HobbyZone Modular Workshop System OM05b Paints 36mm Module Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

Here's a look at a quick and easy addition to your workbench. This is the OM05b Paints Module which works by itself or as part of the HobbyZone Modules Workshop System. The kit consists of nine wood parts (base; left riser, center riser, right riser, four shelves, and back) plus four magnets. The wood parts are nicely machined and the whole rack dry-fits together so nicely, you could almost not use glue. This is the first module I've fully assembled.

First, insert the magnets into the pre-drilled holes in the left and right risers (one each) and two for the base. The magnets are not marked for polarity, so I inserted two from the top of the base and one each from the left side of each riser. I gently hammered each one into place. Using a module I had built previously, I identified which surfaces needed to be where and glued up the case.

I used Gorilla non-foaming Wood Glue (white glue) to assemble the rack and I followed the instructions with no problems. When all was together, I used clamps to keep everything tight while the glue dried. While these parts fit tightly dry, they need a little help when glue is introduced into the joints. One reader pointed out that he preferred finishing nails to clamps to hold the assemblies together while the glue dries - whatever works best for you.

The resulting assembly is rock-solid and ready to magnetically snap onto another module. The OM05 series of modules are designed as paint racks. This one (OM05b) has 36mm openings and the rack can hold 26 bottles. The paints that use the 36mm diameter include:

• Akan 15ml bottles
• AK Interactive 30ml bottles
• Ammo by Mig 35ml bottles
• Formula P3 18ml bottles
• Games Workshop 12ml bottles
• Gunze Mr Color/Mr Hobby 10ml bottles
• Italeri 20ml bottles
• Life Colour 22ml bottles
• Model Car World 1oz bottles
• Revell 14ml bottles
• Scale 75 17ml bottles
• Tamiya 10ml bottles
• Testor ModelMaster .5oz bottles
• Vallejo 30ml bottles
• Vallejo Primer 60ml bottles

After publishing this review, I received some emails regarding the use of Humbrol tins with this module. The paint tins from Humbrol, XtraColor, and White Ensign Models will fit in these holes but the height of the tins may make them awkward to grasp as they are only a few millimeters higher than the shelf hole. You can use this shelf unit for these tins but you might find the OM05u shelf unit more flexible for tins.

If you want to hold smaller bottles, the OM05s holds 36 bottles of 26mm diameter ( look here), and the OM05u which is a simple shelf unit without bottle cut-outs so you can hold bottles of a variety of sizes.

The nice thing about these modules is that you can mix and match these to store the types of paints, washes, pigments, etc., that you want within reach. These modules are just under 12 inches long and about 6 inches in width and depth.

Here is the OM05s (right) snapped together via the built-in magnets with the OM05b (left).

The magnets make combining these modules painless. Hereis the OM05b snapped together onto an OM01 Six-Drawer Module.

You can see these and other modules at the HobbyZone website ( www.hobbyzone.biz) and on their eBay Store. Stay tuned as we build up other modules and see what we can do with them to organize the bench!

My thanks to HobbyZone.biz for this review sample.