The Workshop

I believe that a big part to working on kits is a well set up work area. When I first started building kits, I had a temporary work area; my tools were semi organized and simply thrown into boxes, random cups and strewn all over my temporary fold up desk area. The same area was used for painting when I got to that point with my kits. I had a temporary set up for about 6 years prior to moving to my current residence. With my new place, I was able to dedicate a single room as a workshop. More pictures and information after the jump.

Back when I first set up my workshop, I took some pictures, created a page, and linked it to my tutorials page. Now, over the past two years, my workshop has evolved as I started to get more comfortable in my workshop and get used to specific tools and such, the work area evolves for those needs. Certain tools need to be easily reached, while other tools only get used once in a blue moon. Having this properly set up takes time as you get accustomed to the surroundings. The workshop page is interesting as the pictures serve to historically document the various major changes in the area.

Since this post is all about the workshop, I figure I can highlight some of the things I find interesting. First is the metallic magnetic strip that I have. I was at my local Ikea and saw this kitchen organization tool. They’re meant for holding knives. I picked up two because I saw potential use in my workshop. Prior to this, my saws were hidden away in a box; my files were in a cup where I needed to dig through it to find a specific file; and the hobby blades were stuck to magnets on my main work lamp. Now I have easy access to these tools.

Next up are these trays that I found at the local home depot home improvement shop. They plug right into the peg board and are great for adding additional organization to my work area. Most of the items here were sitting and cluttering up my immediate work area, having them out of the way increases the size of my work area and also drops the chance of my own clumsiness in tipping over things and having items crash onto my floor or behind my work desk.

Here is my open work area, no longer cluttered by cups holding tools or random tools strewn all over the place. Cleaning the area is now much easier, since every now and then, plastic shrapnel and mounds of resin dust needs to be cleared.

Next up is an additional desk that I added to the corner of my room. I removed the tv and tv stand as it was just taking up space that could be used more effectively. Granted, right now, the desk is just cluttered with stuff, but at least I can clear it and I’ll have an additional work space.

My spray booth. Since I’ve upgraded to the range hood and built this massive booth, I’ve been very happy with it. When I picked up the blue organization trays and boxes from Home Depot, I also grabbed another slab of peg board, and since 30 inches is a rather large width, it easily accommodates the addition of peg boards for further organization within the spray booth. Now all my airbrushing needs are within arms reach and I don’t have to get up to swap out airbrushes, or get an additional airbrush, or even grab some Teflon tape to wrap connections.

As I continue to work, I’m positive that the workshop will continue to evolve. There are always more tools to find and better ways to organize things. I find it is also cool to check out how other people set up their work areas, and see what tools take priority over others.