Most of the time when Nicole approaches my painting area she mentions what she recognizes as a disheveled environment, to use her kindest parlance. My usual defence of organized chaos and other weak objections have begun to hold less water as the time spent searching for particular paints has increased. In the past, when I had looked at paint rack and organizers it was difficult to know the good from the not so good; for every positive comment there seemed to be a matching negative. Not to mention my attempts at DIY usually end badly. At the end of the day, I figured the money I'd spend on organizing could be better spent on miniatures, terrain, etc.
To my surprise, one of my father's day gifts this year was the "Rack Pack" with my choice of a couple extras from
Back 2 Base-ix. My wife had noticed this as one of the solutions I'd been eyeballing and with my procrastination swept aside the deed was done and the item ordered.
When considering organizers in the past I had concerns ranging from price and construction to assembly and function. As long as I was given one, I figured I'd write up my impressions of how the "Rack Pack" fits the role and give a completely unscientific and personal rating from 1 to 10..
Price: 8/10
At first glance I thought $175 from Australia was a little steep, but considering that they offer free shipping to many countries the sticker shock went down. Important to note is that you can add in a few extras at their normal cost and still get them shipped free. Each section that goes into the system can be customized for paint size and some have other options such as a front tray. Despite it being reasonable at $290 with a couple extras, I'm happy it was a gift as I probably would have bought more figures.
Shipping: 10/10
This experience ranks easily in the top ten for international orders I've placed. Free shipping with tracking from DHL was great. It was only 6 days from Australia to Minneapolis and an additional day to find me down here in the sticks.
Packaging: 10/10
Well protected and packaged all around with each component individually wrapped and protected in bubble wrap. Being that I ordered the system in acrylic rather than MDF, each sheet of acrylic is also protected by an easy peel adhesive covering to further protect it from being scratched.
Assembly: 8/10
The first thing I noticed was the absence of printed instructions, but the instructional videos were available online. This may be a problem for some, but I found it a nice format. The videos were simple and void of any annoying voiceovers.
One of the things to note about assembly was that the bolts are small, so having a small screwdriver and agile hands are a plus. Another observation is about the magnets. Make sure you watch the video concerning them so you can avoid any headaches later. In the end, assembling the Rack Pack was fairly smooth. The only problems came from my own error, often from watching Netflix while putting it together.
Overall I could easily rate this product a 9 on a scale of 10. I already plan to order their Wall Climber product for use over by the airbrush.
The Rack Pack will easily unclutter and help my painting desk, however with all things, its up to the user. If I don't use it properly and get lazy, leaving paints about, then it was obviously a waste...and I don't want to know what colorful comment my wife might have when next she sees the "organized chaos"..
