The Nerd Bunker–Tidying Up The Kit Stash

The Kit Stash BEFORE

The Kit Stash BEFORE

     Last Saturday, I partially crossed off one item from my Nerd Bunker “To Do” list. After our fire, I recovered about 45 kits from the closet where I kept them.  All the ones on the top shelf were melted into slag and/or charred beyond recognition, but the ones stored lower survived. Except for the boxes that is. 95% of them suffered water & smoke damage.

     Since we moved in, I’ve been recycling boxes when I get stuff from eBay & Amazon and using them to store those kits. So far, I’ve gotten about 1/3 done but still have a bunch of crushed, warped, soot-covered kits on the shelf, as you can see above.

     About a week ago, I was listening to the Scale Model Addict channel on YouTube while working and Scott posted a short video about using plastic storage bins to store your kits instead of the boxes they come in. Normally, I’d probably not do that given I like the box art. But for my situation, it’s the perfect solution. Frankly, I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t already think of it.

     Yesterday, after our trip to Hobby Lobby, I stopped in a Dollar General and found exactly what I needed: Sterlite plastic 6 Qt. shoe boxes for $1 each.  Here’s what the label looks like:

Storage Bin

     Note that they have $2 versions (slightly heavier-duty plastic) with snapping latches on the lids. Overkill, in my opinion, as the $1 boxes work perfectly.  The lids click on and you can’t beat the price. So I picked up 20 and set about moving that many kits out of their nasty, ruined boxes into their new styrene homes. Here’s the top shelf of my kit stash about 1/2 way done:

Kit Stash AFTER
Kit Stash AFTER

     As I was transplanting the kits, I made a list so I can print up labels, which I’ll do once I replace the cardboard boxes on the right with bins. I did have to clip some large frames in half to get them to fit, but that’s not a big deal. The bins do offer the “pro” of being uniform size and therefore, stackable–something not always possible with a multitude of box shapes and sizes.

     I plan to stop at Dollar General after work one day this week and pick up about 25 more bins as well as a few larger ones for the 4 or 5 big kits I have.  Once the labels are done and applied, my stash will be back in top form and I can work on filling up those other shelves.

     So, if you’ve got some torn up, sagging boxes, that have seen better days, consider replacing them with this sturdier option.  Until next time…stay nerdy my friends.

 

Copyright 2013 It Came From The Nerd Cave