have about 75 of the old Pactra Acrylics(which are un-opened) stored in a decent cigar box....I also have a small roughneck tote under my work bench full of paint jars...as well as a small rubbermaid tool box

This is an ingenious method of storing paints.

Paint Storage Rack

There was a post from almost a year ago where storing the paints upside down had been mentioned.

What is the shelf expectancy of model paint?

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dave Toews Mike, storing paint upsidedown would drive me nuts. The same way ununiformly painted X's bothers others. My universe would be shakyer than it is now..

Haha. I kind of like it. You just put all the grays in the same area, and the greens in another, etc. It is easy to find them although a label on the bottom would help find the specific color you need.

Mike

Mike, storing paint upsidedown would drive me nuts. The same way ununiformly painted X's bothers others. My universe would be shakyer than it is now..

Sometimes the obvious is the hardest to see. Thanks Pixilater.

I don't know why I never thought of it as an option -- buy another 3 drawer plastic thingie. The one I have now, for two of the shelves, I lined with foam and use it to store some miniatures. The third shelf, I managed to squeeze in 60 jars of paint which really makes it hard to move them around and look through. Then I have extras in another drawer (thanks to a 40% off sale ) and Tamiya and Model Master scattered between a box and a drawer. So duh! I could buy another one, dedicated for paints, spread them out -- separate metallic and inks into their own drawer and all will be well in the world.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of labeling. Once they're labeled, next time I use the jar of paint I could always put a dot of paint on the label to help visualize what the color looks like.

I also store my paints in a three-drawer plastic thingie. I bought a package of self-stick labels & wrote the name of each color on them. They're separated by nationality in the drawers, since I only build WW II aircraft. There's a section for each country, a metallic section, and a common "generic" one. Works well for me.
Hope this helps.

I am lucky quiet a few of the local Hobby shops at times tend to sell colour racks, i.e. the same ones as used in the shops (incl. labels).

I got myself 2 where each shelf/layer is a removable plastic tray, the racks sit on a shelf and I simply load up a tray with the currently used colours and carry it around.

This way when I am finished I simply slot the tray into the rack till next time.

Thanks for that link James. I haven't been to that site for a long time. I love their stuff over there -- the huge castles and fortresses, the keeps, the buildings, etc.

I was looking at the Paintier 80 Carousel Organizer that's available. I think that would work, looks nice too. I just don't want to spend that much though seeing as it's more of a "convenience" item.

The label idea sounds good. Painting an X wouldn't work-- if the X's weren't all the same, it would drive me nuts and I would feel compelled to redo them.

Ron, totally not an option. Carpentry and I just don't belong in the same statement.

Thanks for all the suggestions given so far.

i bought some 1x2's and ripped them in half, and made shelves out of them,.... i used thin paper baord for the backing, i will be installing it soon in my hobby room, i justb stained it .........

David,

Why not store the paint bottles upside down so that you can see the color? This also extends shelf life as the paint solvent can't evaporate out of the lid with the bottles upside down. At least that is what I have read.

Mike

I paint an X on the top with the colour. It iliminates pulling out a red shade when I'm looking for a blue.

Dave, I have all of mine in an old kit box. I had the same problem as you with finding the color I was looking for so I went through and made labels and taped them to the lids. Works pretty good for me, I to have to move them constantly.

I also posted about a paint rack that would hold
2" jars. Someone recommended this:

http://www.wargamescenics.com/

Not of any use to me, but might be along the lines of what
you are looking for.

James