Storage

Over the last seven years I have been working on a major upgrade to my vehicle storage system.

All of the cardboard boxes are being replaced with underbed plastic storage boxes for vehicles and taller boxes for other items.

This is a temporary storage space while I sort items into boxes and take some inventory.  These are Sterilite boxes that I typically get at Target stores.

Storage

Since the remodeling of my living room is on hiatus right now I set up some tables and have been upgrading the storage of my collection.

Some of my collection is not properly stored in plastic boxes.  It is in peanut butter boxes, or copy paper boxes or even just laying about loose.

A few trips to Target and I got about 24 various types of plastic boxes and I have been lining their bottoms with corduroy cloth and drawer liners to keep it in place.  It costs about $10 for each box and another couple bucks for the cloth and liner.  Still, it's cheap insurance to save hundreds of dollars worth of buildings, vehicles, and troops.

Storage

Here is a rare photo of the secret underground bunker storage facility for the Bunkermiester Collection.

Years ago I used underbed storage boxes made out of cardboard to hold my collection.  Then I upgraded them by lining them with sheets of thin plywood to prevent the heavy metal and resin kits from folding up the boxes when I picked them up.  I even installed two levels in many boxes to hold almost twice as many models.

Too bad the boxes were too heavy to stack and I anticipated they would be too heavy to pick up when I turn 80.  Some boxes were over 30 pounds, 100 Hot Wheels trucks weights a lot!  I also kept finding mice in the boxes because they liked the cardboard for nesting.  No vehicle damage, thank God.  I also got spiders and silverfish in the boxes.  The silverfish would eat the cardboard and the spiders would leave a mess where they killed various bugs.

So I upgraded to plastic underbed storage boxes, lined with cordoroy cloth.  The ridges on the cloth prevent the vehicles from sliding around.  They are also stackable.  Each box is weighed and a sticker on the end records the weight of each box.  Heavy boxes are stored on the bottom.  Each box has a 3x5 card with the contents marked in marker pen in large letters at the end for easy identification.

Boxes can be stacked up to 11 high but are inspected at least weekly to insure there is no damage, water leaks, rodents, insects, or weight problems.  In over three years I have had no problems with this system.  The initial expense is greater than the cardboad boxes and I no longer layer the boxes so I need about 40% more boxes than I had before.  The boxes will hold at least 50 large Roco vehicles and each box costs less than one vehicle so a pretty good cost to value ratio.  I use four sizes of boxes depending on the contents and I get them from Target stores, they are made by Sterilite.

More Storage

Here is the inside of the shed with most of the boxes inside. I stacked them 11 boxes high.

Most boxes were in the 5 to 8 pounds range. The heaviest was 18 pounds, it was a lot of lead WWI tanks. The lightest was three, it was a few buildings.

I used to put label tape on the boxes, but it is too small to read from six to ten feet away. The simple 3 X 5 cards seem to be cheaper, and easier to read.

This is a close up of one of the weight stickers. Lightest boxes on top. CAC is Coast Artillery Corps, US Army, WWII era. Can you identify the Roco 155mm Long Toms inside the box?

The two heaviest boxes. They really made some heavy WWI tanks in lead. Akheton and a couple other companies made them, many years ago. I hope this system lasts me at least 40 years. The cardboard boxes did.

Storage

I recently started upgrading my collection storage from cardboard boxes to plastic boxes. Most were underbed storage boxes, long, and flat. Since most of the collection is Roco Minitanks and similar vehicles they don't need a tall box. Many of my cardboard boxes had wooden shelving inside that allowed me to put two layers of models inside one box. With some of the Hot Wheels and Paul Heiser resin kits, the boxes could be pretty heavy. Since the cardboard boxes are in some cases as much as forty years old, I figured this new configuration would have to last the rest of my life. I am in my mid-50's so if these new plastic boxes last forty years, then I may have to do this again, when I am 95!

I purchased a couple resin / plastic storage sheds and I will put many of the underbed storage boxes in the sheds. Since the boxes will just stack on top of each other, I decided that I would weigh them and put the heavy ones on the bottom and the lightest ones on top. I used a digital household scale to weigh them. I then took a marking pen and put the weight in pounds on a paper sticker. The paper sticker when on the end of the box. Sort of like the bridge weight markings used on military vehicles. I should have used yellow!

These are the first few boxes inside one of the sheds. The sheds are eight feet across and ten feet deep. These boxes are 18" X 33" long and about six inches high. I put a blank 3 X 5 card inside each box at the end with the weight sticker to indicate the contents of the box.

I put the windows and the sky lights at the north side of the shed so the boxes would not be subject to direct sunlight.

The long boxes on one side and the other side has the boxes sideways so that I can move the boxes around inside the shed. I also have a few shorter boxes that are taller on the right side of the sheds too.