How do you guy organize your "spares box". There are always some parts left after building a kit. Up to now, I have kept them on the sprues, but I thinking about organizing them in some boxes with small compartment or something like that.
What do you do with figures that is not used? Do you assemble them before putting them in the spares box?
What about other stuff like buckets... Do you assemble those things?

Good question Norseman
I tend to take everything off the sprues to save space , plus for some reason the sprues allways end up tangled together
I have three spares boxes -
-one contains random bits of afv's that were left over (got to loved DML's 3-1 for adding to the spares box

- second containing unassembled figures, just because its easier if you need to build a "one off" figure or swap around arms/heads etc.

- and a third with mesh , wire , pieces of sprue for making antenas etc.

Like you i leave them in the boxes still on their sprues. Partly due to laziness, i keep them there but at least i know where the parts are if i ever need them. I couldnt bear to throw away the boxes as they are just too pretty.

Be interested to see how others organise their boxes.

My stash is still sitting under the table.

Good thread! I cut up my sprues into smaller chunks and stuff them plus any loose bits into a ziplock sandwich bag. I cut the end off the box, so i have some of the artwork for sentinmental reasons and stuff that in there too. Helps to keep them all together so u know what's what. So i have a FULL shoebox with a ton of clear ziplock bags. Old instructions go into a expandable folder in my filing cabinet.

I had to raise a smile at not throwing away the boxes because I hate doing it to , some of the artwork is superb , it seems a shame to throw them away

This is exactly how I do it today. Except that I put the instructions in the ziplock bags as well. The problem for me is that I forget to look in these things. I imagine that if I cut the spare parts from the sprues and store them in some other way, I might get a better overview and find the parts when I need them.

I have been thinking about an efficient and effective way to retrieve parts from the spare box in the future. I come up with a system of separate boxes which is yet to be put into practice:

Allies AFV spares;
Axis AFV spares; and,
General spares

These spare parts are all off the sprue and in a clear plasitc box at the moment. I will put my theory into practice when I get round to it.

Figures are separtaed by their nationality and according to their backgrounds, such as artillery operators, early war infantry and paratroopers, and kept in zip-lock bags in their sprues.

I tend to throw away the boxes but have not yet decided on the instructions yet. I am trying to convince myself that it is highly unlikely I will need those instructions anymore. Then again, rubbish to me may be a gift or even an invaluable treasure to someone else in this community. What is your opinion?

I have bought a couple of inexpencive cabinets with a lot of drawers in different seizes. These are placed on my workbench, and I sort the spare parts by name f.ex. "Road wheels", "personal equipment", etc. Works fine for me.

Erik

I used a 3 boxes from the same kits, and one of them has full or pieces of sprues with little pieces and figure parts. The second has various parts of AFV and the 3rd has the unused decals (i have LOTS of them)
regards

there's some good idea's HERE

I always cut them off the sprues and now use Ferrero Rocher plastic boxes [The rectangular ones].
My reasoning if I need a new box, I get to eat the chocolates :-)
I do keep them loosely arranged by country period etc and then they all pack into a plastic storage bin.

I used to keep them in old kit boxes but had the embarrassing experience of giving my son an M113 as a gift and............you guessed it, he rang and asked why he had a nicely wrapped box of odd bits

If you use old kit boxes keep them in a different place from your stash of kits to build.

One big ol' cardboard box for me! Someday I will actually go through it! Maybe.
capnjock

I take all AFV extra parts put them in small baggies and label them. Insruction sheets I put in a binder. Figures I go a little further I try to keep all the ones that can be completed together. Now the spares Ive got those small clear bens I have those completly seperate. Left and right arms,legs,hands,feet,etc.

I found quite an easy way to deal with them: I've got them inside little drawers of a plastic and metalic set of drawers usually used to keep nails and other stuff like that! That way I can separate allied from axis, bodies from arms, sort out guns, helmets and other stuff by allies and axis,etc!
Cheers and happy modelling!
Prato

LOL. What a crack up.

Mind you those boxes are brilliant for other uses too. I find the business card box serves well for all kinds of things too.