What do I do with all my paints?

as for storing your paints i dont have any recomendations , other than to store them in a a cool place . But as for knowing what paints you have without going thru all of your boxes my suggestion is to keep a record of your paints on a page of papper were it is handy near your paints . List them by manufacture , color , type and quantity . At one glance you'll know whats in your stock . I also put a piece of tape on the cap with the paint FS # or color on it , and write "opened " on  those that have been .

SHL

I keep a record of mine in a database, with a printout that I take with me to the LHS.

Whenever I use a paint that has an FS number or other official designation, I put some on a ruled sheet of plastic with the designation marked below it for reference.

Paints are best stored between 65° and 75° F, out of direct sunlight. The first thing you should do when you open a bottle is clean the inside of the cap, the top of the rim, and the threads. Before you cap it up again, clean the throat or inside of the neck of the bottle, too. Tighten the cap as tight as you can with hand strength alone. 

I had the same problem, so I made these.

Thad

Metal sheets from Home center and a brake(sp?). This is a old pic, I sat down and made a bunch up at one time so the whole wall has these racks on it. This turned out to take a lot of time so I would try something else. Dont get me wrong I love the way they turned out but it ate into my bench time.

Thad

Not to plug the magazine but, the February issue has an article on building a paint bottle storage rack.

Honest!!  I don't get a commission!!!

chopperfan wrote:

Not to plug the magazine but, the February issue has an article on building a paint bottle storage rack. Honest!!  I don't get a commission!!!

Ok Chopperfan , whats your pay off from FSM ?

SHL

Shellback wrote:

chopperfan wrote: Not to plug the magazine but, the February issue has an article on building a paint bottle storage rack. Honest!!  I don't get a commission!!! Ok Chopperfan , whats your pay off from FSM ? SHL

Nada, ничего, niente, nichts, rien, لا شيء, zilch, zero, not a dern thing!!!  Honest!!!

Similar to Triarius, I keep an Excel file listing the paints I have and their respective FS numbers (if available). I keep a copy in my wallet so I can refer to it at the LHS. I also built these shelves:

That's an old picture, I easily have twice that amount of paints. It was simple to build, and is sized to fit the 10ml bottles of Tamiya paints. The riser is high enough that the color and number for each bottle is viewable without having to move anything, and it has enough space on it for 224 bottles! 

I have also seen someone post a howto plus pictures (http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/tnt1/101-200/tnt113_PaintRack_Rapasi/tnt113.htm) on how they store their paint using copper pipe insulating foam.  It is the grey tube stuff (like those pool noodles?) that is sliced down one side?  They mounted a good few sections upright on their wall and just slide the paintbottles into the foam.

Look here:  http://www.pipeinsulation.net/asj79_series.htm

The stuff is cheap, I've seen it at Walmart and many other stores.  Your hardware store will have it. 

I ask the same question a while back. this is what I ended up doing I bought 2 of the 80 jar paint carousels from Squadron mail order they don't take up that much space and they are easy to store I also paint the tops of the jars and put there FS number if they have one then I lable the row with  the name. the only problem\ pain I forsee is changing the lables when I run out of some paint that I have 3 or more jars of

That's an excellent idea.

We want pics!