Fantasy Chaos/Undead Bitz Box
Here's another post about how I organize my things to maximize the little time I get to spend on my hobby. After about the first six months of playing 40k, I like most had a stack of sprues with extra bitz laying around. I decided to minimized the space these took up in my college apartment at the time, so I went to Wal-mart and bought a couple tackle boxes used for fishing lures. These costs 5-8 bucks depending on size. At first I was able to put all parts in one box, but as I grew my hobby to other armies and games systems I began to expand my bitz box collection to the point of the last picture in this post.
Now every time I purchase a new box of models and build them I clip the extras and sort into these bitz boxes by army. Then in each box I have spots for heads, legs, torsos, left arms, right arms, backpacks, close combat weapons, ranged weapons, etc. This is great as sometimes I don't build all the models that come in the box. These are used later to kitbash other models, swapping bitz between armies and even game systems.
Fantasy Empire Bitz Box
40k Chaos Space Marines Bitz Box
Stack of Bitz Boxes in Closet for all but vehicle bitz includes from top down: IG, SM, CSM, Fantasy Chaos/Undead mix, Lizardmen, Mordheim, Wood Elves, Kroot, Orcs & Goblins, Empire, Ogre Kingdoms, Necromunda, Oddball box
Now I just need to organize my vehicle bitz as they are just thrown in a drawer haphazardly. This will be taken care of eventually when I purchase some more boxes. Try this type of organization and I guarantee it will speed up your conversions immensely. I know I used to just toss extra stuff in a box and then dig around for ages trying to find that plasma pistol I knew I had from a while back. I would never go back to that cluster now. Though some may think my OCD style of organizing is over the top and they may be right, but I'm sure you know someone that digs around for hours looking for bitz in a box. If you're one of these, try this, it is inexpensive, efficiently stored and time saving. Hope this helps, till next time.
Great Idea! Now I just have to find the time to cut them all up :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me about using these boxes.
I have my bits sorted only by army. It's not as efficient as your approach, which I may choose to adopt some time in the future when I have some cash to get more little boxes. But even with the fairly minimal organization that I have implemented I've found that finding that one bit I need has become a much easier prospect. Thanks for showing off your approach.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post.
ReplyDeleteI've begun the same process....Harbor Freight is a hardware store in my area of So Cal and they post coupons for 20% off every week in the paper. I use it to get containers of a slightly smaller size for less than $5.00 to organize my bits exactly as you have. It makes working on models during lunch at work much easier.
That is a great idea. Personally I use resealable food and freezer bags for my bits. Label the bitz on the outside. I have a large plastic box to store all these bags in, so far it works well; perhaps not as neat or easily assessable as yours but it does work quite well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started I kept all the bitz in a tub, and of course whenever I wanted anything I had to empty the whole tub and painstakingly search for the bit I needed. Now however, I keep them on the sprues deliberately. I have the sprues in crates organised by army. This way if I know I need a space marine plasma psitol, I go to the space marine box, find an infantry sprue, and snip off the pistol I need. I can find things so much easier when I'm searching for a sprue rather than a bit. What's more, for models where there are clearly paired arms, it helps to keep them on the sprue till needed.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, that's just my way. I have the luxury of enough space for half a dozen crates stacked up.
I do the same thing, but I use art boxes from craft stores (but they're effectively the same thing). I don't own anywhere near as many as you do though. Do people ever give you crap about being OCD... or a hoarder for that matter?
ReplyDelete