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Formula P3 Presents: Rust & Grime Effects!

Paint Shelving Buildout part 2

11) Shelf with all rows attached. At this point it’s nearly finished.

12) Mounting brackets attached.  It’s important to note that you’ll need something placed beneath where you’re nailing for support, or you might snap this plank out of place just trying to hammer even that small nail.

13) Both of my shelves in placed, hanging off screws and with all of my paints in place.  The one I most recently finished is the bottom one; you can see that my ‘prototype’ on top doesn’t have boards fully covering the back of the shelf, so the paints slide back straight to the wall.  Not a problem for the taller ones, but Citadel paints fall back and are harder to get to.  

14) Closer detail of the paint shelving.  Because of how I look at the paint pots(side angle) I’ve made some particular labeling decisions to help identify paints at a glance.  For P3 paints I smear a half-circle on the lid and write the name.  For Citadel paints, since I can typically tell the color from the clear lid, I just write a letter for the type of paint it is: B for base, L for layer, S for shade, S.G for the gloss shades, and T for technical.  At the top of the image are the Army Painter washes that are abbreviated(DT = Dark Tone, ST = Strong Tone, etc.).  Side note: up in the very upper left is my final remaining pot of Devlan Mud.  It’s old enough to be unusable but it was really some lovely stuff when I first started painting so I keep it around for fondness.

Formula P3 Presents: Your Army, Your Way

Paint Shelving Buildout Part 1

I built out a second shelf for my paints in order to have them close at hand near my desk, rather than in a box somewhat nearby.  The first one was done a few weeks ago and was really a rough draft, though it ended up being functional enough that I refined some of the plans and built this second one.  Here is all of the relevant info:

1) The wood used for project.  Mostly bass wood picked up at Hobby Lobby.  Each are 1/4″ thick, and there is one 6″x36″, one 2″x36″, and four 1″x36″.  Total cost: around $25.

2) Tools used: box of tiny nails, pencil, mounting braces, hammer, utility knife, ruler, saw, small drill.

3) I cut the 6″x36″ into three 6″x12″ long sections.  These will serve as the back of the shelf.  The 2″x36″ is cut into two 2″x18″ pieces.  These will be the sides.  The 1″x36″ pieces are cut into three 12″ lengths.  These will be the shelves.

4) The angle I set was somewhat shallow, but can be adjusted as needed. The distance between the top of each angle line(and thus eventual shelf) is 1 3/4″. Once I had the angle I measured 1/4″ on either side of the 2″x18″ pieces, then measured out on a piece of cardstock a section the size of the end of one of the 1″x12″ pieces.  I made holes in it and went down the board and marked where the nail holes would eventually go.

5) I had a wargame measuring tool that I used for making my angles very consistent.  It doesn’t matter what you set the angle to as long as some kind of guide piece(like the cardstock) is used to make it consistent across the project.

6) After the hole positioning was marked, I went through and used a needle-tip tool to make guide indentations.  I then went back and used a drill and a tiny drill bit to drill holes in these places to serve as guides for the nails.  It’s very useful to have guide holes as I found that the tiny nails likes to go wherever they wanted if I just hammered straight into unmarked wood.

7) Both of the sides of the shelf with all holes marked and drilled out.  After this I went through and marked and drilled holes to use for the backing to the shelf.

8) Shelf with the three 6″x12″ back pieces attached.  The shelving is starting to take shape.  From this point the 1″x12″ pieces are fit in one at a time and then nailed in place.

9) First shelf nailed in place.  With its outmost edge being 1/4″ from the front edge of the sides, the Citadel paints will fit with the lip of their lid flush against the edge.

10) Gally the Unmoving.  This cat will bolt in terror if I walk down the stairs too fast or move a chair, but stayed entirely still and sleeping while I sawed, used a power drill, and hammered 5 feet away from her.  I don’t understand cats.

Formula P3 Presents: Basecoating Your Models