The Spares Box - What Would I do Without it? (1/35)

In many of this blog's posts I have mentioned that I used a part or a decal from the 'spares box'. Most modellers have one or more boxes or drawers where parts that go unused in a kit - or rescued from a scrapped model - are kept for future projects. Plastic sticks from lollipops, packaging band and parts from old printers are also held in my boxes. Some of my friends even donate odd plastic bits or kit parts they know they'll never use for my supply of spares. Thanks a lot!

This is why a spares box is a good thing. Missing and broken parts in a resin and white metal kit replaced with objects from the spares box: steering wheel from a scrapped ZIS-5 lorry, levers from an Italeri Bedford QL-kit while the little box is the unused battery from ICM's Opel Kapitän.

I wouldn't last long without my collection of spares. My cardboard boxes have saved a project so many times I have lost count. Sometimes I can even complete a little project with nothing but parts from the boxes, as when I built a load for my Fordson 7V lorry. Recently I found a 1:35 concrete telegraph pole among my spare parts - just what I needed for a new factory building. You'll have a hard time finding a post on this blog that doesn't mention parts from the spares box.

Found in the spares box. With a little modelling putty, a few minutes of sanding, three new brass insulators, some paint and I had a new feature for a little factory complex.

Unfortunately it is not easy to guess what one might need for a future modelling project. As a consequence I have tended to save close to anything in my boxes. Even though I often use parts from the boxes, they seem to grow endlessly. As I obviously cannot keep everything I recently cleaned out one of my boxes. I didn't have the nerve to get rid of much, but I judged some parts (über extraordinarily) unlikely to be of any use and I got some parts of their kit sprues. That created a little more space in the box.

Two card board boxes with spare parts. The parts are not sorted or filed in any particular way. If I need a part I simply start looking!

The great thing about the spare parts is that they are basically free, as they would otherwise be destined for the dust bin. Good for my wallet and a step towards 'sustainable modelling´ where no part is allowed to go unused?