Carousel Paint Storage

Having got part way through the paint challenge, my decent brushes have finally worn out. I have tried all over locally trying to find a decent miniatures sable brush.

Back in the UK the local art supply store in Newcastle had a great selection including the much vaunted Windsor and Newton Series 7 Miniature range.

Sadly I haven't found a supplier here in NZ... Recently I came across the Army painter range which include some sable fine detail brushes. So I thought I would order some of these from Warlord Games. So while they are winging their way across the globe to reach me... I started doing a few other things that don't need such good brushes...

I found the 4th Hummel I got for my Flames of War German heavy armoured artillery battery. So after a few days work, that is now just awaiting varnish and decals... more to show on a another blog post.

With this nearing completion and whilst there are not 101 things to do on the painting table, I thought I'd give it a tidy up... but no matter how I juggled things around I am still struggling for space with all my paint pots arrayed on every flat area... then a brain wave hit me...

Having recalled some of the rotating desk top display units we have for a range of items in the pharmacy, I thought something like that would be useful for my paints. On going back to work, I had a rummage in the stock room, and found an old one that wasn't being used anymore, and was just waiting for the skip...

So home it came with me.

I cut the rotating base off with an angle grinder, then set to with the MDF sheet and a length of dowel. And a few days work, with allowing glue time to dry between stages, I have a tidy paint store that will take up a fraction of my desk top space...

Made from 3mm MDF sheet and a length of 16mm dia dowel.

The rotating carousel base from the display unit

Just take hold of the black taped 'handle' at the top and spin to rotate the whole carousel.

Lots of triangle bits to add strength to the layers

All my paints stacked up nicely.

Now I'll admit its not a thing of beauty! In that respect I am far from an elf in my craftsman skills, more orc-like in that respect! But the main thing is it's functional, only took a few days to make, and cost me nothing!

Tidy painting table here we come!