Modeling/Hobby room and (part of) the Stash

John Thomas
Nice work area

Steve Wilson
That's too tidy John...
My wife has fallen in love with you...
As she wishes my work area looked like that!!! you're letting the side down John;)

Steve Wilson
And to prove my point:
[img1]

Martyn Fox
Very impressive and well organised 🙂

Alexander Aristides Cronvall
Now that's a great cave John 👍 And Lord Wilson should tell his wife that it's called organized chaos 😉 and i have to say i really like the 250gt swb on the wall 🙂

Stefan Suessemilch
Wow, a perfect workplace... mine looks more like Steve's 😉 and it will look like this until the last boy left the house and I finally get my own cave 😉

Fabian D.
Strange... I´ve got the impression you´re a Dragon fan 😉
Nice workplace you have... a bit too well organized for my liking.. 😉
@Steve, haven´t you told your wife about Einstein? Quote: "Everybody can handle order, but only a genius can master chaos" 😄

John Van Kooten
@John: Thanks, John 😉
@Martyn: Thank you! 🙂
@Stefan: Thanks, Stefan. I hope you will get your own mancave soon! 😉

@Steve: Hahaha!
Yes, my workplace is quite tidy indeed 😉 I really like to be able to work comfortably without anything getting in my way 🙂 the only thing I need to finish is the permanent suction & airco. There's one directly above the workspace and one to the right for airbrush work but I need to connect the hoses to the central outlets of my home so that I don't have to manually hang them out a window each time I want to use super glues / thinners / enamels / airbrush.

@Alexander: Thank you too! 🙂 And yeah, he really should tell her 'organized chaos' 😉

@Fabian: LOL! Yeah, looks like I'm a bit of a Dragon fan 😉
And I can totally understand that my type of workplace is not for everyone. And to be honest, once I'm in the thick of it, it's way more cluttered than what's seen in the photo 😉 But once I'm done, I clean up the place so that nothing is the way of the new project 🙂
Good quote! 🙂 Then again, once you have mastered chaos, you have order. So it's a bit of a paradox 😛 hehe

Alan Rush
Hello John. I'm with you. After a build it's a complete clean up, but turns into a mess while in process. Nice space to work though.

Steve Wilson
@Mates!!! Alex, Stefan, Fabian & John...
Ha! ha! ha! nice one lads. Organized chaos👍 love it Alex😄 Stefan I knew we had something in common;) Fabian, she (the wife) was impressed with your quote👍
But said "genius" she's still deliberating that one😄
And finally John VK!!! I notice a little hint in your answer to Fabian that not all in your pic is as it normally seems, had a bit of a tidy up have we;)??? I will admit I do tidy up when I'm not building, it doesn't always look like my pic. One thing you must know about me John is, take my comments tounge in cheek. If I'm being serious you will know it. 99.9% of the time I'm having a laugh as our hobby is about having fun👍😄

Kim Branders
Nice stash

Fabian D.
@ Steve: It´s great to have an excuse for the mess... an I think I need it 😉
and this isn´t the worst looking part...
[img1]

John Van Kooten
@Alan: Thanks, Alan! 🙂 You've got a nice workspace too! 👍
Yes, whenever I'm finished with (a section of) a project, I always clean the desk. I just don't want to have to go look for things that have gone AWOL in a mess on or around the workbench 🙂

@Steve: Tongue in cheek if always good for me 😄 having fun is where it's at, absolutely! 👍
And yeah, you got me! 😛 hahaha! Once the brushes, paints and pigments come out it's bound to become messy 😛 Boys will be boys, right!? 😉 But When I'm building it generally looks like in the workbench picture 🙂

@Kim: Thank you! 🙂
I'm kind of starting to wonder how on Earth I will ever find the time to build them all 😛 which I really do want to do! Then again, building a stash is a hobby in it's own right, I guess 😛 Anyway, I will never have to worry about not having choice 😉 if anything, I'll probably have more problems actually MAKING a choice 😛

Alexander Aristides Cronvall
I see my stash as a pension fund. so hopefully one day i will have all the time in the world and just sit there and relax 🙂 [img1]

Steve Wilson
Lord Wilson has espied some...
Classic kits tucked away in there Alex!!!;)

Stefan Suessemilch
Yeeesss Alex 😛 We have to keep our fingers crossed we still have the skills later we retired. I'm confident while looking at Guy 😉

John Van Kooten
@Alex: Haha! Yeah, that's a really nice and positive way of looking at it! 👍 🙂 It will be good times when we can sit there in the midst of our stash and simply just build!

Alexander Aristides Cronvall
@Lord Wilson.: I'm saving those classic kits for my first pensioners check which im pretty sure will be a big disappointment. @John: And don't forget that the boxes are excellent as extra insulation in the winter 🙂

Wim van der Luijt
Very Nice John van Kooten...is that a Vellemann lamp over your bench?

John Van Kooten
@Alex: Indeed! They sure are! 😉 That's why I'm stacking them against the wall 😛

@Wim: Thanks, Wim! It's not a Velleman but an exact copy. It has three 14W daylight compact fluorescent lamps. Behind it is another daylight lamp (usually used by photographers) which is a Colour Confidence GrafiLite. These two lamps, together with the two high power LED lamps at the sides assures perfect lighting on my workbench. No shadow casting and perfect daylight lighting 🙂

Ludovic
Wow I should show these photos of stash to my wife 😄 My stash is not so big in fact 😛

John Van Kooten
@Ludovic: Hahaha! Yes, go ahead and show them to your wife. Tell her you still have plenty of room for expansion 😛 there's always a spot where a(nother) kit would fit, is my motto! 😄

Phil Marchese
What type of bulbs/lamps are you burning?

John Van Kooten
Hi Phil,

The white large overhead desktop lamp has 3 x G5 14W fluorescent tube-lamps (daylight, 6500K).

The smaller photographers flip-lamp (Colour Confidence GrafiLite) has a special OTT lamp which delivers 'true' daylight lighting conditions (see this link for more info: grafilite.com/product_info.html)

And the two LED lamps on each side (to combat shadow casting on my workbench) are normal LED spotlights (7W Bright White (NOT blue or yellow!), which equals 50W on normal lamps).

The combination of those four lamps delivers a (IMHO) perfect lighting condition, where you can be sure the colors you're seeing are the same as when viewed in actual daylight. The latter is absolutely not the case when using cheap desklamps that cast coloured light!

Of course it did take a bit of time to get the setup exactly right (as far as distances and angles of the lamps are concerned) to get the proper intensity at the right place from each lamp.
In the attached (first) photo the spotlights on the sides are off, which is why you see shadows. If they are switched on, there are virtually no shadows and the entire desk is lit with proper daylight 🙂

Phil Marchese
Exactly why I asked. It looked both bright and white. This is good info John and full description. Great tips here !

John Van Kooten
Thanks Phil! Glad the info was useful 👍

I think proper lighting is essential in this hobby. Even though the initial investment in quality lamps might be a little steep for some, I think it is well worth it. To me personally, it actually adds to the joy of modeling, since I can do anything at any time, day or night, without having to worry if my paint colors are proper 🙂

Phil Marchese
Well said John. Thanks again for sharing your experienrce. When I stop modeling sub-terrainian were my eyes open. Fortunately as teenage I two spot lamps and two incondescenth later I had my artist tablelamp with mixed light. Your idea to light the stage wings is brillant. Thanks so much!

John Van Kooten
You're very welcome, Phil! 🙂 I'm happy to be able to share something useful 🙂

Dutch
Nice set up! I need a man cave!

John Van Kooten
Thanks, Dutch! 👍 Every man needs a Man Cave! 😄

Robbie
Let me guess, you like building Dragon kits. I have only one moving box full of their kits. I wonder if Dragon's marketing Dept. has caught wind of your stash 😛

Ernie Gallegos
Man Cave can make me comfortable... 😉

B
You must hate dragon kits. 😛 Cool work area! 😄

John Van Kooten
@Robbie: hahaha! 😛 yeah, they might actually punish me for getting so many because I'm forcing them to do production reruns on their kits 😉 😛

@Ernie: definitely! I'm always perfectly comfortable in my private Man Cave hideaway 😄

@Brandon: Thanks! 😄 yeah, I do hate Dragon, which why I am trying to buy ALL of their kits in the World and burn them ritually! I am evil like that 😛 😛

But all things considered I actually don't seem to have a lot of kits after all, compared to some guys I know and stashes I have seen here on Scalemates 🙂 one guy I know has over a thousand 😮 ... no words for that ... 😛

Rob van Dodewaard
what a great working space and so tidy not like mine it is more or less a organised chaos especialy during a building project Ah well at least i have a space .

John Van Kooten
Thanks Rob! 🙂 It did take me a while to get to this point (confiscating the room) but now that I have it, I'm sure I couldn't live without it anymore 🙂 And yeah, when I'm building the model it looks like what is seen in the picture of the workbench but when I start the painting phase, it gets messy as well 😉 but I always take care of my work environment in the same way I care for my models, meaning I will clean it up right after I have finished a project 🙂

John Bollig
John, I must say that I am in awe of what you have done. I have a very simple setup and I use a card table. You are right in saying that proper lighting is essential for a modeler to enjoy the hobby as well as to find those missing parts that cause us so much grief.

John Bollig
I have over 900 kits so I can say that John doesn't have the market cornered

John Van Kooten
Thanks for the kind words, John! 👍

But you know what, a great workspace doesn't make a great model 😉 It's what a modeler does with what he has that truly counts 🙂 My granddad's workspace consisted of exactly one small bed table, which he used for building and painting while sitting on the couch, and he made beautiful models with almost nothing. He was and still is my main source of inspiration! I have a long, long way to go yet and that's alright 🙂

And John, I was browsing through your stash list and could not suppress a smile from ear to ear! 😄 That is an absolutely stunning stash you have there!! 👍 👍 Awesome, in the true sense of the word!

Matthias Weiss
Thx. for these pictures, I've showed them to my wife just now with the words "look at that, that's how a real kit builder's kingdom looks like. I want a kingdom like that too!" And I got the answer "be happy with your room or start packing..." 🙁

Frank Krause
@Matthias: Ok, when will you move...? 😉 😉 😉

Matthias Weiss
I told her that's no problem, my colleague has a spare room, I'll move there and have a beer or 2 or 15 and now I'm allowed again to stay.

Anyway, that is really a awsome modeling room and nice stash you have there, John!

Es-haq Khosravi
Lots of great kits! Lucky you!

John Van Kooten
@Es-haq: Thank you! 👍 Indeed I do feel lucky 🙂
I have added quite a few new kits since these photos (and currently have about 7 more on the way). I have added a photo of the current state, including partially visible the collection of photo etch, metal barrels & diorama accessories 🙂

@Matthias: Hahaha! Yes... women... they just don't understand 😉 😛 I had to do battle as well before I managed to conquer this area ( hmm... "was allowed to use it after a LOT of begging and bribing" is probably a more accurate description of what actually took place hahaha 😉 )
And thanks! I love my stash!! But it is there to be built, not to collect dust! 😄 so I expect it to shrink every now and then 😄

Mike Kryza
You have my respect!

Christian Ristits
No words I can say...great workplace, great stash, thats all you need 😉

John Van Kooten
Thank you, Mike! That means a lot to me! 👍 👍

Christian: Amen to that! 😄 and thank you!

Hunter Cummins
I want the 6252 sooooooo bad and here you have 2 lol
so creakimg lucky lol
can I nee in your will to get all of your modelling stuff ???? Lol

John Van Kooten
Hahaha! 😉 Sure! But you will get the contents of the boxes only because I will need the cardboard to have them build my coffin 😛 because when I die there will be NO money left for a real coffin 😄 😄 😉 hahaha I will have lived like a Dragon and be buried in Dragon 😄

The 6252 is a really, really good kit! I was very lucky to be able to buy them off a fellow modeler who needed money more than he needed the kits 🙂

Fabian D.
Guess you´re having the "alllllll miiiiinnnneeee!!" feeling everytime you´re looking at your walls... I have to step in my "magic closet" for that 😉

Christian Meyerhoff
Wondered ever who was the one that purchased all that Dragon Stuff... Now I know. Perfect work shop! You are very well organized!

John Van Kooten
LOL! Yeah!! I actually do sometimes! 😄 😄 It's a great feeling, right?! 😉

The "Magic closet"! Hahaha! Awesome! 😄 👍

Robbie
that is no man cave - you just took pics of your LHS

John Van Kooten
@Christian: Yeah, I'm very sorry for cleaning out a number of stores & webshops 😄 Oh wait... no I'm not 😛 hahaha!
Seriously though, thanks Christian 👍 I do like to keep things organized, so I can always easily find what I'm looking for 🙂

@Robbie: whahaha! You got me! 😛 but it's a "look only" store, no buying allowed 😛

Martyn Fox
Superb setup John. You've got more kits there than my local modelshop🙂

John Van Kooten
Thanks Martyn! 👍 🙂

LOL Yeah, I think, at this point, I have more Dragon kits "in stock" than most shops I know and deal with on a regular basis 😛 and they are all good kits too. I don't just buy anything / everything 🙂

Martyn Fox
Can I ask for advice on the lighting setup you use John. I was thinking of investing in some better daylight lights for my man cave. I don't have any natural daylight and at the moment just use one small desk lamp plus the normal room light. Thanks

John Van Kooten
Sure thing, Martyn! I'd be happy to assist! I'll go and collect the info and do a small write-up. I'll post it here when done (won't be too long) 👍

John Bollig
John, Again let me say that you probably have more kits than most hobby shops and yes so do I. Most of my collection is collected in the last 10 years or so. Had a collection of models in the 70's but it was thrown out when I left for college. I am still looking for a few frog and matchbox kits so I will still be collecting until I die. I do plan on building all of my kits. But at the age of 49, it is getting kind of iffy.

John Van Kooten
@john: Yeah, you have quite the collection as well!! Awesome! 👍

Too bad your former collection was discarded... I had a similar thing going on when I enlisted back when I was still young. I was going abroad for longer periods of time and decided (sort of) to get rid of a lot of stuff. In hindsight I shouldn't have done that... ah well... new times, new kits, new pleasures! Right!? 😄

And yes, I will be collecting and hopefully building kits until I die as well! And by default, that means I will never be able to build them all 😄 But I'm keeping spirits UP! 👍

Fabian D.
I guess "building them all" can turn quite easy in "having the possibility to build them all"... but what would be life without choices? Do I now take model A, B,C or even something else? 😄
concering my magic closet, I´ve explained it here (and got some pics) My Bench | Album by nng 😉

Alberto Bianchi
My modeling hobby room is the image of chaos. Looks more like the laboratory. My compliments! ... Are you a dentist? 🙂

John Van Kooten
@Fabian:
Excellent point, Fabian! 👍 I think you've hit the nail on the head. It's all about choices and possibilities. Totally agree! 😄

I'm heading over to your magic closet right now 😄

@Alberto:
Thanks Alberto! 👍 And no, hahaha, I'm not a dentist 😉 I'm Manager of the IT department of the company I work for, which also means I have to keep things perfectly organized and tidy to keep my company operational 🙂 I guess some of that has rubbed off, eh? 😛

John Van Kooten
@Martyn:
Here's my write-up on my lighting setup. I hope it will be of some use to you (and of course anyone else interested) 🙂

Lighting setup - 3 point lighting

I have my lighting split up in three points. One directly above the workspace and two on each side of the workspace.

I actually have TWO daylight lamps centered directly above the workspace. Explanation of why below 🙂

The first one is fixed in position for global lighting. This is a Colour Confidence GrafiLite, which I bought from a (photo-)camera shop. More info here: shop.colourconfidenc..confidence-grafilite
The second one is a Velleman (copy) daylight lamp that has three G5 14W TL tubelights (energy saving). I bought this one here: hbelectronica.com/.....2847.3877.0.sp.html (just so you have an idea of pricing and what it looks like)
This second lamp can be moved freely into different positions. I have chosen for this lamp because it casts a large amount of light and because I can move it close to the subject I'm working on, which in some cases is very convenient if you need extra strong light (especially with smaller parts or when painting).

Both of these lamps provide true balanced daylight lighting in 6500K, which is perfect for being able to paint without having to worry that colors might look different when you view them in actual daylight conditions.

Now, to combat strong downward shadow casting from these overhead lights (which is VERY annoying and uncomfortable when you're trying to work on items!) I have installed a normal LED lamp on both sides of the workspace. These are simple cheap spotlights that contain a 7W LED bulb each. 7W LED is about the same amount of light you would get from a normal 50W lightbulb.

These LEDs don't have to be daylight lamps but they do need to cast a proper amount of light because they are meant to cancel out the strong shadows on the desktop. Also make sure they are of the "bright light" type because those cast white light. Most household LED bulbs are colored (mostly yellow) to create atmosphere in your home but that is exactly what you DON'T want on your workspace! The yellow color of those lights influences the way you observe colors and therefor makes your painted surfaces look more saturated than they really are! which means that when you finish your paintjob under those conditions it will look completely different in actual daylight conditions. Not good!

The reason why I have chosen LED and these particular daylight lamps is that they do not get hot. This is particularly important when painting because, f.i., I don't want to have my lights dry my paint too fast. I want to be in full control of everything. Obviously it is also a lot more comfortable to NOT have extra heat coming from lights directly above you when working on hot summer days 😛

So, all in all, with this 3 point lighting setup I have perfect daylight at night plus I have no annoying shadows. Which is great! 😄

H K
Thanks John for that very helpful explanation.

Jermaine Hoskin
Are you sure you don't own a hobby shop? Awesome work are and stash!

John Van Kooten
@H K: you're very welcome 👍

@Jermaine: LOL I'm pretty sure I don't, I think 😄 haha! Thanks Jermaine! 👍 🙂

Hunter Cummins
I want your stash soooooooooooo bad lol
want to trade stash for stash ??? Lol

John Bollig
Hunter, one of the ten commandments of modeling is thou shalt not covet thy fellow modelers stash. I know, I know it is easy to break here since we have some really enormous stashes and w all wish we lived in the UK or Germany where Kits are like water, but some of us live in rural isolated venues such as Western Kansas and the Yukon or the middle of the amazon. I don;t think many understand the distance some of us have to travel to a good hobby shop. I have to travel 200 to 300 miles to a good hobby shop. Now in the age of the internet, I don't have to travel so much, but still it is a real barrier to the hobby. Stashes take years and decades to develop and cost thousands of pounds, euros or dollars. My estimate is that my stash cost at least 30,000 dollars to develop in overall costs. That includes shipping paint, supplies and aftermarket parts and decals as well as travel to and from conventions and stores. So, it takes a long time and cost quite a bit to develop a world class stash. But by no means should this discourage you or anyone wanting to develop a stash. If you live in the right nation, it should be really cheap to buy say Airfix or revell of germany kits which IMHO should be the heart of any stash. Now I am mindful of regional differences and whatever nation you happen to be in, you should maximize the available local market..... But overall and in its totality, none of us really know what another has gone thru to build his or her stash.

Hunter Cummins
I agree john
I have to drive 4 hours toget to a good hobby shop that doesnt rip me off and has everything else I need
I mostly buy at modellimg showes as well

Matthias Weiss
hahahahaaaa 🙂 🙂
John Bollig, I feel with you. So did you drive from the middle of the amazon through the Yukon to your favourite hobby shop in Western Kansas or was it just the other direction? And what did you do in the middle of the amazon... 😉 🙂

Fabian D.
Amazon? Isn't that were the nice man with the parcel is coming from? 😉
Well, I have to travel at least an hour to the next shop, but those small and nice shops are dying, as it's always cheaper to buy of the internet (almost all internet shops offer free shipping if you order for more that 20/30/50 € and kits are generally a few bucks cheaper ...)
But in the end you buy what you like, where you like and what you might want to build some day ...

John Van Kooten
I live in the Netherlands, right next to Germany and the UK, which is a pretty good place to be.

But... this may come as a surprise, I would have to travel deep into Germany or Belgium/France to get the kits I'm looking for. Were talking about 300 to 400km at least. Physical local hobby shops are disappearing quite rapidly over here and have VERY small inventories (economic crisis and commercial competition). The physical shops are fighting a losing battle against "the internet" as well.

Also, when shops DO have stock, there are sooooooooo many people scavenging those physical- and webshops, that within hours stocks are depleted again. Not with all kits, of course, but certainly for the ones that are scarce to begin with.

Perfect example is Cyber Hobby (Dragon) kit 6720, whitebox limited edition. One of my favorite webshops stocked 6 of these kits. That is SIX!! for millions upon millions of people... right!? NO other shop that I know of has this kit available. This one is virtually impossible to get over here (which is why they could only get six) and I noticed they had some the minute they posted them in their shop. So I immediately ordered two of them. However... I happened to be too late and received only one. That is, I was already too late within MINUTES of the kit being posted in the webshop! So you see, it's not all great living in a densely populated area 😉 But hey, at least I got one, so I'm pretty happy with that. Others were not so lucky.

@John Bollig, when you said "kits are like water" over here, that was absolutely true! But in a they run like a wild river and are gone before you know it kind of way 😉

Prices are TRULY BAD in europe! Trust me! You guys in the USA and Asia have the better deal! When a kit costs, say, $30 USD in your shop, it will cost somewhere around €40 in our shops. That's about $55 USD!

For some examples of what I mean, look up these kits on ScaleMates and take a look at the EURO price compared to the USD price:

Dragon 6542
Dragon 6545
Dragon 6739
Dragon 6302

You'll see what I mean once you have converted the EURO to USD 😉 and those are not exceptions. I would even have to say that the price difference on those kits is "normal" or even on the low side. On a lot of kits the differences are truly HUGE!

Building my stash up to this point has been quite a hassle (and EXPENSIVE!!)! Especially older Dragon kits are virtually impossible to get, while the new ones cost an arm and a leg. And yeah, sometimes I see them offered on Ebay for reasonable prices but then I would have to import them from Asia or the USA, meaning I'd have to pay shipping costs, VAT, customs taxes and customs clearing costs when the package arrives (and no, there is pretty much NO way these days to circumvent those costs). The cheap kit will have become a pretty steep priced kit by then and we're back to the $30 becomes €40 tale.

Personally, I have set an upper limit in what I want to pay for a kit. I simply refuse to pay over €60 ($83) for ANY kit. No matter how much I want it. I mean, come on, it's still only mass produced plastic, no matter how you look at it... 😉 For some people one kit represents a week of groceries 😮

So you see, not all is good on this side of the pond either 😉 but truly, I'm not complaining (at all!). I love this hobby and search & destroy missions are part of it 😄 I think it's a good thing that one cannot always get everything they desire. This is what motivates us to keep going 🙂

Roland Roth
Hello, John ...
... you plan to open your own model shop? *rofl*

Gábor Bélik
A Good model shop is really hard to find even in London. There was 3(!) scale model shop in the city but now there is only 1(!). It is becouse the webshops have taken over the market. Personally I like to see what ia in the box and when I can't I Come to this site.

Steve Wilson
@Gábor and everyone...
Please, it's not the internet that's killing off the High Street Shops.
You must take into consideration, the rent they pay, Council Tax/rates, Utillity Bills, Car Parking in the Town Centres is impossible or expensive or your fined. Then there's Supermarkets, Hypermarkets and even Megamarkets, with free parking for thousand of cars, all are assisting in killing off local High St Shops...
It wasn't the internet that killed off the High Street Butchers it was Tesco's, Sainsburys and all the other Supermarkets.
The internet is a far cheaper & convenient alternative to the High Street Shop, no parking fines either, that's all genres of shop, not just Model Shops. And, not just for the consumer, for the Shopkeeper as well. Just look you can even do your weekly food and household goods shopping on-line and have it delivered. A lot of the Model Shops that have gone from the High Street have opened a Shop on-line. So please dispense with the idea that the internet is to blame, it's not...
The internet is the new High Street!!!🙂

John Van Kooten
@Roland: Hahaha! I might, I just might 😛 😉 hmm... no, I'd better not. I would probably want to keep all the kits for myself and sell nothing 😛 LOL I'd go bankrupt instantly! Hahaha 😉

@Gábor: yeah, it's the same over here in Rotterdam. We used to have quite a few good shops in the 80's / 90's which I frequently visited but they have all disappeared 🙁 Now there are only a couple of regular toy shops left that carry only a few basic kits which are barely worth looking at...
And I am exactly the same in that I really want to know what's inside the box. This site has become an absolutely essential part of my hobby for that reason. I'm very grateful Tim has taken the time and has gone through the enormous effort to make this collection of resources available to us all! Definitely my hat off to him! 👍

Gábor Bélik
Steve- I don't blame anyone. I Just find it very interestnig that in London (pop.~7mill.) there is only one model shop. At Budapest (pop.~1mill.) there is three. And that make me think why the modeling is Much mire popular in certain countries?
John- Completely agree.

Steve Wilson
@Gábor...
I know and like Budapest well, I enjoyed shopping there...
The culture is different for a start, then a friendly atmosphere, even from the non-Hungarian community, maybe it's because the population isn't as big as London's...
I live in London, so I'm one of the (pop.~7mill.) you speak of, I wouldn't drive into London to go to the shops even if you paid me. It was bad enough driving my Coach in London, with it's accidents waiting to happen, the lunatic drivers, traffic jams, Road works, Taxi drivers and parking is nigh on impossible or walk miles from car park to the shop you want and pay for 24hrs parking, even if you only want one hour. So I'm left with Public Transport, costing an arm and a leg in fares!!! then, do I really want to carry my goodies on an iffy Transport System, thwart with the dangers of a criminal element, that can't wait to get their grubby little hands on my wallet, cards, cash, mobile phone, watch and goodies.
I'd rather buy on-line in the comfort/safety of my own home, knowing it's going to be delivered relatively quickly.
Don't get me wrong, the internet has its dangers as well, but if you purchase a reliable computer security system, you're in with more than a good chance of safety...

Kim Branders
You have got a shop of your own 👍👍👍

John Thomas
Out standing modeling area. Very nice

Phil Marchese
Consider rotating your shelf stock from the window columns occasional.

John Van Kooten
@Kim: Haha! I certainly do 😛 LOL the idea is that when I need to go shopping for new kits, I simply turn my desk chair 180 degrees and start "shopping" 😛 😛

@John: Thanks John! I appreciate that 👍

@Phil: I have already thought that through 😉
The windows are double glazed so those won't let a lot of UV through. UV is what causes discoloration of anything exposed to direct sunlight, not the sunlight itself. Modern, double glazed windows are basically UV filters. Also, the curtains are actually not regular curtains but ones that remained from when I was doing photography. They are in fact multi-layered diffusing and UV filtering curtains. So it's fairly safe to say that no UV will enter the room to attack my precious boxes at any time 😉

But I will still rotate them from time to time, if only to take pressure off the boxes on the bottom of the stacks 😉

So I really do appreciate the suggestion & tip! Most people would not think about the effects of long term static storage. Thank you, Phil! 👍 👍

Barkmann
I tip my hat! That's an awesome looking stash and a very neat looking workplace!

John Van Kooten
Thanks very much, Barkmann! 👍 👍 🙂

John Bollig
John, You know I am going to another hobby show next week.. I will post my finds in the stash section.... I hope to buy some more matchbox frog and airfix kits...... My goal is to fill some gaps in my collection..... i have a few gaps .... Looking for a few reference items too.....

John Van Kooten
Yeah, I should go and visit shows more often. But because of my job I'm always pressed for time unfortunately.

Good luck, John! I hope you find some gap fillers 👍 I'll be sure to keep an eye on your stash entries! 🙂

Kaiyu Chen
haha! you can open a shop in Netherland (BTW, Netherland is a beautiful place, but I have only been in Amsterdam for 2 times). It seemed you like Dragon products very much?

John Van Kooten
Haha! Yeah 😉 I have quite a nice stash and I do love Dragon kits. How could you tell? 😄 😉

In the meantime the stash has grown a little bit again (new image added). I have decided that once the stacks reach the ceiling, I will stop buying and only allow myself to buy a new kit to replace an empty space 😛 so that means I'd better go ahead and get to building them 😉

Es-haq Khosravi
Is it a stash or a shop! Lucky you! 🙂

Fabian D.
lol... I guess you´ll find a lot of new places to store kits...as kits are always faster bought than build 😉
in January I thought about stopping at 100 kits, now I´m certainly smashing the 150 this or next week... so it´s not only you 😄

Frank Krause
Stop buying isn't that difficult. I stop after every kit... and then start again... 😉

Michael Razz
How u explain This To Your wife???

Frank Krause
When you have enough and sort it new from time to time, your wife has no chance to identify the new ones... 😉 So, no explanations necessary... Except, when you need another room for storage... 😉

John Van Kooten
@Es-haq: it's the ultimate form of home-shopping! 😛 I just turn my desk chair 180 degrees and start shopping 😄

@Fabian: Hahaha, yes, there's always more room to stash kits so the piles get smaller and I can do more shopping 😛 LOL But no, this the limit I have set for myself. Until the ceiling and then it stops.
And yeah, I think this is a typical thing for modelers, right? 😄 When I rebooted this hobby I was just going to buy a couple of old Tamiya kits, build them and then that would probably be it. Or so I thought! I could never, ever had imagined it would come to this 😛

@Frank (#1): Hahaha! Yeah, that's very true 😉 👍 (A) buy > stop > find more kits > start again > goto (A) 😄

@Rascar: I don't have to explain anything to my girlfriend. I have permission from my girlfriend to say that 😛 😄
Seriously though, she's just as "bad" in her hobby. So she understands (to a certain degree, that is) 😉

@Frank (#2): LOL! You have experience with it! 👍 I'm going to HAVE to try that 😄

Anthony Flanagan
Dude, your man-cave and stash both rock! 👍👍👍
If you ever decide to do class on how to do the man-cave right, let me know. 😉
Frank - that sounds like great advice and I will give it a try. 😉

John Van Kooten
@Anthony: Thanks so much, Anthony 👍 👍 I really like the way it turned out 😄 and if I ever do a Man-cave Masterclass, I'll let you know 😉 lol

Added one more image that shows the fume extraction setup a little better. It's actually a kitchen appliance (extractor hood) that does 750 m3 per hour. It really sucks the air right out of the room! Including harmful fumes! Perfect for staying healthy 😉 in combination with my 3M 7502 Respirator of course 👍 Safety first, no matter what!

Leandro Krindges
Hey John, if you get bored with so many kits, you can send some of them to Brazil... hehehe

John Van Kooten
Hahaha! 👍 😉

I promise, if I ever get tired of modeling, I will distribute my stash amongst you guys 😛 jajaja 😉

Steve Wilson
John...
I want that kit fourth column along from the window, at the bottom;)

John Van Kooten
You just had to go there, didn't you! 😉 Hahaha! But okay, it's yours. Unfortunately you will have to wait until I have built all kits stacked on top of it. So if you can wait a couple of decades...? 😛 hehehe

Steve Wilson
Ok!!! can post a picture of the box art then...(titter!!!)

John Van Kooten
Ha! Now you are just trying to trick me into breaking down that stack! 😄 LOL

But yeah, sure. Here's the boxart 😛 😛

King Tiger (Dragon 6208, 1:35)

Steve Wilson
You cheated, I know Lol!!! (((😄 )))

John Van Kooten
Noooo! I didn't! Really, I didn't! I really did make a picture and did post the boxart! Okay... so the picture I took was totally unrelated to the boxart, or my stash entirely for that matter, but hey... a picture WAS taken and boxart WAS posted! No cheating on my part 😛 😛

Steve Wilson
Remind me not to play 5 card Brag with you😠😭Y)

John Van Kooten
Hahaha! Will do! (maybe) 😄 😉

D. Ninetalis
Wow, very organized John, it almost looks like a shop! 😄

Clifford Keesler
WOW!!!.

Holger Kranich
I see a Jagdtiger on your bech!

Holger Kranich
And was there a Jagdpanther, too?
Beside a StuG 4?

John Van Kooten
Thanks guys! 👍 🙂

Yeah, with so many kits, PE sets, scratch materials, accessories, diorama stuff, tools, paints, etc. I think it is essential to stay organized. Otherwise I would probably not be able to find anything when I needed it or things would get lost in drawers and whatnot, never to be used ever again 😉 With my current setup I can easily find anything I need and it's very accessible 👍

And yes, I'm very keen on "home shopping", so I created one 😛 haha!

@Clifford: I get that WOW feeling every time I walk into the room 😄

John Van Kooten
@Holger: Yes! 😄 well spotted! 👍

I have been working on a Jagdtiger Porsche (Dragon) and a Jagdpanther Late (Tamiya kit!) on and off. They will be getting full attention right after I have finished my PaK 38 and Sd.Kfz.250 😉

The Stug IV is an old tamiya kit that I use for practicing and testing 🙂

Leandro Krindges
Are you a sniper @Holger? I almost can't see the lcd monitor there...

Holger Kranich
🙂

Steve Wilson
@Leandro...
Here's Holly at work:
[img1]

Leandro Krindges
That's what I'm talking about... 😉

John Van Kooten
I don't think I want to meet Holger anymore! Especially from miles away! 😄 😉

Steve Wilson
Hey John...
Holly's ok! as long as you don't get in his sights.
BTW Holly haven't seen Markus Kutsch for quite a while, hasn't been sniped has he???

Holger Kranich
... Markus was not nice to me, so he needed to "fade away"...;)

Nope, just kidding! I have no fkn idea where Markus is...

John Van Kooten
Hahahahahaha! 😛 LOL @ you both! 😄

Darren Hazes
that's what i'm talking aboot!!

Augie
I miss Markus... 🙁

John Thomas
Outstanding

Marko
There's more plastic than in most hobby shops I've been to. And I like it. 👍

Joerg R.
Ok, John I love your stash 😉😉😉😉😉😉😉

John Van Kooten
Hahaha! Thanks guys 😄 😄

That reminded me to update this album 🙂 my stash has grown quite a bit in the meanwhile and I have reorganised my rooms. I have dropped all the wall boards with the diorama products, since I don't use those often, and made room for more commonly used items. The diorama products have moved into cabinets in my modeling room.

I have added new images of the current setup(s) 🙂

Marko
WOW. Holy shit, this is unbelievable. My stash looks like... Well, it looks funny compared to Yours. Really beautiful.

Robbie
Hmmm, Dragon and/or Ikea must have something to do with this (conspiracy theory). And what is with that shinny floor? I thought I was the clean freak - The 'Office' (modeling mancave) | Album by robbd01 (1:1)

Cortex
Are you sure this is stash not a modelling shop 😄

John Van Kooten
@Marko:
LOL! 😛 Thanks Marko! 👍 And not to worry, if you're anything like me, I'm sure your stash will become unmanagable before you know it too 😉 Haha!

When I decided I wanted to try some modeling, my 'stash' was exactly one kit (the Tamiya StuG IV #35087), one bottle of Tamiya Thin glue and NO paint for quite a while 😄 So yeah, I guess I kind of went overboard, eh? 😄

@Robbie:
Aaaaah! You got me! 😛 Indeed, advertising for Dragon is what I'm really doing. They are after all the World's number one kit manufacturer, ranking high on all modeler's wishlists. For good reason! Dragon offers you high quality, big kits, for even bigger prices!! ... oh wait... that doesn't sound right? ... 😮 😛 😄 😄

Seriously though, yeah, seems like we have something in common in terms of keeping the workspace clean 😄 I have high gloss floarboards in my rooms, of which the modeling room has black ones. Lot of maintenance & cleaning required, I can tell you that 😉 no carpet monster, though 👍

John Van Kooten
@Cortex471: Hahaha! I sometimes wonder the exact same thing. But then I remember I'm not selling a single item, ever 😄 I guess I sort of have basically invented ultimate "home shopping" 😄

Soeren R.
Awesome room John! I am a little bit jealous of it 🙂
I think this is what somebody would call "Modellers Heaven"! 🙂

John Van Kooten
Thank you, Soeren! 👍 🙂

I did take me a while to collect (I am not a particularly rich guy) and to prep the two rooms 🙂 I think everyone could and should have something like that 🙂 It is indeed Modellers Heaven to me 😄

Soeren R.
Of course something like that takes time, but you did perfectly and I think I speak for everybody here when I say: We all want a room like that! 🙂
Sadly I have currently no space for something like that 🙁

John Van Kooten
Haha! Yeah, I can imagine. It's really great to finally be able to have this 🙂

It's too bad you don't have the space... I can remember, from quite a while ago, when I was doing my hobby literally in a small built-in closet 🤔 I had a small studio apartment, so just one single room basically. That was no joy! 😉

Soeren R.
Yeah thats currently my problem! Ive a 2 room apartment and have to build in my living room, which is quite stupid from the space, but hopefully this will change soon!

John Van Kooten
Work hard and give it all you've got and things WILL get better 🙂 You yourself can make the difference 👍 When I was younger I was in a situation where I thought I was stuck. But I radically changed my ways and worked HARD towards securing a better future for myself. It wasn't easy at times but it damn well worked out okay 😄

Soeren R.
Ah that is not a problem! 🙂 Ive a really good paid job and everything else is fine, but Munich is really expensive and to get here a good appartment is almost impossible if you are not willing to pay over 1000€ per month and yes I speak about 2 room apartments! 🙂

John Van Kooten
Ah yeah! I know that problem. A thousand a month for an average apartment isn't in any way extreme here either. It's really amazing what some houses go for (both rented and purchased).

But anyway, with a good job, you are already half way there, towards getting your own Modellers Heaven 😄 😄

Soeren R.
I hope that too John!🙂
But currently Im looking for a new job, because I want to move together with my girlfriend and back near Hannover 🙂
So maybe I will creat my heaven then there!

John Van Kooten
You have big plans! 😄 Good luck with the job hunting and the possible future move! And I'm sure you will eventually get your slice of Heaven! 🙂

Steve Wilson
...
My wife inadvertantly saw this... now instead of building my models, which is what I want to do.
I'm having to rearrange my modelling area to look like John V.K's... Cheers, thought you were my Dutch mate, 🙁

Soeren R.
I will keep you informed about my Heaven and till then I will have to take a glimps on yours from time to time 😛

John Van Kooten
@Soeren: you're alway welcome to drop in to take a peek 😄 And I'm very much looking forward to seeing you're very own Modellers Heaven become a reality 👍 🙂

@Steve: Ouch!! You're in trouble now! But here's a possible solution to this very serious issue: just tell your wife... oh wait.. let's talk privately for a sec, so women can't read this. I'll turn on the super-dooper men's encryption mode. Hang on..

<SET men only mode with encryption only we can somehow decrypt even though we don't have a clue how we do it ON> *CLACK*

There we go! That's much better! No women listening in now 😄

So, just tell her that it will cost and arm and a leg to get your workspace to look like this. Tell her it will cost thousands and thousands of pounds (it's true) and that she will have to make great sacrifices in terms of no more shopping sprees in general for her for at least a year. No new shoes!! That should do it.

If this happens to not work, there's a back up plan: RUN!!!!

If THAT doesn't work because she's faster than you there's a second backup plan: PLAY DEAD!!!!

Although that second backup plan might actually work against you because then she'll get everything you own and will probably sell all your stuff and go on that shopping spree she wasn't supposed to go on...

Hmm... I may have to rethink our strategy here 🤔

I'll have to get back to you on that... sorry pal... I'm afraid you're basically royally screwed!

But we're still friends, right? Sure we are! We're men after all! Punch eachother in the bracket for a bit, then drink a couple of beers and all is forgiven 😄

<SET men only mode encryption OFF> *CLACK-A-TI-CLACK* (yes, turning it off is much harder than turning it on!)

So, what I was going to say before we went "dark", my best to your wife and tell her you love her 😄

Cheers, my Briton friend with Italian hair! 👍 😄

John Van Kooten
Thanks Guido! 👍 After quite a bit (and a while) of rearranging I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out: a nice modeling & reading (relaxing) room/workspace and separate stash storage room 🙂

M.Julian Marles
Looks really nice! One bad thing about living in Vancouver is the criminal housing market...a 1 bedroom generally goes for about $1600 a month..and to buy..the average price is 1.42 million so it will be a distant suburb for me if I can ever buy a home lol!

Darren Hazes
Can i get a tour around your museum pls XD

Roberto Rocat
👍

Jay Dubya
OMG - totally awesome !

Steve Wilson
...
Story of my life... SCREWED, Royally or otherwise!!! 🤔

John Thomas
WOW & OMG, it must be nice having a model shop in your house and so clean too.

John Van Kooten
@Steve: you and me both, buddy! Luckily it's a Toy Story of our Life 😉 😄

@Darren: Haha! 😉 Gotta say, I think I kind of actually do maintain it as if it were a museum, keeping everything tidy and organised 😛

@Roberto: Thanks 😄

@JW: I get that a lot 😛 LOL

@JOHN T: It definitely is nice to be able to walk into my own "model shop". I always feel like a kid in a candy store, no joke 😄
And even though it is "just" storage and workshop basically, it's still part of my home. So I want it to look good 🙂 That, plus the fact I just like an organised workspace where I never have to look for anything, is why I keep it that well maintained 👍

John Thomas
I wished my space was more organized. In my albums you can see my stash and work area very small. It,s about a 7 foot square room with three 2 foot wide folding tables. I have no windows and poor ventilation. The lighting is passable but all of my tool and paints are in arms reach. I build in my house basement. I have plans to move to a bigger room but that a few years off. I am still amazed that no matter how much space we have your work area is only as large as our cutting mat. However John you need more aircraft. Question? have you had any problems building close to our computer? I had a DVD player stop working because of the paint dust. Keep up the good work

David Winter
@M.Julian Marles it's really not that bad. I had a full detached house in Burnaby for $1200 and a condo in poco for less than that. If you want to live in the downtown, then yes, expensive. Outside of Vancouver proper and it's not all that hard for find a place to live.

Bart Goesaert
lol, need to show your pics to my girlfriend... she wants me to get rid of most of my stash (at least 2/3's...) still enough kits to continue for the rest of my life... but 2/3's... it hurts... it really does...

But it's a nice mancave you have there, and a tidy one too...

Jan Hazes
Bart you need to set your priorities straight. Show her who's in charge. Me, I always have the final say in the matter....."yes dear" 🙂 Luckily my gf doesn't give me a hard time with regards to stash. But then I don't have nearly as many kits 🙁

John Van Kooten
@JOHN T: Yeah, having paints, tools and all that is needed for modeling within reach is what I was aiming for as well. It is why I separated the kits from the tools 🙂 Problem is though, that at some point we have so much stuff that it is no longer possible to have everything within arms length. So even with everything separated, I still need an entire room to hold all of my tools, paints and books (they are important as well). Plus, I want to be able to relax a little in the modeling room, as you can see in the photos 🙂

You are right about the actual workspace 😉 all of my modeling also happens pretty much within the boundaries of the green cutiing mat 😛

I am not an aircraft modeler. So more planes (or even one, for that matter), that's not going to happen 😄 Okay... I just lied. I am actually going to make an exception for the Bronco 1/35 Horsa and, if they ever release it, the 1/35 Dakota 😄

I never had any problems with electronic devices near my workspace. But that is because there is a powerful exhaust hood right above my workspace (the brushed metal apparatus). So all fumes and paint clouds from airbrushing get extracted immediately. They never get a chance to go anywhere else but outside 🙂

@Bart: Thanks Bart 👍 🙂
Real shame to hear about your stash though... Honestly speaking, I'm pretty sure that if there was no immediate and VERY urgent reason for getting rid of it, other than just "want to get rid of it", I'd never (NEVER) sell off a single item! I can totally understand that it hurts...

Steve Wilson
...
@Bart, you said...
QUOTE>> But it's a nice mancave you have there, and a tidy one too... <<END QUOTE

TIDY!!! it's spotless, besides seeing me ugly face in it, I could eat my dinner off that floor!!!
The work area, (and John V.K. knows I'm being frivolous here) brings to mind, does he actually do any work modelwise in it😮 it's so-o-o-o-o immaculate!!!
But I'm really astoundingly jealous, if truth betold, but don't tell John V.K. that🤔

John Van Kooten
LOL! 😛

Uhm... I mean, I didn't read a word of what you just wrote. Promise!

Rui S
I'm a jealous mate now. A feast for the eyes indeed. Great stash,

Es-haq Khosravi
Wow!

John Van Kooten
@Rui: Haha! I'm sorry I made you jealous 😛 And thanks for the compliment! 👍

@Es-haq: indeed! 😄 😄

Kim Branders
What is the name of your modelling shop and can I order online 😉

John Van Kooten
LOL! 😉

Erik Leijdens
Amazing workspace and storage room John 👍. Very tidy indeed. Scrolled trough all the posts and came across the link you had posted about the Velleman desktop light, just ordered one 😄 Was searching for a good daylight desktop lamp for a while. So, thank you John 👍

John Van Kooten
Thanks Erik! 👍 🙂

Yes, that Velleman light is really nice. Whenever I need proper light, without much of the glare that normal lamps produce but with a nice even spread of light, the Velleman is my go-to lamp 🙂 I'm sure you will enjoy it as well. I'm glad my post helped 👍

Rui S
Sadly a beat to expensive to me

Darren Hazes
hey john, been a while but if you ever intend to sell some kits message me please because there arent that many scalemoddeling meetings with that many dragon kits XD. But i guess the collecting addiction became to much mwahaha.

Clifford Keesler
WOW!!!

Sortic Zhao
WoW!!!

Jan Hazes
This picture was taken over two years ago. I'm sure he has completed the kits by now 🙂

Dieter Bihlmaier
John, just a silly question: where is your showroom with finished models?!😉

Darren Hazes
Hmmm i dont think you can complete that many kits in two years

Marko
Sure You can. You just have to be a very fast builder, and even faster sleeper.😉

John Thomas
Very nice work area

Roberto Rocat
Lovely man cave.

M.Julian Marles
Great model store! 😄