My Work Area

Spanjaard
nice. i specially like the idea for the paint jars, i got something in mind for my space..... 🙂
what did you use for the bottles?

Chaz Gordon
I got one of these: "TTCombat-MPRCIT60-Citadel-MEGA-Paint-Rack-60-GW-Tamiya-size" on Fleabay, it's got pre cut holes for twice the jars it's designed for as it also has precut holes to hold the base of the jar. I cut the included MDF panels up to splice them together for an exact fit, then using some 1/4 ply for the long sides and back, glued the whole lot together with gorilla glue and then painted.

The paint is all 10ml Tamiya Jars, but I have over 200 23ml jars of Tamiya paint that's still good from a Job lot I bought 20 years ago, so I bought a bunch of empty 10ml Jars and decant the in-use paint from the Bulk Stock, filling in missing colours with new 10mls from the LHS.

I just came up short of being able to put the full Tamiya range in the organiser, the Flat Base and the Clears are stored in the top of one of the mini tool chests.

First world problem, I've since discovered Vallejo Model Air, and am steadily trying to use up the Tamiya. Should take me about 20 years!

Spanjaard
thanks a lot Chaz

Nick Clarke
This is on my wish list much to my wife's annoyance haha

Treehugger
When I moved recently I took the opportunity to get rid off all the stuff I didn't need, so I delivered a bag of enamel paints to the toxic waste disposal area at my local garbage sorting fascility. Being a novice with an airbrush, I feel ok using acrylig paint in the airbrush, and I will probably never know what it would be to just use enamel paints in the airbrush. 🙂

Rui S
I've been using enamel with my badger without problems, but i've to use a mask.
Impressive work station 👍

Bozzer
That's damn tidy Chaz! I especially like the homemade sander. Treehugger, I love Humbrol enamels. I thin them with white spirit, roughly 50/50. They spray well out of my Badger 360 and Renegade. I don't seem to have much luck with Vallejo.

Spanjaard
i certainly like the sanding tool

Chaz Gordon
When you go into the loft to retrieve Lego for a Parts drying rack.........

Chris Greathouse
Your little creations are awesome! Lego Love! I have 3 big heavy totes of Lego at the house, and 2 more in storage!

Ben M
I had the one you built in photo 16 when I was a kid.

JD
Great post ! Everyone show your desktops!

Danny Meer
I used an old cardboard box and made holes in it to put my brushes in 🙂

Chaz Gordon
I guess technically, the lego is 1: A Model, 2: Plastic, 3: Comes in a kit.

Danny Meer
😄

Chaz Gordon
Lockdown has helped me get going again. Organising my work area is as much a part of the hobby as the finished models are . I've recently added another toolbox and a trolley to the area, and have another trolley arriving tomorrow.

I have the toolboxes set up for phases of the build. On my right is the build, fill and sand tools. On my left is all things paint related, except for my brush cleaner bucket, most often used Vallejo paints (mainly metallics and basic colours), and in use brushes, which sit on top of the toolbox to the right, as I'm right handed. The third box is 2 thirds electronics, and one third is used to keep the in progress kit safe from cats.

The trolley I added has replaced the gold one in the pictures, and holds all my bulk painting stock, and various large build stands and jigs. Plus it acts as an extra 2 feet of bench space, as the height is just right.

Ben M
I will have to add a picture of my disorganized desk at some point!

Chris Greathouse
And here I am using my computer desk, I have to semi-clear the desk when I want to work on kits so the cutting mat and paint booth will fit. And I use a TV tray for drying pieces and random uses and when I'm done working everything goes into a few 6qt bins for piece and dust protection, or I wrap larger pieces in small towels (mostly with the chassis)

Chaz Gordon
To be fair Chris, I've taken "Better to have it and not need it" to a new level. This purpose built area is something of a"treat", I worked in temporary areas for years until I stopped building kits for a few years.

Bozzer
Possibly a wasted comment, but, I've been looking for some basic Lego, for a specific reason. I saw a guy online, who uses it for perfect right angles and boxes. Yes, I know it's easy, but if you are scratchbuilding or just moving an item with a little heat, it's a perfect template. The best and easiest way, to move in the right direction, of being a plastic god😉

Chaz Gordon
You can get it by the kilo on fleabay. Has a lot of uses for model making, can be used to support pieces while glue dries, as a guide for measuring alignment, wing stands, all sorts. I've even seen someone used a motorised technic set to create a dropper bottle shaker.. It's kinda why I decided to post this here, Lego has so many uses, and there's a good chance most of us have a box stashed away somewhere that we've forgotten about.

Bozzer
I'm gonna buy my granddaughter some, for last Christmas, and just check it out, to make sure it's safe. She can have it this year, after extensive testing😉

Bill Newcomer
I have heard it works well for pouring silicone molds for resin casting. It can be configured to save on materials depending on part being cast.

Chaz Gordon
hadn't though of that, but it would be perfect, perhaps not the technic bricks though

Chaz Gordon
My work area has evolved again, I think this is it for storage now, any more, and I'd need to start removing other stuff from the room, and that's not about to happen anytime soon.

Chris Greathouse
You forgot to mention about installing the cat 😛 Someone found a sunny spot.

Tom ...
Damn that's some work area! Love it! The cat explains why everything is securely situated! 🙂

Chaz Gordon
Was an Aircraft engineer once upon a time, hence everything must have it's place in my work area
The Cats are lucky they don't have a cat shadow they are required to sit on

Pero Susinger
Me, I like those mini tool chests. I can imagine how handy they are. Would you tell where you got those?

Chaz Gordon
Amazon
smile.amazon.co.uk/g..le?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They come and go into stock, I've bought 12 over the last 2 years.

Chaz Gordon
I've only ever found the one of the Black one, which is a shame, it was half the price and fits airbrushes perfectly (except my Trigger ones with a handle)

Spanjaard
it seems the brand can be found in Germany, but it looks like they do not sellt that particular item (a pitty) kunzer.de/
actually, they do seem not to sell anything, you need to find it in retailers. maybe our german friends can tell us where to buy the stuff?

Chaz Gordon
It's just a badging exercise, they are Made in China. I've got two that were bought on Ebay with a different brand. They are Identical to the last detail to the ones snap-on badge and sell for 4 times the price. They're probably QC fails from the Snap-on line Powdercoated in a different colour.

Chaz Gordon
Hi Jonn, which one are you referring to as Spiro? There are dragons literally everywhere in the room. About half are Toothless from HTTYD, and the others are mostly Nemesis Now or similar from various independent stores around my travels.

Łukasz Gliński
Wow, I remember building that Lego spaceship hundreds of thousands of times when I was a kid visiting my parent's friends 😄

Treehugger
Ah vintage LEGO, haven't seen that kind of stuff in years. 😄

Chaz Gordon
That box of Lego has spent 20 Years in my loft without seeing the light of day.

Spanjaard
time to put it to good use 🙂

Ben M
It's funny, I've been scouring the universe for the 23ml bottles of Tamiya because they're cheap and voluminous. I seem to burn through the 10ml bottles really fast. I had the smaller of those two lego spaceships when I was a kid, good memory. I laughed about the cat shadow comment as I have a new kitten and the thought of trying to get him to comply with anything.... well let's just say it's clearly impossible.

Chaz Gordon
Technically speaking, the Cats do have a shadow/cutout to sit in, as they make a perfect Cat sized impression in the pile of fuzzy blankets that they return to every day. It is also clear that mu backside must be a perfect cat shape, as one of the Cats insists on placing himself in the indent left behind the moment I stand up. To be fair to him, I have a Cat bed that wasn't being used, as a Cushion on my chair.

Chaz Gordon
As for the 23ml bottles, I used to use them directly back in the day, and found that resulted in a lot more wastage and stuck lids. Since decanting into the 10mls, the lids don't get too bad as the jars get a clean out and refill a bit sooner. One odd thing I have found is that XF16, and ONLY XF16 dries out in the jar quite quickly (a few months), however tight I do the lid, it just evaporates the base. A colleague of mine has seen the exact same problem with XF16. Everything else has lasted over 20 years in the 23 ml jars without issue.

Spanjaard
I only use 23ml ones, but i try to remember to clean the lid and mouth of the jar every time I see any paint there. most of them are older than 20 years and still fine.
of course, one get stuck from time to time, so i keep the empty ones as reserve. i do not care about the color of the plastic, since i paint them with the paint, so i can see the color i am getting when i look for them in their box.

Chaz Gordon
I have stacks of empty 23ml jars stashed around various locations. I find them not only useful for mixing, but also for stands for supporting various things when painting or setting. I got the entire stock of paint of a toy shop that was closing out their Model section for £30 in 1998, including the display stand. There were a lot of the Polycarbonate paints that didn't survive the 20 years, so I cleaned out those jars. I also consolidated all the acrylics as the 23ml jars leave about 10ml space when full, so I have around 200 jars left with about 33 ml each in them.

Spanjaard
nice purchase! 🙂