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Kit built stock storage


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Hi All

 

I've started on my long dormant pile of rolling stock kits and am wondering what the best way for storing them is?

I am hoping for boxes similar to Hornby / Bachmann ones so that everything can be stored side by side when needed.

 

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Thanks,

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I don't know if you get them in Canada, but in Europe, mushrooms are delivered to vegetable shops and restaurants in plastic lattice trays, which can be stacked on top of one another. To avoid things like buffers catching in the lattice, line them with thin plastic foam, and use the same foam to separate the vehicles. Some have label-holders moulded in the ends, which makes it easier to identify contents without moving boxes. Another source of boxes are up-market on-line clothes retailers, such as Peruvian Connection. Their boxes are exactly the correct depth for storing items of 4mm stock on their sides.

Both the above have the advantage of taking way less space than individual boxes. The Peruvian Connection boxes will take about 25 4-wheel vans or 30 or more mineral wagons, more than adequate for my needs.

Another possibility might be to work out what size box you need, and see if there are any carton manufacturers in the area who carry something similar in stock.

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I've always used common office box files with liners/divders made from folded glossy paper - colour supplements from weekend papers,a discarded copy of National Geographic, the ads pages/unwanted articles from the modelling magazine of your choice - being the source. Like Brian's mushroom boxes, these stack nicely and take up far less space than RTR boxes (which generally end up in the recycling more or less immediately). Obviously, any spring clip must be removed first.

 

Adam

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One thing to consider here is the handling of your models and potential damage getting them in and out of storage. This is particularly true of kit built items with lovingly applied detail!

 

I use plastic towers of drawers bought from the likes of Staples, with stock placed upright in little home made cradles of bubble wrap. I can lift the cradle out of the drawer and place it next to wherever I wish to put the stock, minimising handling and damage. This is pretty similar in practise to the method used by Brian W in #2, and avoids the need to pull items out using buffers or couplings.

 

John.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • RMweb Gold

It may depend on whether you wish to transport your rolling stock to exhibitions, should you be taking a layout. If so, then the suggestion made by Adam has many merits, as such box files are lightweight, cheap and easy to transport. The wagons sit on their own wheels and you can put something in to divide each wagon from itself, such as foam. I used to make something similar from Dalerboard, and fitted these into shoe boxes (two layers of rolling stock), but it is much easier to do similar with commercially-available box files.

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My stock travels a fair bit to exhibitions. You need something robust, but also something you can get things in and out of quickly and easily, especially on a Sunday evening when you've had more than enough and you just want to be down the road.

 

I made these from timber I had lying about to fit those folding crates.

 

newbox2.jpg

 

You can build them to suit what you want to put in them - 6 carriages if in separate compartments or about 20 wagons if they're all in one or two sections.

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  • RMweb Gold

Thanks all for the responses.  I was kind of hoping to find actual rolling stock boxes, sort of like some empty Dapol or Bachmann boxes..

Cheltenham Model Centre do  3 OO sized different length single item robust cardboard boxes - they normally have them at shows - the blues ones don't like sheds and go a bit mouldy but the red and green ones seem fine!

Chris

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