Miniatures - Storage/Cataloging/Finding

[CashWiley]

I always want to have a card catalog set of drawers.

We are absolutely looking for a few good local sets of card catalogs. So hard to find good ones at reasonable prices.

 

Right now I have one chest of drawers that host a bunch. The rest are in boxes on shelves in the same closet. And a few in the desk. And the cabinet just for KD plastic/games. And the board game shelf.

 

Inventory is something I should've done from the start. Just organizing them to store took days, I'm too far gone to catalog.

 

By the way, when I pass I'll probably write you into the will to dispose of my collection, ub3r :p (the fiancee (hopefully wife by then) would have no idea of their value or how to recoup any of it) Apologies in advance.

[Gadgetman!]

I keep most of my unpainted minis in tackle boxes and put a label on the side of each box, to show which brand minis are in them.

[redambrosia]

I've been thinking about using the plastic storage containers used to beads and other crafty things. Some of them have slots big enough for a single medium person sized mini. You could number the spots, give each container a range, and catalog it out. There's even containers with bigger spots for bigger minis. And! Waterproof.

 

Joann's or Michael's or Hobby Lobby all have good selections of containers.

[Dilvish the Deliverer]

Well, I posted what I want. This is what I use now.

 

What I use to organize unpainted minis are Sterilite "Shoe boxes". I get them for a buck a piece at the Dollar General in town.

 

I tend not remove a mini from the packaging before painting, so depending on size I can fit 20-30 blister packs in a box. I have them sorted by manufacturer and type. so all of my Red Box minis are in one box, all of my Darkswords in another. My Reapers (the majority of my collection) are separate into limited edition (mostly Sophies), PC/NPCs, Monsters, Animals and so forth. I store the boxes on shelves above my painting desk. For Bones, I have them separated in to ziplock bags by type (melee, casters, ranged, undead, animals, demons/devils and so forth), with the bags going into a plastic file box. Larger figures are stored in their original boxes and live either on the shelves or under the painting table.

[TGP]

I have (little or) nothing to add to this discussion but much to learn.

 

@Thes — you'll need to edit your post to eliminate the links that go to Add To Cart pages (if you can drill down a bit deeper you could post links to the URLs of the pictures of those various storage units...links or inline inclusions of PNGs, JPGs, and such are not a problem.)

[Grayfax]

As you are building a new house, you could look at finding something like this:

It is called a Printers Cabinet.  You can also get the ones that are made for maps.  Both are easily converted to having miniatures in them.  

Just know what sizes you want and if you want foam in it.  Old Apothecary tables can be very useful too, especially for large minis.

 

Edit: Spelling Apothocary Apothacary Apothecary correctly

Edited November 8, 2016 by Grayfax

[canuckotter]

This post is making me feel like I could make some money by building some jigs to quickly and easily make card catalogs...  

[knarthex]

As you are building a new house, you could look at finding something like this:

It is called a Printers Cabinet.  You can also get the ones that are made for maps.  Both are easily converted to having miniatures in them.  

Just know what sizes you want and if you want foam in it.  Old Apothecary tables can be very useful too, especially for large minis.

 

Edit: Spelling Apothocary Apothacary Apothecary correctly

The individual drawers from these are great as displays for minis! Paint them grey, screw them to the wall, and fill with minis!

Just watch your base size!

I have 2 of them filled with painted creatures....

[Inarah]

I've been thinking about using the plastic storage containers used to beads and other crafty things. Some of them have slots big enough for a single medium person sized mini. You could number the spots, give each container a range, and catalog it out. There's even containers with bigger spots for bigger minis. And! Waterproof.

 

Joann's or Michael's or Hobby Lobby all have good selections of containers.

 

True, but they tend to change design every year or three.  If you're buying them one or two at a time as you need them you're going to find, at some point, they don't make that any more and you have to find something else.  My sewing room is a showcase of 20 years of plastics design. 

 

The 1.99 craft organizers are great for carrying human size figs on 1" bases to and from a game, but for long term collection you want something larger and able to hold big figures. 

[vegascat]

Those Apothecary/chart/map/blueprint cabinets, card catalogs, and dental cabinets are great when you can find them at decent prices.  To be honest, if I had the time, I'd make one.  Sadly (?) I'd rather be painting in my free time. :D

 

I've been searching for something similar to store bottles of paint.

[SGHawkins09]

I use these bead boxes from Michaels for my metals that I have removed from the blister:

 

 

 

 

They are cheap and the slots are the perfect size for most medium sized miniatures. I currently just do one per space but it can hold more.

 

Another great thing is that they fit perfectly in these cubies that I got from Target:

 

 

 

 

I used a label maker to label the side of the container with the theme of what is in it. So one might be labeled Reaper Females 1. I use that as a reference in my spreadsheet of miniatures so I know what container it is in.

 

My large scale, special editions, and resin pieces are in decorative boxes or just on shelves of a bookcase. My Bones figures are right now in just in containers in the same bookcase.

Edited November 8, 2016 by SGHawkins09

[ub3r_n3rd]

As you are building a new house, you could look at finding something like this:

It is called a Printers Cabinet. You can also get the ones that are made for maps. Both are easily converted to having miniatures in them.

Just know what sizes you want and if you want foam in it. Old Apothecary tables can be very useful too, especially for large minis.

 

Edit: Spelling Apothocary Apothacary Apothecary correctly

That cabinet is awesome!

[kristof65]

I've been using Chessex style cases for years, but only recently got them organized.   

My big problem was that I had 30+ of them, and when stored on my closet shelves, I couldn't see the pretty labels I put on top.  I had tried adhering smaller labels to the ends, but inevitably, most of them fell off.

When i recently made a bulk purchase of some more cases to help store Bones 2 and in anticipation of Bones 3, it brought my total number of cases to over a hundred. So what I did was buy a set of 1/8" number punches from Amazon.  I heated the punches up on a hot plate, and began tediously stamping a number into both ends of each case. After doing that, I "inked" the numbers with a sharpie, then sat down and created a spreadsheet that referenced each number with the contents of the case. 

 

 

A pretty label:

A shelf full of cases:


Close up of the numbers:

 

 

 

[Pegazus]

 

As you are building a new house, you could look at finding something like this:

It is called a Printers Cabinet. You can also get the ones that are made for maps. Both are easily converted to having miniatures in them.

Just know what sizes you want and if you want foam in it. Old Apothecary tables can be very useful too, especially for large minis.

 

Edit: Spelling Apothocary Apothacary Apothecary correctly

That cabinet is awesome!

You know... you'll shortly have a wood shop, yes? Make two for me while you're at it!

[Grayfax]

When I was younger, I wanted a chess table like that with individual trays for each of the sets of chess pieces as my brother and I were collecting them for a while (not that tall, just tall enough for a tabletop game of them).  Over time we moved to opposite ends of the state, more than 500 miles apart.  We don't really do this anymore.  He acquired kids, and I began acquiring tabletop games and miniatures.  Now I want to get one like this or a map one that is wider and sometimes deeper.  Truthfully, I would love an antique piece that actually saw time as a printers table and still had some of the letters (they would get used elsewhere), but the small trays for those would be useful and make the display attractive.  Being an American with Microwave attention, though, I may end up with something much less useful and far less attractive.  But this is a portion of what I really want... along with the apothecary table...