I have a 10X15 room in my basement that I have framed out and was looking for ideas on a modeling room where I can assemle/paint/store models and such. I’m into model building and model railroading(HO). So this room will double as both(for buliding kits that is, I have a sepreate room for a layout). It would be nice to see some pics of folk’s rooms or suggestions. It’s just framed, not wired yet. Thanks in advance.
Well if it is a building/painting based use room your needs are simple.
Counter along one wall. 2-3 feet deep, mounted to wall with a means of support that permits no impedment to legs underneath it. 8+ feet of length is fine, more is better. Regardless of what it is made of, have it painted white, parts stand out nice this way. Get some glass at least 1/4 inch think for a work surface (I find it makes a nice perfectly flat and non stick surface that can be cleaned with a razor blade or similar sharp item.
I have an 8 foot long table like the above.
For painting, assemble a booth area with ventilation exhaust built into one of the sides, make it big enough to work in (likely 3 feet wide is plenty).
After that, you have all you need really. Might want to get a few spot lights, or a couple of flourescent tube lights for oodles of light source.
I guess any remaining wall can be used for display/storage. Make sure there is room for the bookcase that can handle all your literature.
The easiest way to build a nice workbench is to buy those Gladiator Garageworks sets from either Lowe’s or Home Depot if money isn’t an issue. I figure I will be in this hobby for a very long haul so I put a good amount of money into my man cave.
An airbrushing booth is a big plus for me so I no longer airbrush my kits in the garage where it can be too hot in the summers or too cold in the winters.
Good luck with your new hobby room! [Y]
Andy, did you clean your desk off for the photo shoot, or are you always that neat and orderly? Personally, I don’t know how to find my tools if they are not lost under a pile of crap.
He’s probably like me and have OCD. I have to have things in a certain spot or it drives me crazy.
Here’s my workbench.
Here’s one of it as dirty as it gets.
10 x 15 isn’t much… But it’s more than I got, so I’ll tell what I got…
My work-bench is a drawing table I got at Hobby Lobby, size’s about 42" x 30" , has six storage drawers, with room underneath for WIPs or more storage. It’s aout 80.00 bucks, but you can use their 40% off coupon to buy it… Before that, I used a TV Tray…
I added outlets to the wall behind, have a total of 16, with two power strips.
I have storage boxs ranging from the little wall-mounted “screw bin” type to the palstic 12" x 14" x 2 1/2 " 3-drawer-sets… I also keep my desk in there with my computer, and use the computer to pull up reference pictures while I’m working. A simple turn of the head is all I need…
A large office-type floor mat which allows me to hear where the part I dropped went, as well as making it easy (er) to find…
A small chest of drawers to store various scratch-building material: Electronic parts, wires and rods, wood, styrene sheets, large paint cans, diorama materials, etc…
Shelving should be attached to the wall with the shelf-brackets… Avoid free-standing stuff since it has too big a “foot-print”, in my humble opinion… I need that space under them for storage of kits… Put them on pallets though, to keep them off the damp floor (or open them and remove the decals and store those separately in a “baggie catalog” (a three-ring binder with zip-lock bags inserted instead of loose-leaf paper. Make sure you label the bags so you know what kit the decals came from). You don’t need large, factory-type pallets, just some plywood and old paint-cans…
BTW, you don’t need high-dollar finished shelves… Cutting your own from 1/2" or 3/4"(3/8s" is too flimsy) plywood… Also allows you to cut shelves as much as eight-feet long and a foot wide… That’s my prefered size anyway… I use finished shelving in the living room though… Wife made me do that, since I’m perfectly happy with raw wood…
Lights: I hung two four-foot shop lights for general lighting, and have two smaller fill-lights on the desk, with a flexible magnifying lamp as well… Use “Cool White” florescents… Others will give off a slight greenish cast that will screw up you shading figure-faces, if you do that… Or simply shut them off…
A also have a fan that I keep on the floor behind me… It keeps the fumes outta my face (not that they bother me, but CA can get a little intense sometimes), and it speeds flash-time for clear flats, and speeds drying time for finishes… Make sure it’s off when you’re painting though… I stick mine in the window for exhaust, but only when spraying metallics from rattle-cans… There’s not enough over-spray from an airbrush to matter to me… If there IS a lot of overspray from your AB, then you’re doing it wrong anyway…
Paint-booths… Some swear by them, some at them… I’m in the latter crowd… If you’re doing it right, you don’t need it… Don’t need respirators either… No, Nada, None, Zee-ro respirators will protect you from oxygen-displacing fumes or gases, unless you have an independent air-supply… If you’re not clean-shaven, they won’t seal, and unless you paint to the point that the room is visibly filled with suspended paint-particles, you don’t need it… If it IS then, again, you’re doing it wrong… A “Lazy Susan”-type paint-stand is much more useful…
All in all, I think a bench big enough for two large 1/48 scale aircraft kits or three AFV kits in 1/35th to be worked on at the same time is a good size…
Oh I am soooo guilty of needing my hobby area to be ‘in order’ and ‘tidy’. But the thing is I need the whole house that way too. Clutter hurts my head, I can’t think straight around a messy environment.
I usually will give the hobby zone a total clean up after every kit simply to do a sort of reset on the place.
But I have found that the only real physical requirement for a work space, is a proper table surface, which means a pane of glass so your work does no harm to the surface under it, and good lighting. Most of the time I am only employing a small tray worth of tools and all you really need to acknowledge is your work likely will generate a lot of plastic ‘debris’, and you need to keep in mind, if you drop a part, what does it drop on to.
I never work on carpet. I prefer laminate hardwood because it is downright smooth and if you drop a part, it has no way to escape. I have a small light I use and you will find, if you shine am light on an angle on a smooth surface, even the smallest part stands out.
From a year ago, when I moved into the house:
4 minutes ago:
My current bench, prior to my last move. (haven’t got the War Roomset up here yet, just the bench)
This is when it was in the living room of my one-bedroom apartment…
The pill bottles didn’t contain brush cleaner… It was Percoset and blood-pressure meds… The cigars were for tightening stretched-sprue rigging for biplanes…
you win
Medicman71: what name brand of airbrush compressor do you have? It looks like one I bought awhile back at Hobby Lobby but mine doesn’t have any identifying markers on it. it’s been driving me crazy trying to figure it out for awhile now.
sorry air4mdc. . . . not intending to hijack your thread. just saw that and thought I would ask!
You know, i’m not sure. There’s no markings on mine either. It was my wifes airbrush and compressor but I stole it since I use it more than she does. She got it and the airbrush as a gift so I don’t know where it came from either.
thanks for the info. i guess the manufacturer will continue to elude me!
I got a knock-off of a Testor’s Airbrush compressor… 16.00…
Before that, I went to plumbing-supply store and made a fitting that allowed me to use an old lawn-mower tire for an air supply…
Thanks everyone for some great suggestions. So far I have settled on base cabinets with a light colored counter, som overhead cabinets(over the counter-top work area), sometype of shelving for reference material, and airbrush station(which I will make and put on casters so I can move it around and hook to vent tubing to the outside basement window in that room and put off to the side when not in use.) I guess the biggest problem I have is open storage and display shelves. I have so much colector stuff I would like to set out where I can see it. Such as die cast and plastic kits and trinkets. I appreciate the photos very much. Any ideas on the floor? I was thinking a wood laminate. Used it in my wifes sewing room and my train room. Really looks nice. I was also think of dimmable can lights with either xenon or LEDs over the bench under the overhead cabinets. Did this in the sewing room they are nice. Any other suggestions or pic would be great to hear and see. Thanks again.
Mike
SteveM- LOL! Yes, Medicman71 got that right! Unfortunately I have mild case of OCD so it is my habit to clean my workbench every time I am done modeling. I can’t stand the look of tools and paints laying around… [:P]
Once a while it can be little disorganized like right now while I am working on two kits at the same time…
[dto:] I’m doing the same. Still gotta have it somewhat orginized.
My current bench is in the garage (10x20 space they bill as a “third car” but is actually a two-car, one’s just double-deep). When I was setting it up, I was just getting back into the hobby and wasn’t sure it would stick, so I got two 2’x4’ folding tables from Costco, a little roller-drawer-cart thing from Target, and have been cobbling since.
Since we’re moving later this year, I haven’t really invested too much in the bench aside from what I can scrabble together. My one concession has been purchasing a microwave cart from Target to replace a folding TV tray I’ve been using to hold boxes for kits-in-progress, maybe a beverage or two, etc, within easy reach.
When I build the new bench, I’d love to go the Gladiator Garageworks route if I can swing it. I’d also love, instead of under-bench cabinets, to have some rolling mecahnic’s toolchests. The kind with the ball-bearing drawers. Figure they’d be excellent for paints, pigments, knives, rod and styrene, and all that junk, and they could be brought out and rolled back as needed.
[dto:]
My setup is fairly simple. All build in desk with little shelves, cubbies and paint rack. I do highly, HIGHLY recommend using a sheet of 1/4" glass as a main work surface, a simple swipe of a razor blade and it’s clean as new.
I also built in a display area/stash cabinet.
Thank you all for some nice ideas. I really like Fermis’s set-up. You shelving and cabinets makes for a great functional display and storage. I like the wood look too. One thing I need to keep in mind is resale of my home. I need to not only bulid this room for me, but the new owner if and when that takes place. Thanks again. If anyone has pictures of wall shelving and storage I would appreciate some pictures. Thanks again for posting.
Mike