I need some advice on how to store these little guys after I'm done painting them, throwing them in an old pill bottle will still allow them to rub together and scratch the paint off

So far I have 3 guys done

Just my 2 cents...... but how about a container such as a sucrets cough drop case and some foam like the stuff you get in the box your locos come in??? just a crazy idea.

Put them on the layout.....
Just another crazy idea.

Take a scrap piece of wood, and glue the figures to it standing up using white glue or hot glue. When they are ready to be placed on the layout, the glue should come off relatively easily.

railroader9731 Wrote:Just my 2 cents...... but how about a container such as a sucrets cough drop case and some foam like the stuff you get in the box your locos come in??? just a crazy idea.

Not crazy at all, I think I can find those weekly pill box cases at dollars stores too, which would probably be cheapest

eightyeightfan1 Wrote:Put them on the layout.....
Just another crazy idea.

I knew someone would say that, too bad I don't have a layout anymore

nachoman Wrote:Take a scrap piece of wood, and glue the figures to it standing up using white glue or hot glue. When they are ready to be placed on the layout, the glue should come off relatively easily.

Good idea!




So far here is my progress, only 139 more to do

My layout has foam scenery, what I do to plant them (and have the option to move them later on) is to heat up thin piano wire with a candle, and shove the wire into the bottom of their little feet. Once the wire cools, I add a drop of ACC to the bottom of the foot and snip it off with about 1/4" of wire hanging out. To store them, I poke them into a scrap of foam and place that in an old Athearn or Roundhouse box. Cut the foam to the size and shape of the box itself, and they are all planted temporarily, standing up, and take up relatively little space until you have time to plant them on the layout. I do the same for trees, although I use a shoe box for that.

Great ideas so far, and nice work painting the figures.

I have used strips of scrap wood or styrene and glued their little feets to the material, which became the 'handle' for painting them. For seated figures, just glue their little 'buberns' (as my 4-year old says) to the strip and set that on a thicker piece when not holding it as a painting handle.

Galen

You could use bluetack or something in lieu of glue, it's not as if they're very heavy and glue might cause some damage. Or put them into a container and don't shake the container. As soon as the paint is dry it will be fairly tough, so as long as the figures are plastic and no metal, there is very little force involved and the paint should stay where it should. You could varnish the figures for extra strength, but that is probably not necessary. Now if they were big (1" or more) metal miniatures I'd suggest packing them into foam figure storage boxes or attaching them somewhere where they could stand (layout or a separate base)

I have some of mine on foam, held down with 2-sided tape. Actually, I do that to paint them, too.

tv_man Wrote:You could use bluetack or something in lieu of glue,

Actually I just started using the blue tack after I found it yesterday

I wouldn't worry too much about storing them in a plastic container such as a pill bottle or something. Preiser's been doing it for years.
This box, came with 36 painted figures, loose. As you can see, the number's has dwindled as I find a spot for them. But I do still have another full box of 36, waiting to go