It is rather interesting to see how the companies that are specialized on weathering effects and paints evolve to keep up with the competition in the relatively tight market. New products are being announced almost every month, and there is no limit for imagination here. AMMO of Mig Jimenez, a company founded by Mig himself, started supplying wooden bases and other necessities for model builders, including the subject of this short review – workbench organizer.
Review
The concept is very simple – most of us have do-it-yourself solutions for organization of paints, paintbrushes and everything related to that. Workbench organizer allows placing the jars so that you see the labels and there is no mess on your workbench.
This item comes unassembled and is packed in a rectangular cardboard box with image of the assembled product on top. The content is packed in another piece of cardboard and bubble isolation material to ensure that there is no damage during shipment. 8 parts make the organizer and the assembly is very simple, just place the parts into corresponding location holes. The dimensions of the assembled product are the following 14.5 cm (depth) x 9.5 cm (tall) x 40 cm (high). (Too big for my photo-box to fit in).
Overall there is room for 21 small paint jars (Vallejo, AMMO, AK or similar) that have 25mm diameter and 17 larger bottles/jars (AMMO, MIG productions, Vallejo, AK, Tamiya) that have diameter 35mm. Additionally there are location holes for 12 tools like paint brushes or files. The top surfaces are covered with white paint, bottom and side come untreated. I haven’t tested how easy would be the cleaning of that organizer if you spill any paint or thinner on it but I assume that untreated elements would absorb everything.
Conclusion
Altogether this is a nice solution for ergonomics on your table, and the only limitation that comes to my mind is that it is rather small and I would have to get at least 3 or 4 of such organizers to put all my supplies in it. Let’s hope that AMMO comes with more variants in the future.
SUMMARY
Highs: Nice looking solution for your paints.Lows: Only one variant available so far. A bit pricy. Verdict: Recommended.
there is only one problem with all these open topped solutions: dust and bits and pieces of sprue that go flying around when snipped off from the parts will go and hide in these clever contraptions and create cleaning work.
I prefer to keep my paints in shallow drawers built into the supports for the workbench. Keeping paint and tools in shallow drawers also saves space on the workbench which is
important for some of us ;-)
/ Robin
You're right there Robin. A nifty idea but being exposed... the cleaning! And what happens when you start having more bottles than what it will handle?
I have a bunch of those plastic drawer systems and store my paint in there.
Dust and sprue free!
Jeff
My paints are stored under my worktable on a pair of pull-out keyboard trays (attached to the bottom of the table). Seriously, they're about perfect for holding a bunch of paints at once, although I can't see their labels.
nice item but I have the same problem as many of you; I would need two or three of them; I picked up a used paint rack at Hobby Lobby for $5 a couple years ago; my suggestion would be to check out places like that for used stuff they are getting rid of.
I think its a good idea. You don't need to have your entire collection of paints, thinners etc in the stand, just the ones you are using for an ongoing painting session/project, so they don't end up standing all over the bench whilst you are working :-)
guess what I made ages ago from a piece of old plywood and a 25 mm drill...and it fits in my drawer after painting. I just don't get stuff like this. You spend hours on a model, but 30 minutes to make your own paint rack is too much???
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