Scratchbuilt paint jar organizer
I’ve
always had problem to store my hobby paint jars. Too many different
colours to use, too many paint jars in store, but unfortunately too
little effective space. I’ve tried quite many methods, such as boxes,
shelves, sliding drawers etc. Here’s what I’ve recently built and
finally it looks like the ultimate way to store dozens of paint jars in
only few square inches. My personal motto is to use low priced or even
useless items, combine them and finally build something easy working
and effective for scale modeling hobby. To do so, I used:
- Four (4) low profile & one (1) high profile CD/DVD plastic cases, that I would normally throw away after opening,
- four (4) short length, 50mm wide PVC tubes found in local hardware store for only 0.3 euros each,
- a 1cm diameter wooden stick and finally,
- one tube of PVC glue found in local hardware store for 1 euro only.
First,
I cut the plastic rod of the four low profiled CD/DVD plastic cases. Be
aware, that I did NOT cut the plastic rod of the high profiled plastic
case and the reason will be later explained.
After
that, I placed the transparent plastic discs (you can also use old CDs)
on the case surface, as it is shown into the following pictures. The
plastic clamps, were placed to ensure safe bonding until the PVC glue
got polymerised.
Using
generous amounts of PVC glue, I placed the 50mm wide PVC tubes on each
base that would later become a floor of the paint jar organizer.
Additionally, the 1cm diameter wooden stick, were placed as a pole,
coming through the four plastic bases.
As
soon as the glue got harden and the “tower” become solid rock, I placed
the last floor base (the high profile CD/DVD plastic case with it’s own
transparent cover) and … voila! This 5 floor tower typed paint jar
organizer, can hold dozens of paint jars that would normally demand to
much valuable space into your hobby room. Keep in mind that each floor,
can hold 8 x Humbrol or 8 x Life Color or 8 x Gunze or 20 x Vallejo
paint jars. The organizer I show you into following picture, is filled
with 24 x Life Color + 8 x Gunze + 20 x Vallejo paint jars = total 52
paint jars in only few square inches. If it was filled with Vallejo
paint jars only (PVC spacer tubes should be little longer to provide
space), this organizer could hold aprox 100 paint jars!
Thank you for following this thread and I hope you enjoyed reading this article.
Regards,
Nick