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Sunday, May 9, 2010

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.

4 comments:

Epictetus said...

What's the likely temperature range in these sheds? Presumably it doesn't ever (often?) drop below zero?

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

If it did drop below zero, it would kill me. I live just south of Disneyland in Southern California. It gets just about freezing 32F about one day a year, rarely under 40F. On the up side it gets about 105F on the hottest days of the year. The sheds are on the north side of my house and so are partially shaded by the house, the peak is vented, so I don't think the temperature will be too much of a problem. I have stored models in a wooden shed about thirty feet from these and the temps would have been hotter since it is in direct sunlight.

Epictetus said...

Yes I forgot that the US uses a different temperature scale to the rest of the world. I should have said freezing. I really like the shed idea, but the problem here would be cold (it was below 0 Celsius here for some weeks earlier in the year) rather than heat; although it's a beautiful day today and we live in hope of a glorious summer.

The weight labels are a nice idea though. I might steal that.

Bob G. said...

Bunkermeister:
Good God...you've a LOT of stuff!
I have to admire your ability to collect.
Seems you've got more boots and ordinance than Camp Pendleton (on a BUSY day)...LOL.

Carry on!