Customized Paint Stands

Having acquired a lot more paints, among them, a few Armored Komodo paints, I find myself having the need to make another paint bottle stand, to organize the older and newer paints in larger bottles. I previously made one for my Vallejo paints, which is just enough for the ones I currently have on stock. I've seen nice prefab painting stations, but the cost is a bit prohibitive if not impractical for me, even before the lockdown.

A-10-SZHUN!

The new one will have larger receptacles which could fit bottle diameters of about 3.5cm. I have one Tamiya bottle that's about 3.8cm, but seeing that I won't be getting Tamiya paints anymore, I just stuck with the more conservative measurement.

Puzzle Pieces Paint a Pretty Picture

This is all made with 1.0mm sheets of White High Impact PolyStyrene. Just like previous one, which has smaller, 2.5cm receptacles, I opted to go with a 3.0cm height.  The real pain with this project is cutting the slots on the slats. I've made a few mistakes along the way, marking and cutting at 3.5cm instead of 3.7cm (which you can clearly see in one of the smaller slats. So, instead of cutting right away, I simply marked the slot positions so I can make corrections as needed. I've made two long slats, and eight short ones. When assembled, it's already structurally-sound on it own even without cement since most of the slots fit snugly.

Step? No. Step? Yes!

The rest is just like pie, simply building around the assembly. First, the bottom sheet is cemented to secure the slats into place, then the sides, doubling down to reinforce the assembly for a solid structure. To make sure the slats stay in place, I trickled thin cement on contact points, which should be enough to melt the surfaces and weld together when the cement dries and cures.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings...

The good thing about this, I suppose, is I can simply make another one, or a couple, as the need arises. I'll also make another tool stand, but I need to get the cheaper blue HIPS sheets from Jolis in España. Another great thing about this is it's modular, and I can build a paint and tool station and mount these individual stands on top of each other for a more organized work station, clearing the clutter on the mat.

From Chaos...

...to Ordered Chaos.