Keeping spare bits.

[outrunner]

Just wondering how you guys handle spare bits that you have, left overs from various models etc. I just throw all bits into an old kit box but I have only been back at it for about a year.

Perhaps it would make sense to keep stuff separate, what is the collective view on this? I know, I really should get out more. :rolling:

Andy.

[dave]

I tend to cut away excess sprue and store the parts in the bag the sprues came in labeled with the kit details and stored in a box, spare decals go into an envelope again labelked with kit details in another box.

[AlanG]

Always keep bits. Especially canopies and bombs

[Guest]

I've just got a few plastic takeaway containers, labelled with the scale 1/72 1/48 etc.

No doubt once I've been doing this a while I'll need to think of something else

[KarlW]

I don't bother anymore, I used too but then ended up with boxes of plastic to store, rather than boxes of unbuilt kits......

[Graeme C.]

I keep spare bits in a now rather large box, bits bagged by kit. Decals I put in an envelope. Only problem is how long should you hang onto stuff? I'm getting the the stage of borderline hoarding.........:flushed:

[AlanG]

Also the advantage of saving little spares. Some of them can be sold on evilbay. Example is the pilots from the Hasegawa Fw190 kits i make. I'll never use them but they always sell for a couple of quid. Which pays for at least one bottle of paint. No point in throwing away something that others can use

[Neil Merryweather]

I've got 45 years' worth , all organised -wheels,bombs ,canopies, tiny bits, arms, legs, heads etc. etc.
I've hardly used any of it, of course , but you can bet your life if I throw it out I will want something from it!

Sad, who, me....?

[adt70hk]

I tend to cut away excess sprue and store the parts in the bag the sprues came in labeled with the kit details and stored in a box, spare decals go into an envelope again labelked with kit details in another box.

Dave

That's a great idea, if far too organised!! Might have to try it at some point.

ATB

Andrew

[JR]

I started with one of those small plastic boxes with trays like Neil. Then made that large rack that hold ex flora cartons (Other varieties are available in all supermarkets )
These contain in separate cartons Russian , German weapons. Hornet heads, corrugated sheets and jig, body parts , all in bags , left arms, right etc .Few boxes in a drawer with sprues with unused parts . It just gets bigger, always something left and you never want to ditch it. Hopefully one day someone will ask for a part and I'll have it...........or will I .:smiling:

[Guest]

Also keep the odds & ends of PE frets which I have found very useful Same with decals very very useful.

[BarryW]

I just cut them all away from the sprue and throw them in a box. I keep spare decals in a seperate box but that is literally all the sorting I do. The Airfix 1/24 Hellcat box is now packed nearly full with spare parts. I often search away in the box loooking for a piece of roughly the right shape to sand and file to fit somewhere.

I do admire those who have the self discipline to carefully label and store the parts.

[Guest]

Loose parts and small bits sprue with multiple parts on it go into one of my many spares boxes, most of which are simply boxes of kits I’ve built. Some parts that make up a complete subassembly, like an engine, I cut off the sprue and put into a plastic bag, which then goes into the box (with the contents written on with a marking pen). If I have (nearly/mostly) full sprues left, I put those in a box without taking the parts off, because then it’d be a nightmare trying to find them all again.

This is organised per subject, for those I’ve built a lot of over the years: I have a box with M113 parts, one with M26/M46/M47/M48/M60 parts, two with Sherman parts. Most of the rest goes into a big box of miscellaneous parts, or into one of the two I have with just wheels and tracks.

I also have some of those small sets of drawers and a couple of plastic boxes with many compartments inside, which I use for similar parts: a compartment full of headlights, one with periscopes, one with radios, a drawer with American WWII weapons, one with tools, etc.

All this proved necessary because it first of all became impossible to stuff all the parts into a single box, and then to find things in the box(es) with everything mixed up. That can still be a problem, of course, especially if I’m after parts for a vehicle I’ve only built maybe one model of, but nowhere near as bad as when I still had everything mixed up.

[stona]

I don't bother anymore, I used too but then ended up with boxes of plastic to store, rather than boxes of unbuilt kits......

Same here.

I ended up with boxes of bits that I never used. They migrated to the loft for a few years and then I got rid of them. I figured that some of those boxes hadn't even been opened for fifteen years!

As far as plastic, I keep any pilot figures that come with kits in a little draw. They are increasingly rare, certainly in 1/48 and above. Apart from that I now get rid of unused parts.

What I do always keep is decals as these do get used. I put the sheets in freezer bags, labelled just by scale and nationality, and then in a box file.

[outrunner]

I just cut them all away from the sprue and throw them in a box. I keep spare decals in a seperate box but that is literally all the sorting I do. The Airfix 1/24 Hellcat box is now packed nearly full with spare parts. I often search away in the box loooking for a piece of roughly the right shape to sand and file to fit somewhere.

I do admire those who have the self discipline to carefully label and store the parts.

Nice to know I am not the only one to do that.

Andy.