In an effort to be more organised I’ve started to use ‘build boxes’. It’s not rocket science, simply a box where I put all of the parts I’m using to make one model.

It doesn’t really matter what type of box you use. ‘Business card’ boxes, tupperware, even old margarine tubs are all suitable. They contain the parts, chassis, wheels, couplings, figures or whatever I will use, or might use, to make a particular model. I’ve found it’s a great way of keeping stuff together so that I can find everything. This makes it easier to make the model and, if a project stalls, it makes it easier to restart it again at a later date.

In the build boxes at the moment I have:

• Some 7mm scale scenic items that I’ve sprayed with primer but not painted
• A couple of 009 loco bodies, that will be built into something that runs at some point in the future
• An O9 loco, which I stopped work on because I couldn’t figure out how to make the ‘spectacle plates’ for the cab. Several helpful people have suggested different ways to make them and I really should get back to completing this loco
• The OO scale Tri-ang wagons I’m converting to O9
• The resin casting tests I’ve been doing recently

The ‘build boxes’ have made me more organised but they’ve not a solution for having too many ideas and not enough time 🙂