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
