What do you do with spares?

[stillp]

I've built a couple of kits recently that have included a lot of optional parts, too good to throw away. How do other modellers organise and store all these leftover parts?

Pete

[rtfoe]

I keep my spares in labelled little drawers or food containers for later use. Lots of spare hands and legs, weapons, accessories and what nots.

Cheers,
Richard

[Allen Dewire]

Hi Peter,

One way to store them is to pick up one of these. They come in different sizes and you can label the drawers with the kit name. Most also include drawer dividers and they aren't that expensive either.
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[rtfoe]

Hi Peter,

One way to store them is to pick up one of these. They come in different sizes and you can label the drawers with the kit name. Most also include drawer dividers and they aren't that expensive either.
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Allen, same one I have...with single and double drawers.

Cheers,
Richard

[stillp]

So do you sort them by the kit they came from, or by scale, or by type, e.g. limbs/figures/wheels/airframes/...?

Pete

[Allen Dewire]

What I normally do is to put the leftovers from a kit in the drawer. Sometimes you have to remove the larger parts from the sprues and trim the sprues with smaller parts on them to fit in. You can do it by scale too if you remember what kit the parts came from.

These are also nice if you have AM parts and parts for dios too. One drawer has my resin tree stumps and broken branches in it. You can use whatever system is most comfortable for you. For figures again it's up to you how you want to store them.

It's odd, but I can remember what parts go to what kit without labeling them. I have parts stashed from the early 70's and know where and which kit they came from. I'm hopeless………….

Allen

[Guest]

How do other modellers organise and store all these leftover parts?

Certainly don’t throw them away — a couple of models down the line, you may just realise that those wheels or bombs or tow hooks you had left over from a previous model, would work well on the one you’re building now.

I have a bunch of model kit boxes filled (some to the brim) with left-over spares. For 1/35 scale along, I’ve got one box with M113-series parts, one with M26/M46/M47/M48/M60 parts, one with Sherman parts, two with wheels and tracks, one with all and sundry that doesn’t go in any others. Then there’s a much smaller one with 1/72 armor and one with 1/72 aircraft bits, and a couple more Because I had a lot of parts loose in the “miscellaneous” box, last month I bought a couple of those plastic multi-compartment storage boxes and sorted many of the parts into one of those: lamps into one compartment, periscopes in another, radios and antennas in a third, hatches in a fourth, and so on:

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Keep this hobby up for long enough and you might end up with something like:

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All the stuff in the lids and next to the boxes in those last two photos is normally crammed into the boxes, but that would have made for poor photos of what’s actually in them

What I normally do is to put the leftovers from a kit in the drawer. Sometimes you have to remove the larger parts from the sprues and trim the sprues with smaller parts on them to fit in. You can do it by scale too if you remember what kit the parts came from.

Sounds like pretty much exactly my method.

It's odd, but I can remember what parts go to what kit without labeling them. I have parts stashed from the early 70's and know where and which kit they came from. I'm hopeless………….

And that sounds like me too. Mine only go back to the ’80s, but you could point to a random part and with a great many of them, I can tell you hat kit they’re from and/or what they’re supposed to actually be (“shock dampener from an Esci BMP-1” etc.).

[minitnkr]

Only work in 1/87 so task is simpler. Some examples of how I cope w/spares & supplies.
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One of several sorted by US or German period & pose (combat or crew)
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PaulE

[Mickc1440]

Plastic containers that need a good sort through

[Guest]

On a box for a future steampunk projects :tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy::tears-of-joy:

[AlanG]

I keep the decent aircraft spares but i have been known to sell the unused pilots on ebay. Might only get £1 or £2 for them but it pays towards a bottle of paint

[Steve O]

Three boxes, one for plastic parts, one for clear parts and one for decals, it works for me.

[dave]

I cut the sprues so the remaining parts take up minimum room and store in a zip lock bag labelled with the maker scale and aircraft.
Decals in envelopes similarly labelled.

[Guest]

Odds and sods kept in box tops with periodic cull. Un needed whole/ partial sprues given away at no cost.

[Guest]

Unbuilt figures and the odd bits of personal kit I keep in their original boxes in drawer no 2. Parts from models such as the Sturm with loads of Tiger parts in a marked inner box. ( I keep all finished kit box tops cut out and in another drawer. )
Also have a very small container box like Allens with odd track parts, Value Gear tarps, and Hornet heads.
John.