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Hi all,

It's finally starting to happen. I haven't been into miniature wargaming for all that long compared to others, only been into it for about a year and a half. But within that time I have amassed a fairly large collection. With large, multiple armies I find myself having a storage issue. I have GW boxes with sprues in them out the wazoo, more paint than I dare count, and not enough shelf space for my 5 armies.

So I'm looking into finally forking over some money into getting storage. But I just wanted to see how people have tackled their storage problems. I've seen a lot of people use lots of pluck foam and carrying cases, but that certainly adds up fast. I'm interested in seeing if anyone has conjured any cost efficient but also effective ways to store their miniatures, paints, etc.

Right now, I have some armies in boxes and ninety nine times out of one hundred when I pull a box out and open it there will be a few broken minis, regardless whether or not there was some sort of protection. My paints are in the AoS starter box but that has been over flowing for ages now. And as mentioned earlier, I'm sitting on dozens upon dozens of boxes with sprues in them. Any suggestions are appreciated!

I'm getting to the point where bits storage is getting kinda hard, so I'd like to see some of those solutions too.

for paints, i use nail polish displays, with the under-space of them being a good place to set models i'm working on but need out of the way temporarily
as for models, i use those multi shelve plastic storage blocks (where the shelves slide out) which lets me have several layers of things that are easy to go through. (i'll sometimes pick up pluck foam when i can catch a sale, to put in the plastic storage blocks, which lets them store even better)
as for bits, i clip them and have them in a plastic craft box (like you see people store bead craft and whatnot in)

As I've got a fair old collection, I clip all my bits off the sprue and store them in ziplock bags labelled up with the army and kit.

If I was a bit more organised, I'd probably then try to file them by army, but as it is the bags live in a big box (separate boxes for 40k, Fantasy, and anything else) and I just tip everything out if the ziplock I'm after isn't in the top layer.

My miniatures are mostly in KR cases, so no cheap solutions there sadly.

I have a display shelf for models I want to display, cases for things I need to transport, then for everything else I just put them in plastic storage containers which stack up and they sit on a book shelf. I have 2 sizes of storage containers with removable barriers, 50mm tall which holds most shorter stuff and 80mm for taller things or things with spears, etc.

I have some smaller storage boxes of the same type, 50mm tall but not as large, that are also stackable that contain bits and pieces. I have one which I just throw all my spare decals in so they don't get damaged, another which I throw all my canopies in, then a few others that just have random bits in them, I use.

Paints I have a cheap tower of drawers thingo, but it's now run out of space and my paints are floating about everywhere. I need a better alternative for that one. Dropper bottles are a pain in the arse to store.

Clipping from sprues saves a lot of space, a $1 box of ziplock bags will take care of the sorting issue.

For a more elaborate solution I use this for bitz



http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-25-Removable-Compartment-Professional-Organizer/dp/B00005QWYF?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cr-mr-title

I like that you can remove the cups and sort through the bitz easily.

Box games on the shelf.

KR Multicases for painted miniatures. They're cheap and safe as houses and being card you can write what's in it on the outside!.

Tools in a set of cardboard desktop drawers.

Everything else is in clear "Really useful" lidded plastic boxes. This is a proprietry line that you may or may not have over in the New World but they are dead useful as the clip down lids (preventing prying kiddie fingers messing my stuff), stack and come in a variety of sizes. 4.5L and 9L are the most usefull I have found.

We have something called Snapware, which sounds similar.

Sterilite containers are useful for everything but painted minis. I think those Plano gun cases-- mentioned many times on this forum -- work well for the painted minis. I have a few. I like them. They are economical too.

If you have Harbor Freight stores in Canada they have cheap storage solutions for bits and such.

http://t.harborfreight.com/tool-storage/part-storage.html

Oh and crumpled up plastic bags for packing!

Cheaper than foam and we all have the first world problem of drawers full of them.

I use 'the really useful box' range of storage boxes. They're very sturdy and come in all different shapes and sizes, the best of which has pull out compartmented trays which store 40k models brilliantly.
Even better still one of these boxes fits perfectly into a medium size fishing bag allowing for ease of transport and the bag's compartments allow space for army books, rule books, dice, templates and the all important Mars bar.
I'm lucky enough to have a man cave/hobby room. I use Ikea modular shelving to store my models (in the really useful boxes) And have two shallow drawed pedestals which my paints and modelling tools go into.
My spare parts get snipped off their sprues and go into modular hobby boxes.
I also have two display cabinets for my finished models

Don’t leave things on the sprue longer then you have to. They take up a huge amount of space. Clip and store in a tackle/tool/craft box. Little ziplocks can help keep matching things together.

My bitz box(es)


My minis live on the shelf, and only get into a box when it’s time to go to the FLGS for a game. I’m a big fan of KR, and if you have multiple armies, it might be a good answer for you. It has the advantage of custom slots for things, so less rattling around, and the boxes stack nicely.

You do pay a bit. If you can get some bulk foam from an upholstery shop and some random crates/boxes, you could make something similar for less. But it would probably not be quite as nice. I probably payed a little over $400 US for the Kaiser 3, and 7 KRU worth of boxes/foam. I did take advantage of a sale to get some of it BOGO though. Probably around 10k points of minis laid out there though.

Paints I just leave unorganized and scattered around my workspace. I do have the luxury of a paintbench you could land small airplanes on though.

If it's painted it's on a shelf, in a cabinet or somewhere else I can see it

until it's painted it's stuffed into plastic tubs (if I was sensible i'd have a full list of what's in what box but I keep forgetting to update it)

if you're sure you won't sell it clip it off the sprue and dump the empty boxes as suggested above but if you think you might it will hold value better if you don't (it's also worth noting you may well forget what small manufacturer made what so writing it down can help with future resales)

Box games live under beds, couches etc with the most frequently played out on a bookshelf

I keep all my GW paints in this:
http://www.truevalue.com/product/Storage-Organization/Garage-Tool-Storage-Organization/Tool-Organizers/24-Drawer-Small-Parts-Storage-Cabinet/pc/16/c/2276/sc/752/9470.uts

My bits in this one, but i also cut my bits off the sprues to make them fit.:
http://www.truevalue.com/product/Storage-Organization/Garage-Tool-Storage-Organization/Tool-Organizers/44-Drawer-Small-Parts-Storage-Cabinet/pc/16/c/2276/sc/752/9472.uts

I have one display case that I bought from IKEA for $75 (all glass) but I am in need of a second one. All my non finished pieces are in a double door store closet type of a deal. All other paints, primers, air brush cleaners etc, are on shelves I mounted to the wall.

I use Plano tackle and storage boxes for a great deal of storage, as well as general tool boxes; they're usually readily available and fairly cheap especially if you have a sporting goods or hardware store nearby (which...most places tend to have at least one if not multiple). As I get older/lazier, I have also taken a shine to storage that can double as transport readily which those boxes do very well.

Some of my favorites:

Plano Stowaway - These come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes and can usually be found fairly cheaply. If you have a Bass Pro shop nearby, they make nearly-identical boxes that are even cheaper. Great for bitz, keeping a small project together or indeed transferring a single squad if needs be. Some of the deep ones hold an impressive amount of stuff. Depending on time of year and exact features you go with, generally between $5 and $20.

Plano Six-Tray Hip Roof: http://www.planostoragesolutions.com/products/117-six-tray-hip-roof-storage-box.aspx - Good size box with lots of reasonably narrow compartments as well as larger areas. I use these for my FoW forces with infantry stands in the trays and the bulk storage area underneath with some foam for vehicles to sit on top of and a 3600 series Stowaway box (for more infantry) underneath the foam layer. It's got some pretty hefty latches, they stack on top of each other and they have cup holders (because that's clearly a key feature). I also have both of my Armada fleets in them with a bit of pluck foam replacing the foam + stowaway in the bulk storage. Good flat surfaces to put identification stuff on, and they do technically lock; not enough to stop someone who has stolen the box outright, but likely enough to keep people out during a tournament game or convention if you're concerned about such things. I've gotten them on sale for around the $15-25 range.

Plano 3-tray: http://www.planomolding.com/620306 Same concept as above, but for smaller forces; I have my Team Yankee stuff in these and any 40k army with a model count under about 36 or so with 1-2 tanks would likely fit ok. You would want some foam to make liners for 28mm figs though since they'll be on their sides. Can be found on sale from $12-15.

The Stanley box previously recommended is great for bitz. I also have all of my Kingdom Death: Monster bits (and I have a lot of bits) in: http://www.keter.com/en/cantilever-organizer-22 That one is a little bit unwieldy trying to carry it about because it's nearly two-feet wide, but it has large bins to store the armor kit bodies in the bottom, and fairly deep "little" bins at the tops for various classes of weapon, heads, hands, lanterns, etc. I think I still have 3 small bins unfilled on top, and the bottom stores all the kinds of armor kits + bases. Runs in the $30 range.

Also from Stanley: http://www.stanleytools.com/en-us/products/fatmax-tools/fatmax-storage/fatmax-deep-pro-organizer/fmst14820 These are nice because they're stackable and lock together nicely. I have three of them to carry my X-Wing tokens/cards and to serve as a self-defense weapon (seriously; all those cards and counters make it about 20 pounds...that would hurt). A simple cardboard divider and the upgrade cards fit in the larger bins in two rows very neatly even sleeved. Runs about $25-30 as well, but travels slightly better than the Keter above, though at a much smaller overall volume of "stuff" stored.

And for the home project organizers I have scads of Stack-on products:
https://www.stack-on.com/categories/drawer-cabinets/products/160 - Great for units; you can typically fit a normal 40k choice and about 20 or so ranked up models in each. They do struggle to hold small vehicles, especially with 40k's trend towards tall walker-like objects. Usually run about $20 in your Wal-Mart/Lowes/Home Depot sorts of stores.

https://www.stack-on.com/categories/drawer-cabinets/products/165 - Their smaller drawers are great for, unsurprisingly, smaller units and characters which will normally be stored quite well. Once you go above 5 models, or if they are particularly spread out poses, you might struggle to fit them in (though obviously nothing stops you from using an adjacent drawer). Slightly more expensive in the $25 range, though if memory serves a lot of that is that it is taller.

https://www.stack-on.com/categories/drawer-cabinets/products/161 and https://www.stack-on.com/categories/drawer-cabinets/products/164 - Good for a mixture of the two above (obviously) where you want a bit of both nearby. The latter one is my favorite kind for variety. The smaller one is normally $15-20, though for some reason the larger one is cheaper on Amazon at the moment at $16 with Prime shipping.

All of those stack with each other you can mix and match as needed. I tend to clip a unit, put it in to a drawer and then strip the bits for the relevant bitz box. Then I tend to forget they exist and they never get painted. But I'm organized until that point!

Hopefully someone finds some use in collecting all those links.

It depends.

-Unbuilt kits mostly stay in their boxes in storage.

-Built minis go either in custom foam cases that I built from hardshell pistol cases http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/362407.page) or they go in second hand foam trays that reuse (rearrange the foam with a hot glue gun) and store in a variety of repurposed cases such as vintage camera bags from the resale shop.


-Loose unpainted minis and Loose bits (trimmed from their sprues) are put into thread cases like those pictured above by Nevelon. Those thread cases get put into file boxes such as these

(Image from Vitali Advenil) The thread cases drop in perfectly and you can fit 5 or 6 of them in each box.

-The biggest challenge for me is the storage of terrain and terrain making supplies. Terrain mostly goes into large rubbermaid style tubs with a bit of random foam padding. Similar solution for the terrain making supplies (mostly old toys) and bits. The bits are loosely organized with similar bits in large zip lock freezer bags and most of that goes into big tubs. Unfortunatley, even with around 10 tubs I've still got lots of shelves with various boxes of terrain, kits, supplies, etc.

I think its easiest if I just go through the assembly process...

Purchased model goes onto shelves until ready to assemble and paint.
Assemble and paint miniature(s). Extra bits go into the appropriate bits box. I just use those cheap bobbin/bead boxes with the cells from the craft store. One each army.
Once finished a model(s) goes into the foam trays. I use Sabol Designs bags and have a few old geeDub black hard plastic cases.
If I can't fit entire army into its bag, I get a bigger bag or divide it logically into 2 bags. (Sabol just came out with a big Armored Company bag..YES!)
Mothballed armies are in foam trays and in a plastic tub because they're easier to store and more steady when stacked high. Only current armies I play are in bags.
Been doing this since 1998.

Paints are in a plano tackle box. Paint brushes in a coffee cup. Hobby stuff in those stackable drawers on desk.

In college I stored my mini's in Egg Cartons for infantry and stacked them in a milk crate. On top I got a cardboard egg sheet from a college cafeteria (these throw these out. so just ask nicely.) This then gave a good space to sit vheciles on top of, to keep them from shifting around to much.

So more or less had a way to transport my army for free.

If your looking for my permanent storage, look into cases that are cardboard with foam inside. They are cheaper then a full case, and you can then just get a single case that takes the same sized trays. Just change out trays based on what army you are transporting that day. Amazon.ca use to sell a bunch of the feldherr stuff (with free shipping inside canada!). Their trays fit the hold GW hard cases. But they seem to have stopped carrying the cardboard cases.

It seems your best bet is ordering the KR minatures eco cases other from boardgames.ca or meeplemart.

I store completed models in a display case and use a Battlefoam case to transport them to game nights. WIP models are stored in a desk drawer along with small tools, brushes, bits, etc. I also have a very narrow dresser with about six drawers for storing terrain materials, various non-paint liquids (varnishes, matte medium, adhesives, spray primers, etc.). Paints are stored on home-made shelving which is a breeze to make if you have even the most rudimentary carpentry skills. An old steamer trunk houses models that haven't yet been started and lesser-used odds & ends.

The vast majority of my storage supplies were sourced from second-hand stores, cragslist, or dumpster finds & moving sales when school lets out (I live just outside a college town). I also signed up for a local facebook group where people post stuff they're giving away. This turned out to be a particularly good move because I was able to get a drafting table for free. The only pricey splurge was the display case, but even that was less than a third of retail and was just too perfect for minis to pass up. You can get quite a setup for minimal cost if you're patient and willing to build it up slowly over time.