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Whatever
your hobby is, chances are you have an area you can get away from
everything, and enjoy your craft in peace. For modelers, it's
probably a garage or a basement, or maybe even a special room
in the house, or a shed just outside the house.
These
are just some images of some modeling areas I've had over the
years.
This
is the late 1970s, I was still a teenager. I had already been
building models for nearly 8+ years. Since I was home, around
this time, I occasionally built models on the kitchen table, rather
than in my room.
The
model here is a Monogarm Ford F150 I believe.
I
lived in apartments once out of high school. But did still build
models at this time, usually cars and a few aircraft. In this
image, I had moved into a duplex, which is like a small house.
It had one bedroom. But I somehow ended up with an old desk, and
converted that into a work space for just modeling. It was small,
in the corner of the living room, but worked well.
Note
the glass top I worked on. I prefer glass as it's easy to clean,
and glue won't stick to it. Although in recent years I have switched
to a polished piece of marble tile.
I
modified the right side to house my bottles of paints, and the
left side had a swinging panel where I used thumbtacks on cork
to hold up my paper model directions. (by tacking them up vertically,
I didn't have to lay them down on the bench top, which was a very
small work area to begin with).
My
goal was to keep all my model stuff on this one bench, since it
was in the corner of the apartments living room. It was a crowded
bench, but I made it work.
This
was around the late 1980's.
Later
on when I bought a house, I had model desks of several kinds inside.
But these were used furniture, and didn't hold up or work out
well. I still had to go elsewhere to paint or do sanding, and
I was constantly going in and out of the house. It wasn't very
conveniant.
For
a time I worked out of a small garage area on the side of my house
that was used for storage primarily, but had plenty of room. And
I could make a mess.
Later
I moved out into my 2 car garage, which was much better. In the
image below, my desk was made from an old house interior door
and was quite large. I like large workspaces because I tend to
work on more than one model project at a time.
The
bench was a mix match of the door top, a smaller wood top, and
plastic shelves from Lowes.
Over
a period of years, my workbench changed, got moved around, and
morphed into something else. At this point I had moved it under
a window in the garage. Note the right side area for taking photos.
And storage shelving on the left for paints and some kits.
To
expand the workbench, I added some cinder blocks and wood shelves
for more supplies. I always liked the natural light from the window
when modeling, especialy with paints.
The
tackle box was handy, as it held most of the tools I had all in
one place. I had it for many years, but I would soon outgrow it
as I began getting more and more tools to make it easier and faster
to model.
My
Lindberg Attack Godzilla protects the bench. LOL
The
desk has moved back to other side of the garage against the wall.
But, I now had a very nice rack with bins, and it was on wheels.
I loaded this up with all my model tools and paints. All kinds
of supplies. It helped get them all in a small space, and being
on wheels, I moved it around occasionally, depending on my mood.
The
shelves to the left of it have some model parts. The edge of the
table to the right in the foreground is a steel workbench a friend
gave to me. I used it as a paint staging area, for parts ready
for paint, and parts that had already been painted.
I
had thrown out the large cumbersome door bench, and now had a
smaller work area. So that was a step back, but I was already
thinking of a way to make or buy a larger modeling desk.
One
day while visiting a friend's shop, a nearby company had put out
two big long white benches next to their dumpster. Good thing
I drive a pickup, I took them both home.
They
were light, well built, and had a formica covering. I used one
for modelling, and the other one for something else.
I
had always wanted a large workbench in my garage. Not just for
models, but for house projects and repairs as well.
Thus
begin this 4 x 8 "aircraft carrier" size workbench.
I
made it out of wood, and added large caster wheels to it, so I
could move it around as needed, or push it out in the driveway
if I had a big wood working project.
When
not being used for house duties, I use it for model building subassemblies
and such.
The
bench is almost done. I painted the top with some red boat paint
to seal it (from Lowes). I added some other bits here and there,
as well as a long outlet strip for power.
I
liked the new formica desk, a lot. But there was quite a bit of
wasted space on the wall behind it. Rather than drill holes in
my garage wall, (which I had recently patched up and given a new
coat of paint), I bolted on a sheet of plywood to the bench, and
added sides and shelving to it.
And
this is how it looks today (2017). I'll probably have this desk
for many more years, but you never know.
Usually
when I'm modeling, it's fairly quite. Sometimes I have a radio
on, but no TV or computer. I like to just focus on model building.
I'm "in the zone".
Sometimes
a project is too big for the workbench, and I need to spread out
some. I use a folding 8-foot table to work on in cases like that.
Here I'm building
a 1/24 scale garage.
The
model desk setup expands (as of 2019).
To
the left I've added some shelves to hold model magazines and books,
plus some reference volumes. As well as some odds and ends models
and supplies.
In
the forground is a lighting setup I use to take pictures of models
with. This is on the corner of my large 4x8 floating work bench.
I
also have a bench behind me that is for my airbrush stuff - compressor
and painting booth.
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