Wrangling small Parts

[ratherbefishin]

Am I the only one who keeps an egg carton on my bench to stage small parts waiting for paint or waiting for assembly?  I use the pressed paper kind and it really organizes those tiny parts I’ve dechromed or primed/painted but not ready for assembly yet.  Really helps to keep those gnarly bits from getting lost.

I’d be interested in how you folks keep your parts staged for later work.

Curt

[Tom Geiger]

I have a small rolling table... I think it once was a microwave cart.  I keep my model parts staged, which is spread out in assemblies so I can see where I'm at with the project.  It keeps parts off the bench and clean.

I roll this up to the model bench when I need, and roll it to the other side of the room other times. 

[peteski]

I use all sorts of recycled containers.  Apple sauce cups, Chinese food condiments containers (for hot mustard or duck sauce), etc. I also use some blister packs (if they are tub shaped with flat bottoms).  Sometimes I also use liquid medicine measuring cups, and other containers I can't remember now.

[cobraman]

I have some small cups I use but it seems I keep a lot of my small parts on the floor. ?

[gman]

I have used old #11 Exacto blades to hold small parts for painting when they need to be secured from the back and the back doesn't show-

1) take a cardboard box, cut slits slightly larger than the handle portion of the #11 blade on the surface of the box

2) poke the tip of the #11 blade into the part on the back surface

3) slip the handle portion of the blade into the slits to secure the part to your painting surface on the cardboard box

4) airbrush or spray at will

If the back of the part will show, you can drill a small hole in your parts, glue a section of styrene rod into the hole to use as a handle. You can poke round holes in a cardboard box and insert the styrene rod into the holes. After painting, you can trim off the styrene handle and touch up the back portion of your part with a dot of paint.

[Cornpatch]

I use the apple sauce cups also. Use the small Dixie Cups that the wife buys for the bathroom. For the larger parts I use some little plastic baskets I bought at Staples, or anything else I can Find around the house for said task. 

[SoDak1]

I have all kinds of weird little plastic dishes I've picked up over the years for the small bits. But for keeping everything together or staging I use some school lunch trays. Throw everything on the tray, slide it on the shelf and grab another one

[Tom Geiger]

2 hours ago, Cornpatch said:

Use the small Dixie Cups that the wife buys for the bathroom. 

They have many uses in the model room.  Need a little spray paint to touch up something?  Spray it in one of these instead of a can cap.   They make great paint stands as you see in the photo,  if the item is heavy you can stack them up to give it some weight.

My wife loves these Swiffer mops.  The good news is that the pads come in blue plastic boxes that are ideal for model part storage.  They even have a clear lid on them so you can see the contents easily.  Remove the green banner, and put a white label on the end.   They come in two depths with either 24 or 12 pads.  These are the deeper boxes which are ideal for storing a project.  The shallow ones are great parts boxes!

You can see these Swiffer boxes on the shelves above my workbench, being used to hold ongoing projects.

[Bainford]

I have a wooden coin tray from an old timey cash register. The rounded contour of the compartment bottoms makes fishing out the small bits easy and controllable.

Also quite useful are the desk drawer trays used for organising pens, paper clips, etc in your office desk. They are cheap at places like Staples, or even the dollar store. Very useful for your 1:1 tool box as well for organising small bits.

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

I just have parts strewn all over the bench, I lose parts all the time.... -RRR

[Bills72sj]

Zip lock bags. I replace equipment parts at work every day. Every time I save the zip lock bag the part came in. I have a whole dresser drawer of empty bags of various sizes. I always stash small parts in them because our kitty is locked in my modeling room at night. She CANNOT be trusted. I am STILL missing the front axle to one of my Freightliners that I left on the bench.

[LL3 Model Worx]

I use these... I bought a bunch of them when they were on sale.

 

I have 1 dedicated to a build at a time... the rest I use for organizing various spare parts.... engines/wheels/tires etc...

I have some small ones for this purpose also.

Keeps my stuff safe and out of the way of Murphy's wrath... not to say I do not make the occasional sacrifice to the carpet monster... can't be avoided I don't think.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by LL3 Model Worx

[Russell C]

The combo of little salsa containers with snap-on lids from Mexican food restaurants, and really old electrical tape (?) containers that are like flat cups with overlapping tops. Pays to keep the lids on to avoid scattering 'em all into the carpet, though.

[OldNYJim]

I like those salsa containers too - my wife bought me a bag of a hundred or so of them, and they’re SUPER useful!

[Foxer]

zip-lock sandwich bags secure everything and let you easily see whats in them without opening.

[misterNNL]

On 12/17/2019 at 10:18 PM, Tom Geiger said:

I have a small rolling table... I think it once was a microwave cart.  I keep my model parts staged, which is spread out in assemblies so I can see where I'm at with the project.  It keeps parts off the bench and clean.

I roll this up to the model bench when I need, and roll it to the other side of the room other times. 

 

On 12/17/2019 at 10:18 PM, Tom Geiger said:

I have a small rolling table... I think it once was a microwave cart.  I keep my model parts staged, which is spread out in assemblies so I can see where I'm at with the project.  It keeps parts off the bench and clean.

I roll this up to the model bench when I need, and roll it to the other side of the room other times. 

I really have a difficult time imagining a model room with enough open floor space to actually roll a cart around in. Just joking of course as mine is closer to being like a land mine field where you scoot thinks out of you way with your feet as you move forward(carefully).

Edited December 24, 2019 by misterNNL
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