She knew I was a plane dork from early on. The first weekend I met her I had a spending spree on plastic at KB toys. Started when I was 7. Never stopped, slowed down a little in high school, chasing girls and wrenching on muscle cars.
Laser cutters and 3D printers have been at the top of the āwantā pile for a couple of years, but I find that among other issues, I would want to vent fumes, so itās not as simple as just dropping one onto the workbench - thereās a ton of pre-work that would be required. Of course, Iām 80% of the way toward venting the AB booth outdoors, so I may be able to adapt that setup to simplify the venting.
Second issue is I donāt know what I want! Iām looking at the resin-based printers, but what I would use it for seems to change constantly. I donāt really do dioramas, so I look at them for āaftermarketā bits and pieces or for applications related to other hobbies. For the laser cutter, I have a friend with one, so I can try things out, itās just hard to coordinate with him. I do 2D CAD files quite quickly and have designed some benchtop tools, but sometimes itās cheaper to order something online than source the MDF, design the item, coordinate meeting up, cutting the items, etc.
Third issue is I have no idea when I would ever have the time, there are Too Many Hobbiesā¢! Lately Iāve been getting back to 1:1 aviation, Iām in the middle of SAR drone training, and now that Iāve injured my knee, Iāve taken the opportunity to load up Elite:Dangerous again (so I can stay off the leg, I swear). My weekends seem to be eaten up, this coming weekend is #5 of six in a row where Iām booked solid. Perhaps in May I can get back to modelsā¦
Anyway, to stay on topic, my work bench idea is to find a way to bring it upstairs so I donāt have to deal with stairs with this dumb knee!
As much as I want a 3D printer and laser cutter. I believe that it would actually hinder my model making as I would spend more time perfecting my designs and not actually model. LOLā¦
Now I do want a Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutting machine to make custom masks.
That reminds me, I have one that hasnāt been used in a few years, I need to dust it off and get back to that. The custom masks part was frustrating me because I was trying to figure out how to do canopy masks/etc. and thatās the kind of thing you really need the CAD files to do. Now I just want to do paint masks to replace decals, and those would be much easier to do.
Edit: I recently started pondering using this to cut thin EVA foam sheets to make wheel well masks for painting - stuffing precise-cut thin foam into a 1/72 wheel well seems much easier than what Iāve been doingā¦
This is what I want it for. Items like the roundels and what not.
Canopy masks need to be so custom. I was actually looking at scanning in the Eduard masks into CAD and scaling it and trying that. But since I donāt have a machine, no need to worry about it yet. LOLā¦
Iāve been eyeing one of those Silhouette machines for a while now. While Iād love to be able to do canopy masks and save the money Iāve been spending on Montex mask sets, Iād more likely be using it just to cut out roundels or other insignia. I used to scoff at the notion of acquiring one of these machines for that use case, thinking that itās just a circle, how hard can it be to cut one of those? I have a circle template (which unfortunately never has the exact circumference I need) but I also have a circle cutter. I am never able to actually get a 360degree circle with it; the thing always comes up while Iām rotating it. User error probably, but it just never works for me.
Canopies would be great to do, but I donāt know if a simple scan of an existing mask set (that I would likely have to purchase to be able to get, making it a moot point) would be sufficient, but Iād certainly make an attempt at it.
Iāve been thinking of getting a vinyl cutter for a bit now. Theyāre pretty common these days and Iām watching Facebook marketplace for a good deal on one that someone decided to declutter from theyāre house.
absolutely. My family may not understand nor appreciate it yet, but I am doing veryā¦important work 
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DRod, I encountered in my opinion the best working bench AKA desk. I bought a motorized desk base from amazon for $89 then made a short trip to Ikea and bought one of their cheapest tops $49 in black, now for less than $150 I have an adjustable desk and work bench. It works great for my needs.
These machines are great but i would definitely go new for them i bought a used one and it gave me more issues then i needed so i went and bought a Cricut new and its the best money i have spent, if you do go new i would join any membership the machine has, before you buy the machine my case it was cricut access it cost 10.00 a month but it also gives you a discount on the machine you buy 10% plus a % off materials you buy and it open more doors in use of machine and you can connect it to your printer which i found limitless things to do. i am waiting on some water release paper to come in to try to make Decals, not sure how that will go but when i sit waiting on glue or paint to dry it keep me active trying new things i hope this helps you Good Luck
I breezed through the posts, so I apologize if this was already mentioned.
Check out HobbyZone. They sell modular workbench organizers. You buy them in a kit form, and assemble them with wood glue. Each āmoduleā is the same size and they are held together with magnets. So if you install the magnets all in the same direction you can re-arrange the way you stack them as you go.
As for my workbench. I usu a basic table from Ikea, and then I have one of those 5x5 square shelving units. Then in those square shelf cubbies I bought divider kits off Etsy.
I really should add some pics. Maybe later tonight.
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Big fan of their stuff
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Maybe someone can help me with this ā¦
Why do all of you rack your paints right in front of you like that?
In the grand scheme of things I spend a very small amount of time painting. So I hide all my paints in a drawer. And what I focus on instead is organizing tools, glues, and abrasives in front of me.
I have most of my paints at eye level, when Iām sitting in my chair. I can quickly get to what I need to.
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But that is what I am curious about.
Why do so many people want all those paints clearly at eye level when such a small amount of time spent on a model, is painting it.
I pull out a drawer and I can quickly grab the paint I want and now workspace is taken up by paint storage.
Just to make it clear, Iām not arguing, I am honestly curious. Everyone has their own way of doing things. But so many of you display your paints. I am dying to know why I am the m i n o r i t y on this.
My paints are in wall-mounted racks right in front of me because thereās nowhere else convenient to put them! I have quite a few Vallejo paints (that I moved away from using) in a drawer in a separate part of my basement workspace, but there arenāt really drawers underneath my work bench - the ones I have are of the āfiling folderā variety, so they donāt easily hold small items (and actually they are mostly full of stash).
I would also say that I viewed wall-mounted as the best possible use of space, since my workbench is only 24" deep. All of my drawers I purchased and assembled, and I guess if I had enough to fill the back wall, Iād look for different paint storage, but right now I have a couple of layers of drawers with four paint racks above them and ālooseā storage on top of the drawers.
I need to take an updated photo of the work bench!
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I should do a spinny thing like that for all my sanding sticks.
I just have a pile of them laying down on the right side of my workspace.
I have paints in the drawers as well. I keep my special/most frequent paints in front of me. I find it a PITA to find a specific paint in the drawers - especially the old MM paints that all have the same dark top.
My solution to the MM paint tops was to use a silver permanent marker to write the color on there, mostly abbreviated (Flat Black would be Flt Blk, for instance). I do the same thing with Tamiya paints, only I put the color code on those lids.