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Hobby DIY: Add LED Lighting to Your Airbrush Spray Booth

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Jun 232016

In a previous post about airbrush accessories, one of the items I recommended for someone getting into airbrushing miniatures and models is the addition of an airbrush spray booth to control paint odor and overspray. You can build a spray booth yourself or go the ready made route with one of these handy portable airbrush spray booths you can find on Amazon. These airbrush spray booths are convenient and well suited to a small work space. The portability is also handy if you’re not able to keep it set up all the time as it folds up to about the size of a small carry-around tool box.

One thing that bothers me about these spray booths is that, as an older gamer who’s eyesight is not what it used to be, I like lots of light when I’m painting. It can be a bit of juggling act to get light where I need it in the spray booth. I noticed awhile back that some of these booths now come with an internal light of some sort so I figure I must not be the only person who feels that way. After messing around with various swing arm lamps and stick on lights I finally decided to look for a better solution and I believe I’ve found one with LED strip lights.

Early on, I decided that I wanted this airbrush spray booth lighting mod to be as easy as possible, so that meant I didn’t want to have to take the entire spray booth apart or rewire or solder anything unless absolutely necessary. The goal was to do the mod and not have it require a person to learn a whole other set of skills including electrical engineering just to get some lights installed. What I’ve come up with meets that goal and provides a great lighting solution for those folks who already have one of these portable airbrush booths that didn’t come with pre-installed lighting.

The LED Airbrush Spray Booth LED Light Mod Parts List

Before we get started you’ll need to round up a few things. For the parts you need to buy, I’ve included Amazon links for convenience. You’ll need the following:

Your Airbrush Spray Booth

The Master Airbrush Spray Booth

A 12 Volt Flexible LED Strip Lights Kit – I recommend you choose a set of lights that are in the 6000K Daylight range for painting. If you’re not sure what a “Daylight” bulb is, go ahead and check out this post I wrote awhile back on lighting so you’ll understand why I’m recommending that. This kit has a spool of LED lights on a flexible adhesive tape and some stuff like connectors, a power adapter and some optional items like a remote control, etc. You won’t use everything in the kit for this project and you’ll have LED tape left over for another project like under cabinet lighting or modding something else. (I used my extra LEDs for some under cabinet lighting and scored some points with Mrs. HCIL)

This LED light kit and a few other items is perfect for adding bright lights to your airbrush spray booth

A four way DC jack splitter – I used a four way to get four strips of LEDs in my airbrush spray booth because I like lots of light where I’m working. You could go with a two or three way splitter, whatever you think will be adequate for your needs.

You’ll need a splitter cable with enough leads to give you plenty of connections for all of your LED light strips. I used a four way splitter but these come in many varieties

Several two pin quick connector to DC female adapter cables – you’ll need several of these, one for each strip of lights you’re installing. The LED light kit includes one. I bought a 10 pack of these because I knew I was going to use the rest of my LED light strip eventually.

You’ll need one of these quick connectors for each LED light strip. Buy some extras because you’ll have a lot of LED tape left over after this project.

An on/off switch with DC male and female connectors – The LED kit comes with a wireless
RF receiver and a multi-function remote but I knew I wasn’t going to use this for the airbrush spray booth mod. I did use these parts for the under counter lighting. (The remote does all kinds of stuff like dimming and pulsing the lights etc., a bit of overkill unless you’re planning a disco spray booth).

A simple toggle switch for your LED powered airbrush spraybooth

As far as tools go this was pretty simple. I used a tape measure, a pair of good scissors (the LED light tape has a metal backing so you’ll need a sharp pair of scissors to cut that), and something you can use to help line the LED light tape up in the connectors, I used a hook end sculpting tool. Lastly if you’re going to pass the wires through the wall of the spray booth you’ll need something to drill a hole about the size of a nickel for your pass-through. I used a flat wood boring bit because this was what I had handy, but you could use a Dremel or a hole saw if you have one.

The hook ended sculpting tool that I used to help line up the LED tape with the connectors

Installing The LED Lights In Your Airbrush Spray Booth

This was pretty straightforward. First, wipe down the surface that you’re going to stick the LED light strips to. This needs to be clean and dry so that you get a good bond. Next measure to see how long the surface is that you’re going to stick the LEDs to. The LED tape has scissor marks on it that show you where it is safe to cut. As long as you cut it at the marked spots all of your lights will work, however if you cut the tape at an unmarked spot you’ll break the continuity and some of your lights won’t work. The LED tape safe cutting marks probably won’t be the exact length you want it to be but it will be pretty close and throw enough light to prevent any issues. Make your cuts cleanly and straight across the LED tape.

The cut marks on the LED light tape. Cut the tape in these marked spots to avoid any conductivity issues with your light strips.

Next take one of your quick connectors and open it up. You’ll see that the tape actually slides under the plastic connector at the edges and then slides under the metal contact points. The exposed copper dots on the LED tape will be right under the contact points in the quick connector when the LED tape is properly inserted. Getting the tape under the metal contacts is a bit tricky as everything is a snug fit.

The LED tape inserted into the quick connector. Note how the connector has tabs to hold the LED tape in place straight. You want the tape to be all the way in so the metal contacts on the connector are resting on the contact dots on the tape.

This was where I used the hook ended sculpting tool to gently grab the LED tape and pull it into position. You can also lift up the contact points a little bit but go easy and don’t go crazy with torquing them up. Once the tape is firmly in place, close the connector and make sure it’s snapped securely shut. You can see the locking tab in place on the side when it’s correctly closed.

Plug your newly made LED strip in and test it to make sure it works and all the lights come on. Test each strip after you’ve made it up. This is the time to test your LED lights and solve any problems, not after you’ve stuck the tape down to the spray booth. The LED tape sticks really well to a clean surface so you won’t want to have to peel it up once it’s in place.

Once you have the required number of strips made up, it’s time to stick them down. You can be very precise with this or just eyeball it. I’ll be honest, with four bright LED strips I just eyeballed it and wasn’t too fussy with it. I also waited until I had the tape stuck down before drilling my pass through hole for the wiring harness. Once I drilled the hole and arranged the wires I used some tape to stick them down and keep any stress off the connectors. For the purposes of this demonstration I used clear packing tape so you could see what I’ve done. I’ll be replacing this with gaffers tape. Once I had the tape in place I connected the on/off switch between the four way splitter and the wall adapter and was good to go. The lights function independently of the spray booth fan so I can have them off when I don’t need them in daylight.

The LED light strips attached and the connectors taped down. You can also see the pass-through hole that I cut in the spray booth for the wires

Airbrush Spray Booth LED Light Mod – Light On!

The fully lit airbrush spray booth with the LED light strips installed and powered on

As you can see, this is actually a pretty easy mod and it does not require any knowledge of wiring or soldering. The result is that the interior of the airbrush spray booth is flooded with very bright, very clean light that’s great for painting. Additionally you’ll have some LED stuff left over that you can use on another spray booth (you could easily split this kit with a friend or three) or even on some models or scenery.

Have a comment or question about this post? Feel free to leave it below!

Airbrush Cleaning Kit Review by Master Airbrush

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Feb 032016

The airbrush cleaning kit by Master Airbrush

I recently posted an article about saving money on airbrush cleaners by using regular household or automotive cleaning products. That was intended for use between color changes and post paint session cleanups. Today we’re going a little deeper with an airbrush cleaning kit that you’ll find helpful when you really need to strip down your airbrush to it’s component parts and give it a thorough scrubbing.

The Master Airbrush Brand Airbrush Cleaning Kit

The Master Airbrush brand airbrush cleaning kit gives you lots of useful tools for breaking down your airbrush when you need to perform a thorough cleaning due to a clog or other issue and for that occasional deep clean.

The airbrush cleaning kit includes a large brush for cleaning the airbrush body, it includes a variety of small micro brushes for cleaning the barrel, tip and cap. These brushes include firm and soft bristle versions. There’s also a set of micro needles for cleaning out the tiniest passages (be very gentle with these as you don’t want to damage any small delicate parts).

There’s also a double ended pick tool that is useful for removing the rubber seals or gaskets if necessary for cleaning or when replacing them.

Lastly there’s a 16 ounce bottom feed wash bottle for your cleaning solution or rinse water. I actually recommend having two of these, one for airbrush cleaner and one for clean water. You can pick up one of these wash bottles on Amazon at this link.

These bottom feed plastic economy wash bottles make great airbrush wash bottles for airbrush cleaner and clean rinse water

One thing that this kit (or any other commercially available kit that I’ve looked at) doesn’t have is some airbrush lubricant. Fortunately this can also be found on Amazon and there are a couple different choices. You can go with the Iwata Medea Super Lube or the Badger REGDAB (that’s actually
Badger spelled backwards for some reason) airbrush lube. Either one is a fine choice as they both do the same thing. The REGDAB airbrush lube is a one ounce bottle and costs around $7 to $8. The Iwata Medea Super Lube is .33 ounce and costs about $12. If you can’t find either of those products some “3 in 1 Machine Oil” will also work fine and is the least expensive at around five dollars for a 3 ounce can, which you can probably find at your local hardware store You’re going to be using this very sparingly so any of these products should last you for years of airbrushing. In a future post I’ll go over the uses for airbrush lube.

Badger REGDAB airbrush lubricant/needle juice for keeping your airbrush operating smoothly

The Master Airbrush, airbrush cleaning kit is nice because other than a lubricant it has everything you need to clean and maintain your airbrush in one complete package. It’s also very reasonably priced on Amazon at $20 including free two day shipping for Prime members.

Get your own Master Airbrush brand airbrush cleaning kit here!

You Don’t Need Expensive Airbrush Cleaner, Use This Instead!

Hobby Tradecraft, News and Info, Reviews 1 Response »

Jan 142016

Airbrushes are becoming a very popular “must have” among the miniature painter crowd and for anyone new to the practice of airbrushing models there are usually a lot of questions to go along with that. For lots of folks, they get all tooled up and ready to airbrush and it occurs to them that they’re going to need to clean their airbrush during paint sessions in between color changes and then thoroughly clean it after their painting session is over. This brings us to the topic of airbrush cleaner.

What kind of airbrush cleaner can you use? You may be surprised by the answer.

Keeping your airbrush clean is fundamental to having a hassle free and fun airbrushing experience so it’s a good idea to develop a good cleaning regimen. It’s also important to have the right tools and cleaning agents to keep that airbrush working well. Today we’re going to talk about saving money on airbrush cleaner.

What Kind of Cleaner Can You Use To Clean Your Airbrush?

There are a lot of different products that are suitable for cleaning an airbrush. These range from name brand products made by the same companies that make airbrushes and airbrush paint, to run of the mill household items that you probably already have under the sink or in the garage.

The name brand products like Medea Airbrush Cleaner and Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner tend to be the default cleaners that everyone assumes are necessary. These products are actually very expensive considering that you’ll be using some cleaner between color changes and quite a bit during post paint session cleanup. The truth is that you can use some very inexpensive cleaners to do the same thing. Some folks don’t run cleaner through the airbrush between colors. When I ask why they do it this way the answer is almost always “to save money”. This is why I use less expensive cleaners.

This Iwata Medea Airbrush Cleaner works well but like many name brand products, it’s absurdly expensive.

First lets talk about cost. A bottle of Medea Airbrush Cleaner from an art supply store like Dick Blick or similar will run you between five and six dollars for a 16 ounce package. I looked at Blick today and their price for the 16 ounce squeeze bottle is $5.29. That works out to 33 cents per ounce (approx). This means that a gallon of this product will eventually cost you a whopping forty two dollars. By comparison Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner comes in a 200ml bottle – about 6 ¾ ounces – and costs around $8 a bottle. The Vallejo product is more than one dollar per ounce. Multiply that by the number of ounces in a gallon, 128, and you get the idea. (I would usually use Amazon pricing for this comparison but to be quite honest the prices for these products on Amazon are insane. Here’s a link to the Medea Airbrush Cleaner so you can see what I’m talking about).

Secondly, what you’re actually buying is, for the most part, a mix of water, concentrated detergent and alcohol. A lot of other cheaper cleaners are made up of the same or very similar stuff. There’s really no reason to use such spendy cleaners in your airbrush when a readily available and much cheaper substitute can be used.

Fortunately, there is a great alternative. Quite simply, you can use a generic brand of automobile windshield washer fluid as an airbrush cleaning fluid and it will cost you pennies compared to the name brand cleaners. Take a look at this image taken at my local Walmart the other day.

This automotive windshield washer fluid makes an outstanding airbrush cleaner and as you can see it’s dirt cheap

I’ve been using this product or a similar one for about 5 years. Besides water, the active ingredient is methanol. There’s also a little bit of detergent. As you can see from the image above the price for a gallon of Supertech Windshield washer fluid is under $2 a gallon, even after adding in sales tax. I squirt a bit of this into the airbrush paint cup between color chang4es and run it through, then a bit of distilled water (you don’t have to use distilled water, but where I live the water is very hard and stains/scales up everything so I use distilled).

This wash bottle is perfect for dispensing your airbrush cleaner. Pick up two if you also need a rinse bottle for water

Since manhandling a gallon size bottle is tricky, I manage this by transferring the cleaner and water to a couple of these LDPE wash bottles with the hook nozzles. The bottles cost a few bucks each but you could use just about any container that will give you good control when dispensing the cleaner – an old counter top detergent bottle or a used water bottle with a sport top/pop top.

The Iwata Medea airbrush cleaning station is a great for controlling and containing your waste from airbrush cleaner

When doing clean outs and color changes I spray leftover paint, cleaner and water into one of these Iwata Medea airbrush cleaning stations. I find that the jar is large enough to hold all of my waste from a typical painting session so I just empty and rinse it in the sink afterwards. I also like that the jar has a built in airbrush holder on the handle. Using the jar keeps the vapor and odor in my work area to a minimum and completely prevents any spills.

An Important Distinction About Generic Airbrush Cleaner

I’ve seen people use lots of different stuff including Windex and Simple Green, for cleaning airbrushes.. My one caution is that if you use a generic or household cleaning product, make sure you’re using one that does not have ammonia as a component. Ammonia is a little bit reactive with some metals and alloys and can cause corrosion or tarnishing.

While you can certainly use other cleaning agents in your airbrush, I like good ‘ol windshield washer fluid the best because it’s cheap and you can find it almost anywhere. Walmart, the auto parts store, convenience stores, even the automotive section at the supermarket has it sometimes. Using windshield washer fluid as an airbrush cleaner will save you a TON of money over the long haul.

Holiday Gift Guide For Your Favorite Miniatures Hobbyist

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Dec 022015

We’ve made it through Thanksgiving week (in the US) and this, more than anything is the signal that we’ve officially started the holiday season. Since many of us will be thinking about what to get the hobbyist in our life (or maybe you need some ideas for your own Xmas wish list), I thought it would be a good time to run down a few items that would make excellent Christmas gifts for your favorite hobbyist. This post focuses on tools and hobbying accessories instead of actual games and miniatures. The first section is a selection of smaller items that would be perfect as stocking stuffers. The second section are physically larger gifts that you’ll probably end up putting under the tree. There are items at a variety of price points from under $20 to around the $100 range. In some cases I’ve also mentioned an item or two that pairs nicely with the main item in terms of utility.

Winsor Newton Series 7 Brushes & The Masters Brush Cleaner

The Winsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable paint brushes are an excellent brush for miniatures painters looking to level up

The Winsor Newton Series 7 paint brushes are kind of the holy grail of paint brushes for miniatures painters. These brushes make a great gift for the miniatures painter that’s been painting for awhile and is ready to up their game with better tools. These also are great because, due to the fact that they cost quite a bit more than your standard hobby shop paint brush, a lot of hobbyists are hesitant to get these for themselves because it’s a bit of an investment and can also feel a little intimidating. The good news is that because these brushes are so high quality, you don’t need a ton of them. I recommend the #0 and the #2 Winsor Newton Series 7 paint brushes if you’re looking at getting a couple of these. Those two sizes cover a lot of range in terms of utility and usefulness.

If you’re getting nice brushes like the Winsor Newton Series 7, invest in some brush cleaner as well. The Masters Brush Cleaner is an excellent product for the care and preserving of fine brushes

If you’re looking to add a little something to this then I’d also recommend adding a tub of The Masters Brush Cleaner to them. Proper cleaning and care will make these paint brushes last a long time, even longer than synthetics.

Wet Palette

The Privateer Press P3 Wet Palette, usually under $20 and perfect if you don’t want to build one yourself.

A wet palette is another really useful addition to the miniatures painters toolbox. It helps preserve paint by keeping the paint you’re working from drying out and helps you get to the proper consistency of paint for applying it to miniatures. It’s also really handy for blending and other effects. Privateer Press makes a handy wet palette that’s just right for miniatures painters. Consider adding in an extra pad of wet palette paper for the busy painter.

Porcelain Paint Palettes & Bowls

The Darice Oblong Porcelain Paint Palette is a solid addition to your paint station

Every good miniatures painter knows that you shouldn’t paint directly from the paint pot for several reasons including paints drying out, the potential for accidental paint spills, and getting too much paint on your brush or up in the metal ferrule that holds the bristles in place. For these reasons it’s nice to have a couple of palettes around your painting desk. You can get some super cheap plastic or tin palettes and these are perfectly serviceable. However if you’d like to have something a little nicer and that feels more solid, a ceramic palette or nesting ceramic bowls are a nice upgrade. I personally use this Darice 10 Well Oblong Porcelain Paint Palette and these large porcelain stacking bowls. These things are solid and have some heft to them so they don’t slide around and can’t be accidentally knocked over which keeps the messes down. They are prefect for when I need a larger amount of paint out for a bigger project and they’re also great for oil washes and custom paint mixes. Since they’re porcelain, they don’t stain and are very easy to clean even when you have let paint dry on them.

PaintWater/Not Paint Water Coffee Mugs

Get a set of these handy Paint Water/Not Paint Water coffee mugs to keep yourself from accidentally imbibing your paint water

Most painters keep a mug of water on their paint station for thinning paints and cleaning their brushes when changing colors or types of paint. Some of us drink coffee or adult beverages out of another mug while we’re working. A coffe mug that’s got “Not Paint Water” printed on the side is a fun gift for a painter and it’ll keep them from getting a mouthful of dirty water when they’re “in the zone” and focused on their painting. You can find these on Amazon sometimes but why not check out Etsy, there are several sellers there who make mugs with custom messages on them and it’s always cool to support small businesses doing hand made items.

Iwata Airbrush Cleaning Station

The Iwata Airbrush Cleaning Station is a really useful airbrushing accessory and includes a built in airbrush stand

The Iwata Airbrush Cleaning Station is a handy little thing to have that allows you to empty paint and cleaning fluid from your airbrush into a sealed container. It cuts down on messes and potential spills and actually holds quite a bit of liquid safely until you’re ready to empty it. The Iwata Airbrush Cleaning Station also doubles as an airbrush stand due to the way the handle is engineered.

Elmers X-Acto Knife Set in Zippered Case

This Elmers X-Acto Knife Set has a great variety of blades and handles and comes in a handy and portable zippered case

One thing a miniatures hobbyist always needs is a supply of sharp knives for trimming and cleaning model kits as well as doing customization and kitbashing. This handy Elmers X-Acto Knife set has a variety of handles and blades suitable for different jobs and everything comes in a nice zippered nylon case for storage or for throwing in your bag for emergency repairs on game day.

Cordless Dremel

The Dremel 7700 moto tool is cordless, rechargeable and has plenty of power for typical miniature hobby tasks

The Dremel is a really handy motorized mini tool that can be used for all sorts of jobs like cutting, drilling, polishing and sanding. A rechargeable cordless Dremel is even handier as it’s more compact and can be taken with you in a portable tool kit. Even though it’s powered by a rechargeable battery it’s got enough power for most of the typical miniatures hobbyist and scenery jobs. There are a couple of choices here, the Dremel 7300 Mini Mite which is a smaller desktop version or the more powerful Dremel 7700 moto tool that has a bigger motor and battery. Both are excellent choices for miniature and model building. Throw in a Dremel accessory kit to go along with it and you’ve got a winning combination.

Donegan OptiVISOR and Light

The Donegan OptiiVISOR with replaceable lenses that can be quickly changed for different levels of magnification

The Donegan OptiVISORis a headset with magnifying lenses that’s completely hands free and can be worn over prescription glasses if needed. The lenses can be changed out to increase or decrease the amount of magnification as needed. These are great for working on those models with tiny accessories or for getting the detail right when painting miniatures. These especially useful for those older hobbyists who need a little help seeing the tiniest details on their projects.

The Donegan compatible OptiVISOR LED Light Attachment

Consider adding the OptiVISOR LED light kit which uses LEDs to flood the area you’re working on with bright light.

Airbrushes

The Iwata HP-C Plus Airbrush is a solid, high quality dependable workhorse that will take you a long way

Lots of miniatures hobbyists are making the jump to airbrushing these days. There are tons of choices and options for airbrushes, too many to list here but if you’re interested in learning the basics I have an article on the basics of airbrushes that you can check out here. Two excellent airbrush choices for the beginner are the Iwata HP-C Plus and the Badger Sotar 2020. Both of these are reasonably priced relative to the overall costs of getting into airbrushing and there’s a ton of information and video online about these models for the new airbrush user. Consider adding an airbrush compressor to go with this gift, more information about that below.

Airbrush Compressor

The Master Airbrush Single Piston Airbrush Compressor with Tank as sold on Amazon. All of this for only $89 shipped!

A great item to go along with a new airbrush is a small airbrush compressor. These can be very expensive but you really do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy compressor. The Master Airbrush TC20-T airbrush compressor is a great little compressor and comes in under $100 delivered from Amazon. These usually include a braided hose which means you have what you need to get started airbrushing. The hose that’s included with these is standardized for Iwata fittings so if you don’t have an Iwata airbrush pick up one of these airbrush adapter kits which covers about 99 percent of airbrushes commonly used.

Airbrush Spray Booth

This portable airbrush spray booth will keep your airbrushing environment clean

The last major piece of the airbrushing puzzle is optional but nice to have if your hobbyist is spraying indoors. This Master Airbrush portable airbrush spray booth has a fan that draws in the overspray and air and filters it keeping any stray paint from getting out of hand and helps with odor control. The kit includes parts to exhaust the filtered air out a nearby window or vent. Strictly optional but this will probably keep everyone else in the house happy and it’s also under $100 delivered if you buy it on Amazon.

Army Painter Mega Hobby Set & Mega Paint Set 2

The Army Painter Mega Hobby Set is great for someone who’s just getting started in the miniatures hobby

This gift idea is really for those that are brand new to the hobby and just getting started. The Army Painter Mega Hobby Set is your one stop shop for the beginning miniatures hobbyist. It’s conveniently packaged all together and has a great assortment of hobby tools like knives, clippers, files and tweezers. It also includes glues, a basic selection of Army Painter brand paints and paint brushes, a can of spray primer and is rounded out with a nice assortment of basing materials to finish off your miniatures like a pro. It even includes a 24 page booklet with lots of information to help you get started and dive right in to the miniatures hobby.

The Army Painter Mega Paint Set 2 is a great addition to the Mega Hobby Set and gives you an additional 42 paints, washes and more/army-painter-mega-paint-set-2

If you’re looking to expand this set, consider the Army Painter Mega Paint Set II which contains an additional 42 paints and includes washes and shades and some additional brushes.

Weathering Pigments from Vallejo & Secret Weapon Miniatures

Weathering Pigment sets from Vallejo and Secret Weapon Miniatures will allow you to add that extra bit of realism to your miniatures and models

This gift idea is for those hobbyists that are looking to add that extra level of realism to their miniatures. Weathering pigments are fine colored powders that are usually used to add color to paint medium. In this format they are literally just the pigment powder, usually in a small jar or tub and are applied with a brush or sponge to add different effects to a model in order to make it look worn and dirty or greasy or even rusty. These can be purchased individually but are also sold in sets of compatible shades around a theme like “Desert Sand and Mud” or “Rust and Oil” etc. I use weathering pigments from both Vallejo and Secret Weapon Miniatures. I like them both but recently have been leaning more towards the Secret Weapon Miniatures brand as I like their color selection and variety better. They also sell pre-selected sets of pigments and for a really nice gift Secret Weapon Miniatures have a set called “The Works” which includes all twenty three of the shades they offer in one complete package at a discount price of about 15% off the regular price if purchased separately. (It’s also a great time to buy Secret Weapon Miniatures products as many of their products are currently on sale at up to 25% off normal prices for their annual Black Friday sale which lasts until December 4^th).

The Wrap Up (See What I Did There?)

The perfect holiday gift for a miniatures hobbyist?

It’s a wrap! These are just a few ideas that I think many miniatures hobbyists would be pretty happy to receive in their stocking or find under the tree on Christmas morning. Whether you’re filling the role of Santa this year or need to give some not so subtle hints to someone about possible gift ideas for yourself this list should help make someone a little extra happy when it comes time to unwrap presents. If you were making a list along this theme what else would you suggest? Please add your ideas in the comment section below!

Review: Wall Mount Nail Polish/Hobby Paint Rack

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Nov 192015

Something that seems to come up quite a bit in hobby forums and social media is the subject of paint storage. Pretty frequently I see people asking how other hobbyists store their hobby paints or if someone can recommend a pre-made hobby paint rack or storage unit.

Hobby Paint Storage Racks Can Be Pricey

You can spend a lot of money on a storage rack. There are some very nice desktop racks available that are made from laser cut MDF or Plexiglas. Most of these are made up of modular sections that you can set up to fit into your work area. Additionally most of these offer optional tool racks and drawer units so you can design the perfect setup for your hobby workstation. I happen to own one of these from an outfit called Back 2 Base-ix based in Australia. (Note that at the time of this writing, the Back 2 Base-ix website appears to be offline. If you want to get in contact with them you might try their Facebook Page)

hobby paint rack, wall mount nail polish rack

The Back 2 Base-ix hobby paint rack is nice and allows you to customize your set up, but it’s pricey

This is a great setup and I love it but there are some caveats to a hobby paint rack like this. First off, it’s expensive. There’s no other way to state this. My setup as shown cost $250 – and that was with free shipping. I bought their pre-selected package and added the tool rack and another large straight section.

Aside from the price, the other thing to keep in mind is that this paint rack takes up a lot of real estate on the desk top. I have a fairly large desk that I got from Ikea, so for me in my current work space it’s not much of a concern. If you have a small desk or cramped work area then you’re going to want to carefully consider whether you have room for something this big. Lastly, if I wanted to expand this, the fact that they’re in Australia and ship from there means that the shipping cost for one or two pieces is absurdly prohibitively expensive. (They don’t have any US based companies who stock this product line, I asked via their FB page and got a definitive no on that subject.)

Another Solution: The Nail Polish Rack Re-purposed As a Hobby Paint Rack

The wall mounted nail polish rack – now filled with hobby paints and other supplies

Like many of you, I have lots of hobby paint. Eventually I outgrew the desktop rack and was looking for another solution that would take up less space and be a little more budget friendly. After considering a few different ideas and searching the interwebs I stumbled across a pretty great solution that is ready made, easily sourced and budget friendly. This solution was the acrylic nail polish wall rack.

The nail polish wall rack is ideal for our needs. While it’s made for nail polish, it turns out that many of those bottles are actually pretty wide due to their square shape or having a wider base than top. These racks are built to accommodate about 90 of the nail polish bottles which means you can store at least that many of the dropper bottle paint pots.

Additionally, this rack accommodates most if not all of the paints that miniature and model building hobbyists typically use. I store Vallejo, Reaper, Games Workshop, Tamiya, AK/MiG, Minitaire and more in the rack. They all fit. There’s plenty of room for these paint pots and plenty of height between each shelf. The paint rack can be leaned up against the wall but also comes pre-drilled with holes at the corners so that you can mount it on the wall above or next to your hobby desk.

Where Can I Get A Nail Polish Wall Rack To Use As A Hobby Paint Rack?

These racks are available on Amazon and are very hobby budget friendly, currently at under $35 shipped. This is a great solution for storing your paint. It allows you to have the paint with the labels out where you can see them and it doesn’t take up much desk space if you need to just lean it against the wall instead of mounting it with screws. I do want to caution you that if you decide to mount it to the wall, be gentle when tightening the screws. It is made from plastic and if you just power the screws in with a drill/driver you’re likely to crack or break the plastic around the mounting holes. Other than that potential issue, this paint rack is perfect for storing all of your hobby paints and I definitely recommend it.

Get your own nail polish/hobby paint rack at Amazon here

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