work space

Hi, I just finished looking through the thread with pics of peoples work areas. I am going to be building my own pretty soon here and wasn't sure exactly what features I should add to it. Being that I'm new to modeling I don't have the experience to know what I want. So, what are the drawbacks to your work area? What kinds of things would improve where you work. What would be handy or just plain cool to have?

Thanks for the input.

I have an 8' long counter top - I wish I had more space, you can never have too much space to work.

Pretty good forward thinking...

What I am missing or have found very very useful is a little drawercase on my desk, you know where everything is and you can see through the plastic drawers, it's small, but good.
Also, you might want to make some sort of solid cup holder, a cup spilled is hell!

and as a table I would loved to have had something scratchfree but nicely feeling... almost the material of the cutting mat, you need a bigass cutting mat!

that's about it I can think about

paint storage system, and really good lighting

No one can exactly tell you what you will need for your work area and how comfortable you are going to be. My suggestion for you is to expose yourself to modeling by buying a kit and making it.

Quite honestly, if this is your first build, you don't need to have a professional working area. In my first build, I worked on a hard wooden board (about 3 ft. by 4 ft.) in my room , and when Im done working on the model, I slide the board under my desk. Even though you're new to this, make sure you have the following:

For tools, definetly have a hobby knife and if you want to make something that you always want to look back at, have a few different grits of sand paper (for painting)

Also, have a decent array of paint colors (either spray paint or for your airbrush). The colors that you'll be using depends on your vehicle, but almost all vehicles require flat black and aluminum colors. (and be safe --even though my work area is in my room, I go to my backyard or my garage to paint)

And whether you are new or a pro, lighting is a must! ( I have flourescent lighting)

In this thread, people are going to tell you what worked out for them and what may or may not work out for you. Before you start making a bigger commitment (finance and time), its best that you make your first build without paying more than $50-$60. After making your first build make sure you will stick to this hobby in the future (because sometimes, modeling does become time consuming and requires A LOT of patience), and then just explore ways on how your first experience could have been improved.

Before you take my suggestion on this, keep in mind that I'm a beginner, just like you, and with my first build Im exploring options. (an experience modeler may have to "okay" my reply too--cause I may not have a clue what the hell Im telling you)

(And I'd like to apologize in advance to those who I may have offended)

The best accessory to work in good conditions is a lamp with a magnifying glass. In order to build quality models, you need to see what you are doing, so good lighting and magnifying is essential.

The rest is up to you, cutting mat, chair, drawers, even cup holder and coffee machines can become essential to some modelers!

Happy modeling!!

I'm in the middle of a project right now, I'm just on hold until this weekend when I can get a new air brush and some chemicals to strip the paint and primer off of the mustang. Right now I have everything strewn across the dinner table. I think it bugs me more than it does the gf and I want my table back. This is why I am so concerned about storage and features, I don't want my workspace looking like my table.

I neglected to tell you what my basic idea was. Im looking at building two computer style desks, with an insert as they will go across a 135 degree angle. Im looking at buying a house later this year so that will change to either 90 degrees or straight depending on where they go. I'm designing the desks in cad right now, when I get further along I will pdf them and post them up. So far the main desk will have a few drawers and a hutch with a light unit built in. The hutch will be a little taller than average and only have two shelves (up at the top) leaving the bulk of the space in front of me open. I saw someone had a magnet bar that they could stick their tools to and liked that idea, the remainder of the available space will be a cork board for pinning up pics and notes. I will most likely have a 17x23 cutting mat, and will invest in a lit magnifying glass later if I stick with the hobby. Oh, and I will make a rack that looks like a cd rack (the vertical kind) that will hold all the different grits of sandpaper that I have.

The other desk will be storage oriented and may or may not have a cutting mat. it will have a pullout like you would see for keyboards only it will be a 1/4" piece of wood, on top of which will be a 3/8" piece of wood with holes drilled in a grid pattern for paint bottle storage. I figure this will be 24x12 or 24x16 and will be able to hold a decent amount of bottles.

I just can't help but think I'm missing something.

Sounds like you're pretty much covered. (Diagrams would have helped :P)
Make sure you have something for paint. And good luck!

No one can exactly tell you what you will need for your work area and how comfortable you are going to be. My suggestion for you is to expose yourself to modeling by buying a kit and making it.

Quite honestly, if this is your first build, you don't need to have a professional working area. In my first build, I worked on a hard wooden board (about 3 ft. by 4 ft.) in my room , and when Im done working on the model, I slide the board under my desk. Even though you're new to this, make sure you have the following:

For tools, definetly have a hobby knife and if you want to make something that you always want to look back at, have a few different grits of sand paper (for painting)

Also, have a decent array of paint colors (either spray paint or for your airbrush). The colors that you'll be using depends on your vehicle, but almost all vehicles require flat black and aluminum colors. (and be safe --even though my work area is in my room, I go to my backyard or my garage to paint)

And whether you are new or a pro, lighting is a must! ( I have flourescent lighting)

In this thread, people are going to tell you what worked out for them and what may or may not work out for you. Before you start making a bigger commitment (finance and time), its best that you make your first build without paying more than $50-$60. After making your first build make sure you will stick to this hobby in the future (because sometimes, modeling does become time consuming and requires A LOT of patience), and then just explore ways on how your first experience could have been improved.

Before you take my suggestion on this, keep in mind that I'm a beginner, just like you, and with my first build Im exploring options. (an experience modeler may have to "okay" my reply too--cause I may not have a clue what the hell Im telling you)

(And I'd like to apologize in advance to those who I may have offended):iagree: :1:

I can't add anymore to the other suggestions, but I would like to add a visual. Check out Bil's workshop for ideas @:

http://members.shaw.ca/motorsportsinscale/My_Workshop.htm

Cheers,

Rick

The setup isn't too special.
But I really dig his inventory!