Warren's Balsa Storage

The topic of balsa came up, and Concord Model Engineer Warren Delane shared details on his balsa storage bin.  He writes:

I store my balsa according to thickness in a swing-down bin that is located between joists under my loft.

Bin is made of recycled wood  and swings down from space under a loft between joists. Bottom is 1/8" hardboard. Small chain to restrain further movement. Pivot is black metal pipe, which doubles as pivot for a ladder for access to loft.

Other end of compartment is propped up by a broomstick attached as a handle as weight of compartment with full load of balsa is heavy. Once in place, wooden turnbuckles(?) lock bin from falling.

Crude but effective. I wish for a better system but it works, considering space is very cramped in this end of my Man Cave.

Loft is for storage of covering rolls in Xmas wrap boxes, tissue rolls, disassembled wings and fuselages, and seldom-needed, lightweight stuff. Access is by the ladder on left, made in two sections for compactness.

Pivots down from same black iron pipe as balsa bin. Old TV plays VHS aviation tapes, old hi-fi for FM radio and music cassettes.

Believe it or not, this is as tidy a mess as it gets! Unfinished models are stored in plastic bags and put aside until later. 

 My Man Cave.

10'x12', prefab shed. Strictly for model workshop. A smaller shed (8'x12') is off the the right (OOS) for family storage.

Last time I tried to weigh each sheet on my digital scale and marked the density  near the label, but I had to use a calculator to use in a formula (from the 'net) to get the density. Now, I rearranged the sheets according to increasing density. Of course, thus works only in full sheets. Partial sheets are merely guesstimated.

Close up view of bin in down position. Grooves sawed into top and bottom hold black plexiglas separators for 1/32" and smaller, 3/32", 1/8", 3/16", 1/4" sheets. Last space is for 4" wide sheets. 

Balsa (Equadorian Gold) was hoarded for decades, some sheets date from pre-wartime years! Much of it was salvaged when White Front closed in SSF, a whole display bin for $5!

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