Today I decided to look for a paint rack for my Minitaire Airbrush Paints as well as the Citadel and P3 paints that I have.
After doing some extensive research, I decided to compile a guide of the various options available on the market right now.
(July 2018 – ARTICLE UPDATE: I now design and sell my own range of Modular Acrylic Paint Racks for tabletop miniature paints. If you’d like to check them out, click on the image above. Now back to the original article…)
The Paint Rack – Back2Base-IX
One of the first acrylic paint storage racks I came across was from a company called Back2Base-IX.com.
Back2Base-Ix carries a selection of different types of paint storage rack solutions made from either Coloured Acrylic or Medium Density Fibre Board.
Here’s an example of one of their Coloured Acrylic racks:
And here’s another one of their racks made from the Medium Density Fibre Board.
The Back2Base-IX paint racks range in price from around $35 for a single rack to around $200 for a full rack system.
For a full listing of the various paint racks available from Back2Base-Ix, check out their website by clicking here.
Inverted 72 Dropper Bottle Paint Rack – Ironheart Artisans
The next paint rack solution I took a look at was from a company called Ironheart Artisans.
Here’s a picture of the solution they offer:
This paint rack holds 72 dropper bottles, facing dowards, and costs about $30.
To learn more about this product, check out the Ironheart Artisans website by clicking here.
Workstation Combo – Hobby Tools Australia
The next pain rack solution I found was from a company called Hobby Tools Australia.
Here’s a picture of their Workstation Combo solution:
This product sells for about $100, and you can find it by clicking here.
They also have another one called the Master Workstation Combo which you can see here:
This one sells for about $220 and you can find it by clicking here.
Mini and Full Monty – TGJ Hobbies
The next paint rack solution I took a look at is from TGJ Hobbies who carries a range of customizable high-end paint racks.
Here’s one of their products, called the Mini Monty:
This paint rack cost about $125 and you can learn more about it by clicking here.
Here’s another one of their solutions, called the Full Monty:
The Full Monty sells for around $175, and you can learn more about it by clicking here.
Modular Paint Stand System – HobbyZone.pl
Finally, the last modular paint rack system I found was from a company called HobbyZone.pl based out of Poland.
This is a picture example of their modular system assembled in various different ways.
These sets cost anywhere between $25 – $75, depending on what combination of racks you want to purchase.
The only challenge I found with ordering from HobbyZone.pl is that shipping to Canada / US is about $50, which is too bad because outside of that their product pricing is really good.
To learn more about their products, click here.
Summary
After doing my research I still haven’t decided which paint storage rack solution is going to be the best for me.
I definitely want to get something to organize my paints, but I’m not 100% sure yet if I want a system that holds a lot of paints on my painting table or if I want to purchase or build a wall-mounted paint rack system instead.
There are some pretty simple wall-mounted system designs that I think I could build myself for relatively cheap, but that would mean that I would have to get up out of my seat and walk over to the wall to pick the paints that I will be painting with before or during each painting session.
This may not be a big deal since I will most likely only be painting with a select set of paints at any given time, but I still have to think about it some more to figure out the best solution for my hobby room.
I do like the convenience of having the paints on a paint rack sitting on my painting table, but then that would also mean that it is taking up space on my table.
Ultimately I may need to combine the two types of systems, building a wall-mounted rack to store the majority of my paints, and then just take the 5 or 10 or 15 paints that I will be using during a session down to the table and keep those organized in some sort of desk paint rack organizer.
What do you think is the best way to keep your paints organized?
What sort of system are you using?
(July 2018 – ARTICLE UPDATE: I now design and sell my own range of Modular Acrylic Paint Racks for tabletop miniature paints. If you’d like to check them out, click on the image above. )
Very helpful! I had no idea about some of these companies.
Mastergunz, I wrote this guide because I had the same challenge. It took me forever to find some of these. Once I found them, I actually also wanted to create this guide so that I have a reference for myself as well! Heheheh…
Glad you got value from it. If I find more great solutions I’ll add them to the list. 🙂
In my experience, this advice on needing special toy soldiers paints to get a good result is just plain wrong and misleading, and I suspect that it comes from people who are probably heavily invested in these overpriced toy soldier paints already. So long as you thin your paints on your palette, the results from these miniatures paints and regular craft store acrylics is identical in my experience, and you get much more value for money by just using regular tubes of artists acrylics.
Yes and No. I have used the miniatures paints as well as regular acrylics. What I’ve found is that they’re very situational. Miniature paints have their pigments ground much more finely than regular acrylics, meaning that for extreme fine detail work, you can’t really beat them. As you thin them the pigments don’t separate as easily as in regular acrylics. However, as you said, normal acrylics work just fine a lot of the time. In my experience they work best for large areas and bulk work, leaving my more expensive miniatures paints for more intricate detail.
I would steer clear of TGJ Hobbies as they have just admitted to mishandling funds received from their Kickstarter campaign. They made a hollow promise to get rewards to backers by the holidays, but I seriously doubt that.
Hobby Zone PL now has a USA distributor
Have you thought of checking out the clear plastic nail polish display racks? They don’t have the neat slots for each bottle of paint, but they hold all sorts of makes of paint & look pretty neat too. They are also easier to clean paint off than the wooden ones. Oh & they come in a range of sizes & desktop or wall mounted styles.
You are off to a good start in your search. May I suggest another one for you to look at.
http://www.burnindesigns.net/p/paint-storage.html
I was participating in the TGL Kickstarter angry was supposed to be getting a Gullwing setup. Some kind of conflict occurred and there has been a split up. Tim ‘T’ Martin has picked up the ball and with what was left and is trying to fill ‘Backers’ orders/pledges. I’m still waiting for mine, he’s still working with someone to cut the parts.
This guide is great. I’m balancing out all the concern for this right now myself. I’m trying to get a new desk and pick out a brand I like. So far I’m leaning toward HobbyZone.pl. That is after doing a lot of planning and calculating based solely on Back-2-Base-ix. I really like the designs of both and the color options of B2B. Although the price point of HobbyZone.pl really got me to rethink my entire outlook. I don’t mind paying the shipping but now I have to order more than I wanted at first to get my moneys worth.
The other delimma is desk space. I’ve go back and forth on L-shaped, standard, standard with drawers, Corner L-Shaped and corner L-shaped with drawers. I’ve even looked into roll top desks. I’m boiling it all down and it seems the front runner is the stand and L-shaped, both with no drawers underneath or above.
I’m leaning toward standard. I found a 59x29x29h desk that seems catch my eye. It would be able to hold the paint rack (any brand) and leave you with about about 22in by 59in of working space, give or take.
My over all thought is the more space you have to set things aside the better you are. The HobbyZone.pl stuff has simple look and organization without looking busy.
Hi Devin, I know exactly what you mean. I searched around and for my needs the HobbyZone.pl stuff was the best I could find.
Having said that, after my current Kickstarter is done, I am leaning towards my next project being to design a modular organizer system like these ones for paints, etc. So that might be coming soon as well. 🙂
i use back2base-ix acrylic racks and I love them, easy to assemble sturdy and look great too!
the racks are not that big so they don’t take up a lot of space. also you can order them in different colors and transparencies which is pretty cool. Just make sure you order the correct size hole for your paints.
Very cool. If there was something that you wish they improved on with these racks, what would that be?