Nothing impedes model building more than not being able to easily find and access your tools. If you have to fumble around or dig out ten other items just to use what you need, you likely are not getting much accomplished on what you truly enjoy, building. Having your workbench and work service area organized in an efficient manner will save you time, keep your thoughts on the project, make less mistakes, and it will be a lot easier to keep clean. Here at HO Scale Customs, we like to keep everything we need within an arms length. Need a paintbrush? You have it. Need a Hobby Knife? There it is. Glue, paints, small detail parts, sandpaper, you name it, just an easy grab away.
Sounds like a dream workbench doesn’t it? It can be. But it can also be your worst enemy too. Having too much too close can crowd your workspace. So having everything possible on that reachable area can also hand-cuff your mobility. Even with some of the items we’re going to suggest in this article, if you go overboard and don’t have the space to accommodate the storage containers directly around you, you are going to frustrate yourself, and cramp your style. You will want to make sure you have plenty of open area to model your craft. I use the 3 inch margin outside the edges of whatever size cutting mat, or focused work surface. This allows for some space to effectively work. Having a very long workbench or several table top surfaces in the same room or close by will also be helpful.
Some of the best organizers aren’t designed for hobbies and crafts at all. Directly on my workbench on either side
of my cutting mat, I have two rotating turntable type organizers. The first one is from a kitchen shop like a Bed Bath and Beyond. It is designed to sit in a cupboard in the kitchen, and hold jars, cans, bottles, and you just spin it.
Two tiered with no-slip rubber surfaces. As you can tell by the photo I filled the bottom tier with the 2 oz. bottles of craft paints that I use most often. (the hundreds of others are stored in racks on other shelves in the workshop) Black, white, specific browns, raw and burnt umber, raw and burnt sienna, and about 15 others I reach for regularly. The top tier I did something much more creative. I found a clear cosmetic tray in the shape of half a pie at a fashion discount store such as Ross’ or Marshals when they were on sale. It is deep enough to hold paintbrushes, pens, etc. and plenty of them. I just plopped it down on top. On the other half of that top tray I added a spinning/rotating pen pencil holder from staples and fill it with scissors, needle files, box cutters, pencils, emery boards, etc. On either side of this it still allows room for two full bottles of my most common used glues. All ready to rock! Just spin and grab!
The other spinning rack on the opposite side is a rotating cosmetic two tier tray. These have all the dividers in them
so you can get creative as to what to put in them. But since these are the items that will be close at hand, choose wisely. In this I put all of my AK Interactive products that I most commonly grab for, then some other odds and ends like plastic cement, CA (crazy) glue bottles, sheets of folded up sandpaper, lots of corks that I use for painting small detail parts and figures. The ideas are endless, just make sense of it for yourself.
You can get stationary (non moving) cosmetic organizers as well that are equally as useful. The one pictured here holds the “Extremely” often used items. Toothpicks, micro applicator brushes, emery boards (nail files), sanding sticks, and a perfect spot for stacks of post-it notes.
Having hand tools close by and easy to grab is a must too. So at the craft stores I picked up in the jewelry craft section, a clear plastic rack/stand that holds my pliers, wire cutters, snippers, and even my drawing compass. With a fifty percent off coupon, I believe it cost me like $7.
You could 
easily craft one yourself with wood or styrene. It just really makes them easy to get and put away without fuss. X-Acto make a base holder where you can stick your knife blades into the foam block inserted inside so they are easy to grab and go, and put away safely when not being used. I also stick my most common used tweezers in this. It even has a compartment to store the multi bulk box of blades.
If you have a shelf above your workbench, or along the framework of the bench, A great way to keep metal hand tools, files, tweezers, hemostats, and yes a bottle opener is one of the 18 inch magnetic tool bars you can get at most hardware stores, and cheaply at Harbor Freight. invaluable and always ready! See the theme here? Always ready to grab! 
Having a shelf directly above your work area and only high enough you don’t have to reach far is a huge time saver when you store bottles of glues and adhesives, paint thinners, rubbing alcohol, rattle-can spray paints…..and yes, even a doll’s head (Rosemary. Our podcast listeners know what we are talking about, they named her in a creepy doll head contest).
Shelves around the shop can hold storage easily with the divided trays you can find at fishing 
tackle stores and very cheap at Walmart! They come in all sorts of sizes and are customizable with the dividers inside. Perfect for storing all those small details, building parts like windows and doors, figures (painted and unpainted), etc.
Three, four, and five tier bookshelves that you assemble can be awesome extra storage if you have the wall space, and you can find them at discount stores, big box hardware stores, big lots, etc. Easy to put together and can really de-clutter a workshop in a big big way!
You can get many craft storage solutions at the Big box craft shops like Michael’s, AC Moore, Hobby Lobby at a steal when they run them on special. Some of the better ones, like this 
stacked drawer on casters, sits waist high, and has about eight roomy drawers. Those drawers hold piles of smaller projects that need done, two are stuffed full of basswood strip-wood, sponges, weathering powder containers, and just all sorts of odds and ends. Again, all
within an arms reach of my bench stool. Another box has smaller colored boxes inside and is a great organizer for painted detail parts or sorting figures. Just put a strip of masking tape on boxes and label them! You won’t be sorry!
Need to take your show on the road quickly? Or how about just to another part of the house, or outside on the deck on a gorgeous day? For $15 at Walmart I bought this Plano fishing tackle box and it’s large, sturdy and has lots of storage tray space inside. When I leave for Brett’s house to work on our layout, I pack literally everything I think I’m going to need in this puppy. The same size “art box” at an art section in a craft store or art supply store, has two to 
three times the price tag, and none are as durable.
Whatever you decide, make sure to do it for what you need it for. Be frugal on how you purchase it and look for bargains at even the stores you normally find expensive. They do run deals. They do offer coupons, DAILY. be wise, be organized, be efficient.
