Modeling Organization

Developing some organizational skills has been a big boon to my enjoyment of the hobby.   Modeling is a hobby / stress reliever for me rather than a business, so production efficiency isn't the paramount issue but I do like the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a project.  It's also a plus with my wife to show some reduction in the lead pile just prior to a new addition.

Anyway, I have found two methods that really help keep me organized and reduce the time I spend looking for stuff.  The first is a rolling tool cabinet that holds all my modeling tools/paints and scenic supplies.  The real trick to making this work is to organize your projects and take out what you need at the start and then put stuff back once your done.  The whole "putting stuff back" is the hard part as I tend to assume a perfect memory when I put an item down and then the next day spend 20 minutes looking for the damn thing.  I'm sure something like that has never happened to you.

The other plus is that the rolling tool cart makes it easier to pick up or hide your modeling efforts if executive management of the household has dictated another use of the space your occupying.

The second organizational trick I use are wooden project trays (I got them from the craft store Michael's on sale for $1.25 each) to organize my projects in.  This step accomplishes two goals - first it keeps all of the items associated with an effort in one spot and makes it easier to start/stop projects as I like to do.  The second goal is that since I limit the size of a project to what will fit in a tray it forces me to think a bit and break a large project down into smaller subsets.

The trays are also very useful on game nights to help players organize and move their respective forces from the storage cabinets to the table.