I have lots of styrene strips, angles, rods, and tubes of many sizes, mostly from Evergreen Scale Models plus a few from Plastruct. Until now I've just been shoving them into whatever nook or cranny I could find in the piles of stuff surrounding my modeling work area. I have long planned to devise a better storage solution, but lacked a "round tuit".
Well, recently I finally got around to it! I built it out of 3mm thick Sintra PVC board. I started by constructing segments, as seen here:
The segments were designed to fit together in a stair-step manner, with each segment being 2" higher than the previous segment:
About halfway through I realized this spacing was going to make the rack too tall. So the the spacing of the remaining four segments was reduced to 1.25". When all eight segments were glued together, I added sides made from 3mm Sintra, and a bottom made from 6mm Sintra. I also added a handle to make moving or carrying the rack more convenient:
When complete, I filled the rack with the styrene materials:
Then I realized I could make it even more useful by adding a couple pockets at each end. These will hold sheets of plain styrene on one end, and specialty sheets such as scribed siding on the other end. Two smaller pockets can be used to hold additional strips, tubes, etc in styrene or brass:
I'm still trying to decide what to store in the rear of the rack. Can't let all that empty space go to waste!
Very creative. Great job. Thanks for sharing.
Rich
Alton Junction
You did a great job. Looks more like an actual store display. You have quit a stock to choose from.
Great job, Ray! Thanks for the photos.
York1 John
Nice job! Well done!
Jerry
Nicely done, Ray.
About 20-or-so years ago, I built a similar, but smaller one...
...it holds strips, shapes and sheets of mostly Evergreen stuff, but also brass-strips, tubing, and music wire from K&S, along with some siding and shingle material from Walthers and Plastruct.
Mine was made from .060" sheet styrene, which I buy in 4'x8' sheets. I'm well into, I think, the sixth one that I've bought, as it's great for building roads and sidewalks, and large structures, too. I also use it to make underbodies for scratchbuilt rolling stock, and for creating moulds for plaster bridge piers, retaining walls, and abutments.
Wayne
Very nice job - and yes it does look like it could be a point-of-purchase display. Speaking of which many years ago I did buy a very early Plastruct point of purchase display, rather tall, on a sort of Lazy Susan rotating base, from a hobby shop going out of business. It came with styrene and ABS plastic strips, rods and shapes already in it, although not a complete set. But Plastruct and Evergreen have released even more options since then.
By the way when you cut off a piece of styrene it is tempting to throw the small remnants into a common plastic bag but I regret doing that - I now put them back in the long plastic bag they came from even though it can be a chore to get them out. Why? Because often you want to know the size, and that is on the bag.
It is worth mentioning perhaps that while this vertical storage and display is perfect for plastic products, for rather similar small wood strips and structural shapes I find that the very small profile of many of those wood products does not hold up to vertical storage - they break. Instead I need to hang the bag(s) from hooks.
Dave Nelson
dknelsonBy the way when you cut off a piece of styrene it is tempting to throw the small remnants into a common plastic bag but I regret doing that - I now put them back in the long plastic bag they came from even though it can be a chore to get them out. Why? Because often you want to know the size, and that is on the bag.
Yup! Any scrap strip material under 1/4" in length goes into recycling, while any longer scraps go back into their original sleeve, which includes the materials' dimensions...waste-not want-not.